I’m thrilled to announce and welcome Julia Fuller as the new 2024 OCL Fellow!
Julia will be working closely throughout the Summer with the OCL team and the OpenHIE Terminology Services subcommunity to develop the National Health Data Dictionary (NHDD) Toolkit.
Get to know Julia Fuller
 Julia Fuller, 2024 OCL Fellow |
Julia is currently pursuing her MPH at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health with a focus on health policy and management. Prior to pursuing her MPH full time, Julia worked as a research associate then project manager on the US Health team at Dimagi. In her free time, Julia enjoys trail running, sailing, skiing, cooking, and music. She also has two cats named Couscous and Tofu who often make appearances on calls. |
What is the NHDD framework?
The OCL community partnered with country implementers and OpenHIE to develop a National Health Data Dictionary (NHDD) Conceptual Framework that serves as a theoretical foundation for national health terminology investments in a growing number of countries, with Kenya’s National Health Terminology Service (KNHTS) as a leading example. As countries move toward establishing NHDD initiatives, there is a growing need for guidance around governance, content selection and development, technology deployment, capacity building, and related implementation activities. More information on the NHDD framework is available here: What’s the Latest with National Health Data Dictionaries (NHDD)?
What are the outputs of the fellowship?
While the NHDD conceptual framework defines the theoretical underpinning of an NHDD initiative, it is just one component of an NHDD Toolkit that would support implementers. During the Summer, Julia will work with the OCL and OpenHIE communities to create:
- Proposed structure for an NHDD Toolkit — What beyond a conceptual framework is needed to help implementers be successful?
- Enhanced NHDD Conceptual Framework — Add uses cases, value proposition, future state, and more to the framework
- Begin to draft NHDD Toolkit components — We hope to begin to draft one or 2 specific tools identified by the community
How do I get involved?
The monthly OpenHIE Terminology Services Subcommunity call will serve as a primary forum for input and dissemination of this work. For weekly updates, you can follow along in this post on OCL Chat here: https://chat.openconceptlab.org/t/ocl-summer-2024-fellowship-weekly-updates/103. We look forward to hearing from you!
What is the OCL Fellowship Program?
The OCL Fellowship Program aims to strengthen the OCL community by providing practical opportunities to develop advanced skill sets on priority community projects. While this is not the first fellowship offered by OCL, it is the inaugural fellowship of the new OCL Fellowship Program that we plan to offer annually. Each fellow will have one or more mentors who are supporting the project.