Lessons from Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist, PhD, MPH

Ulemu Luhanga: 00:03

Hello listeners, welcome to Educational Landscapes: Lessons from Leaders. On today's episode, we are going to learn from Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist. Welcome to the show, Lauren.

Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist: 00:14

Hi, thanks for having me.

Ulemu Luhanga: 00:15

Absolutely. So to get us going, what is or are your educational leadership titles?

Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist: 00:24

I am the Director of Graduate Studies for our MPH and MSPH Programs in Epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health. So I oversee both of our master's programs in the epidemiology department.

Ulemu Luhanga: 00:38

Awesome. Can you tell us a bit more what is involved in epidemiology?

Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist: 00:43

In epidemiology? So before the pandemic, a lot of people thought that what we did was study skin because epidemiology/epidermis, but we're like, no, those are dermatologists. So the way I often describe it is we use math and statistics to find out who gets sick and why. And so what we do in the School of Public Health in the Department of Epidemiology is really teach our students the tools that they need to be able to answer important research questions to improve health.

Ulemu Luhanga: 01:17

Thank you. I appreciate, because I know I've heard the word many times, but I'm not always sure I know what it truly means.

Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist: 01:26

Yeah, hopefully that helps.

Ulemu Luhanga: 01:27

Absolutely. So what do you do in your leadership role?

Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist: 01:33

A lot of things. It's a little bit of everything. Really following students from before they even apply, so I do a lot of recruitment work through admissions, and then supporting our students throughout their time in the program. I oversee our curriculum. So before I took on this leadership role, I was teaching several different courses, but now I get to think about the whole trajectory of what our students are doing in our time with us, both in our department, in other departments. They have some practical experience that they do. And so thinking about that whole big picture, I work with faculty to support their teaching, so helping faculty who are developing new classes, those who maybe have come up across a few little trouble spots and try to brainstorm with them what could we do to get back on track. And then some things at the school level too, so helping discuss and vote on policies or new courses that might be coming in. So it's a mixed bag.

Ulemu Luhanga: 02:38

Indeed. So one of the things I think you're one of the first who's actually talked about the whole recruitment bit as part of your role. What does that entail?

Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist: 02:48

So we will often host events for students who are just thinking about public health and really introducing them to what epidemiology is. Because when things are going well, you don't really see us, you don't know that we're at work behind the scenes. And not a lot of people know about epidemiology. So it's really a chance to have prospective students learn about what we do in the field and what they could do with a career in epidemiology and what to expect with their time with us at Rollins.

Ulemu Luhanga: 03:22

Thank you. So given, as you said, the full spectrum from recruitment to teaching to supporting faculty, what skills do you use in order to get all of this done?

Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist: 03:34

I think the top two skills are communication and problem solving. So doing lots of communication, both written and oral. I've also been really into making infographics and trying to share some information with our students that way, and faculty too. And just doing some creative problem solving, knowing that difficult things come up, but we can do hard things and trying to just figure out how to puzzle through it. I think those are the two things that have been most important skillset wise.

Ulemu Luhanga: 04:11

Love it. So as somebody who loves a good infographic, I have to ask, what software do you use to create them?

Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist: 04:18

I use Canva.

Ulemu Luhanga: 04:22

I love Canva too.

Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist: 04:24

Goodness. Yeah, it sometimes becomes a problem. It's a good way to productively procrastinate, I'll put it that way. So I'm getting something done, but also having a good time.

Ulemu Luhanga: 04:40

Absolutely, I understand that. So thinking about where you're at, what was your journey that led to this current role?

Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist: 04:53

Well, I think it a little bit starts as a doctoral student. I applied to Emory's Department of Epidemiology for the PhD program, and I did it because I loved epidemiology and I knew that there was more to learn, which is not a great reason to pursue a PhD, but I just loved it and I knew there was more to learn. And the thing I was most nervous about was teaching. I knew that I was going to have to be a teaching assistant, lead my own discussion section of 25 students. I didn't want to say my name. I didn't want to introduce myself, I was terrified of public speaking.

Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist: 05:33

But once I got over that, I realized not only do I love epidemiology, but I want other people to love it as much as I do. And so that I really think set me off on this journey to be an educator. I had been teaching a lot in our department and was tapped by our department chair to see if I would be interested in this role directing our master's programs. I didn't quite know what it entailed, but I knew it was a really outstanding opportunity. The person who held the role before me, I wasn't really sure. I didn't know what they had been doing behind the scenes, but seemed like an opportunity that I couldn't pass up. So I took it and I'm glad that I did.

Ulemu Luhanga: 06:20

Awesome. So how many years have you been in the role?

Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist: 06:23

Since 2019, so four years now.

Ulemu Luhanga: 06:29

Yeah, great. So thinking about those four years so far, what do you wish you knew before stepping into the role?

Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist: 06:40

I wish that I had known exactly what I was signing up for and that I would like it. I think that there was some imposter syndrome at work. I was really worried. I had only been on the faculty for a couple of years. I thought, am I really qualified for this? Am I the best person to do this job? What am I signing up for? I wish I had known that I would enjoy it, and yes, I did belong there and that I was going to learn a lot and grow into the role and be successful. But I would give myself a little bit of a confidence boost if I could go back in time.

Ulemu Luhanga: 07:18

What we now know if only we knew it earlier.

Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist: 07:21

That's right.

Ulemu Luhanga: 07:24

So what continuing professional development do you do in order to keep up with the needs of your role?

Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist: 07:32

Well, I was fortunate to be able to take advantage of one of the fellowship programs that the Woodruff Health Sciences Education Academy offers. So that was really exciting to learn from other educators across the Woodruff Health Sciences Center, doing very different work, oftentimes. I got to learn from colleagues who were teaching in a very clinical setting, but getting to learn about how they do things and thinking about educational theory was really helpful. Something that's been really important in my work is having a real focus on equity and inclusion in all that we do. And so trying to take advantage of as many seminars, trainings, just books to read, to just learn more about how we can make sure that everyone feels welcome and that we're fostering a diverse and inclusive environment. So that's been important. And then I don't know if anyone would ever say that Twitter is professional development, but I would say that it is. So I spend some time just occasionally browsing Twitter to see what new ideas are people sharing and to learn about different perspectives and think about how I might incorporate that in my work or what I would leave aside and why. So I think those are the main things.

Ulemu Luhanga: 08:53

That's great. I think you're right, it is a very useful space because so many people post in Twitter. So are there any people you follow or any hashtags you use?

Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist: 09:05

So in the epidemiology community there is epiTwitter, and so you can search #epiTwitter and find all kinds of interesting things. And sometimes I pull examples from there into my class because people like to tell jokes about nerdy things. And so if we're learning about confounding, there are a lot of humorous, relatable tweets that people will pull and it can help enhance the conversation and also just the understanding of the underlying concepts.

Ulemu Luhanga: 09:43

Absolutely. And then you mentioned equity and inclusion, doing courses, readings, any recommendations for folks based off of?

Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist: 09:53

Goodness, I knew you were going to ask this. I should have thought more deeply about this because my memory for these sorts of specifics is really not great. I've learned a lot from Ibram X. Kendi, who I do follow on Twitter, and actually was just at Target yesterday and saw he's got a book for kids. So I bought that for my oldest son, and I'm excited for him to dig into that. I've just sort of paid attention to things that come out on various listservs. And so learning about what inclusion looks like in a particular subset of a field. So for example, there's a Georgia Regional public health group that sends out all kinds of different opportunities. Sometimes it'll be webinars about low birth weight in Georgia, and they might sort of explain what's going on there, but other times they'll have seminars on thinking about equity in maternal and child health research. Sometimes we get a lot of emails and it's hard to sift through all of them, but I think oftentimes some of these various organizations that I'm a part of or whose mailing list I'm on often will have really great content. And I think it's useful because it's related to topically the things that you're interested in as well. So it's a good professional development tool, I think.

Ulemu Luhanga: 11:33

Absolutely, I'm with you. Looking at our email sometimes can be quite difficult, but there are great nuggets out of those listservs.

Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist: 11:43

Yes.

Ulemu Luhanga: 11:45

What advice would you give to someone interested in doing the same type of leadership role you currently have?

Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist: 11:54

Well, that's a good question. I don't know that it's for everyone. So I think that someone who's considering a role like this really should have a heart for education and for students and the student experience. It's time-consuming and I am really fortunate in that I get the opportunity to have this leadership role and balance my teaching responsibilities. But if I had a large research program at the same time, I think this would be very difficult to juggle. So I would really recommend this for somebody whose heart is really into teaching and that they have the time and the mental space to devote to it. And I think I would just recommend learning the landscape of the program and recognizing how many different players are involved and how there are so many things that happen behind the scenes that most faculty aren't aware of. And just learning how all those moving parts work together and the different roles that folks play. Because often when you understand all the players, you can have a little bit more influence and have things go how you would hope. So just be ready to learn a lot and recognize that, whoa, there's a lot more under the hood than you might think.

Ulemu Luhanga: 13:21

Indeed, all the layers, all, as you said, the players and they're at different layers and each does different things and yeah, it's quite the landscape to wrap one's head around.

Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist: 13:31

Sure is.

Ulemu Luhanga: 13:32

Yeah. So as you think about your journey and the work you've done, the people you've interacted with, how do you support or expand education in your profession?

Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist: 13:48

So this is one of the things that I really enjoy about the work that I do, is I get to support other faculty in their teaching and have really become the person in our department who people will turn to if they have questions about teaching. That feels really good to be recognized in that way and to be able to support them. So our department has hired a lot of new faculty recently, and so I've been working with folks on developing syllabi for new courses that they want to teach, and some of them are adapting things from something they've taught elsewhere and they're bringing it to Emory. Others are bringing in something totally new and they're creating it from scratch. So I really just enjoy getting to work with them as they're making those plans. Every semester I do review our course evaluations and take a look at patterns that I'm noticing, whether it's within the same course across multiple years or if it's sort of similar themes across multiple courses. And then try and do some problem solving, like I mentioned earlier, to figure out what can we do to improve things year over year, and so I work closely with faculty doing that.

Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist: 14:59

The most recent and exciting and slightly terrifying endeavor that I've been thinking about in impacting teaching in epidemiology is I've been writing a textbook with a dear friend and colleague of mine called Fundamentals of Epidemiology. She and I have taught introductory epidemiology at Emory College for several years, and we teach at different levels in the graduate school too and trying to revolutionize how we think about teaching epidemiology. So that's what we're trying to do in this book. Trying to tackle common problems that students have head on instead of letting them muddle through some things that they always get confused. Just say, hey, sometimes students get confused by this thing. Here's why this isn't quite right. I've never seen a book do this before. We're trying it out, we'll see what happens. But that's been an exciting way to think about contributing to education beyond just what we're doing here at Emory.

Ulemu Luhanga: 16:02

Congratulations. When can we expect the book?

Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist: 16:06

I think October 2023. Soon.

Ulemu Luhanga: 16:10

Exciting. We will make sure to post a link to it on the podcast when it's available.

Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist: 16:17

Well, thank you.

Ulemu Luhanga: 16:19

So given that success and I'm sure multiple others that you've had, what would you say contributed to your biggest successes thus far?

Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist: 16:28

I think it's really been teamwork and just having such an amazing group of folks that I work with. We have our department chair and our academic advisors and our faculty and all sort of sit at different varying levels, but it's a very horizontal working dynamic and we value what our staff thinks, we value what our students think, and we all work together really towards a common goal. I think that that has been so important. And also having a strong network. So I mentioned the importance of understanding all of the different players. We have good relationships not just within our department, but outside as well. Having those really tight relationships has really helped us, particularly if we find ourselves in a sticky situation and we need help trying to figure out how do we deal with this one thing with the registrar or whatever the case might be. Having those strong relationships I think has really been what's been most helpful.

Ulemu Luhanga: 17:38

I love that, teamwork, and then it also makes me think about, as you said earlier on, the importance of communication as a skill.

Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist: 17:45

That's right.

Ulemu Luhanga: 17:48

So as you reflect on your work to date, what are or were your biggest growth opportunities?

Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist: 17:57

So especially early on, I think it was just having the confidence that I belonged. I really was just not quite so sure of myself and didn't know, like I said, do I belong here? Am I really the best person to do this? And so I think I've come a long way since then and feel much more comfortable and confident. I think these days, still, it's a lifelong struggle this time management and planning ahead. So always trying to figure out new strategies. If anyone has good strategies for time management and planning ahead, I'm all ears because that's still an area for growth for me for sure.

Ulemu Luhanga: 18:46

I think it's an area for growth for all of us.

Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist: 18:49

It's a lifelong journey.

Ulemu Luhanga: 18:51

It really is. So as you're continuing to reflect on what you've done to date, what do you like most about your work and what you do?

Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist: 19:04

I love working with our students and getting them excited about epidemiology. Sending them out into the workforce to be able to do great things and help people live healthier, longer, happier lives. It's really exciting to get to be part of their journey. One of the things that I try to do in the classroom is sort of pull back the curtain on some of the, both professional and personal, behind the scenes things that happen to show our students that we're all human and just to give them some additional context about what's happening. Either why the degree requirements are what they are or why maybe I didn't get the midterm grades out as soon as I would've liked to. I really enjoy getting to do that. I don't really think that I had those kinds of examples as a student. I'm a mom of three boys and so that influences my life in all kinds of ways. I can't show up in the classroom not as a mom of three boys. So I really enjoy getting to share some of those things with my students to help them envision themselves in a role like this or to see that we're not robots. I think it's important to do.

Ulemu Luhanga: 20:36

Absolutely. I think as you said, that modeling is so powerful. Even when we don't realize it, as we reflect back, we do realize we were looking at people for those types of models. So thank you for being one.

Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist: 20:54

Of course.

Ulemu Luhanga: 20:56

Overall, reflecting on your experiences to date then, what would you say are your passions around education in general?

Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist: 21:07

Gosh, I just love education. I was thinking about this this morning, I started kindergarten when I was four, and I have never left an academic setting. So it has really been just a lifelong passion that I've had. I was joking that there was a time where I wanted to be a kindergarten teacher, and I got that wish in the spring of 2020 and I found out that this is the right trajectory for me. But it's always just been something that is just so core to who I am. But as I sort of approach how I think about teaching, I remember what it was like to be a student. There was a time where I was teaching a class that I took myself, and I remember leaving in near tears so many times because the material was so difficult and I couldn't understand it. I never would've believed that a couple years later I would be teaching the course myself.

Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist: 22:05

I remember what that was like, and I know it doesn't have to be so complicated. And so I think that I approach all of my interactions with students, whether it's in my role as the director of our program or as an instructor of one of their classes, I try to remember what it was like to be in their shoes and recognize that my journey is very different than theirs and they have different struggles than I did, and each of them are individuals. And so trying to keep that big picture in mind. But like I said before, I think it's important to lead with our humanity and share with my students. We all make mistakes. Let's assume the best intentions of everyone who's here and know that we're human, mistakes will happen, but we're going to work through it and get through it together.

Ulemu Luhanga: 23:02

I love that. So important to have humanism in education.

Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist: 23:07

Yes.

Ulemu Luhanga: 23:11

Recognizing you are more than your career, and you have mentioned mother of three boys, so what are some things you do outside of work to help you maintain joy in life and practice?

Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist: 23:25

Well, certainly those boys keep me busy and definitely bring a lot of joy to my life and also some challenges too, but loving to just spend time with them and sort of see the world through their eyes. We do a lot of puzzles and board games in this house. Like a lot. And that's been really fun, especially our youngest, he's five years old and he's starting to get into it a little bit. So I really look forward to when all five of us can sit down and do those things together. I love to sew. I do a lot of crafting and sewing, and that's really good for me to just sort of decompress in my own mind. This time last year, my parents moved to the Atlanta area from Chicago, and so most recently that's been really great to get to spend time with them and get to watch them interact with my boys has been really great. My mom has a sewing thing too, so she's just gotten her sewing room in shape and so I'm really looking forward to getting to do that together as well.

Ulemu Luhanga: 24:40

I love that. You're making me want to actually take my sewing machine out of the box that it's been in for a couple of years.

Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist: 24:47

Do it, I totally recommend it.

Ulemu Luhanga: 24:50

All right, I've got motivation. Thank you. So those were our core questions. And so before I let you go, any other words of wisdom that you'd like to share with any aspiring educators or education leaders?

Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist: 25:07

Yeah, I think just paying attention to who your students are and working together with them towards a common goal. You can't go wrong doing that. And yes, it's challenging sometimes when it feels like there are sort of competing priorities and demands and we need to figure out how to balance faculty time commitments and constraints against what our students' needs are. But like I said before, we can do hard things. And so it's just a matter of just trying to puzzle through lots of different ideas. You're not going to do all of them. You can make a list of ideas that you have and don't cross any of them off the list right away. Really sort of sit and think through what you might do, and when there are times when you say, oh, we can't do this, ask yourself why? Is it just because we've never done it that way? Well, just because it's never been done that way doesn't mean it's not possible. So I think just being open and willing to try new things will help a whole lot.

Ulemu Luhanga: 26:20

Thank you. Those are some powerful wise words to end off on. And so just want to say a big thank you, Lauren, for talking to us today.

Lauren Christiansen-Lindquist: 26:29

Yes, thank you so much for having me. It was great to be here.

Ulemu Luhanga: 26:33

Absolutely.