International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health | Interview with the Author—Prof. Celia Landmann Szwarcwald
Name: Prof. Celia Landmann Szwarcwald
Affiliation: Institute of Communication and Scientific and Technological Information in Health, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Av. Brasil, 4365 Manguinhos, Rio de Janeiro 21040-900, RJ, Brazil
“Using Respondent-Driven Sampling (RDS) to Identify the Healthcare Needs among Women of Reproductive Age Who Migrated from Venezuela to Brazil, 2018–2021”
by Celia Landmann Szwarcwald, Paulo Roberto Borges de Souza Junior, Thaiza Dutra Gomes de Carvalho, Rita Suely Bacuri de Queiroz, Euclides Ayres de Castilho and Maria do Carmo Leal
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2024, 21(6), 811; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph21060811
Available online: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/21/6/811
The following is an interview with Prof. Celia Landmann Szwarcwald:
1. Congratulations on your recent publication! Could you briefly introduce yourself and share your current research focus with our readers?
I graduated in mathematics from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro and have a Master of Science in statistics and mathematics from the University of Rochester, USA, a Ph.D. in public health from the National School of Public Health, Brazil, and post-doctoral training in statistical spatial analysis at the Southern Methodist University, USA. I am a Senior Researcher at the Institute of Scientific and Technological Communication and Information in Health, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation. My research is in the area of public health, with an emphasis on epidemiology, working mainly on the following topics: HIV/AIDS, COVID-19, vital statistics, development of probabilistic and web surveys, and health inequality. I currently coordinate the trachoma elimination validation survey in Brazil. I have more than 300 published papers in scientific journals.
2. What aspect of your work are you most excited about at the moment? Have you experienced anything unexpected related to your research?
I am excited about the prospect of conducting health surveys online using chain sampling methods, like Respondent-Driven Sampling (RDS). The biggest challenges are getting responses from people with low levels of education. Many of them do not have access to the internet. Others are unable to complete the online questionnaire and thus interrupt the recruitment chain. So, it is difficult to achieve national representation.
3. What do you think is the biggest challenge currently in your area of research?
As an epidemiologist, I believe that one of the biggest challenges is communicating risk factors and healthy behaviors to the general population. Findings are often disseminated in scientific articles, which are not read by the broad public.
4. What advice would you give to young investigators who aspire to be where you are now?
Pursue an academic career, conduct research with the aim of improving the health of the population, and read and stay up to date with articles in your area of interest.
5. What motivated you to submit to IJERPH, and how was the publishing process?
I had already successfully published an article in IJERPH on the emotional well-being of adolescents during the COVID-19 pandemic. In early 2024, I received an invitation to write another article in IJERPH. I was involved in a study on the healthcare needs of Venezuelan women who migrated to Brazil and decided to accept the invitation. Again, the article was widely read, and I had several invitations to write other articles. The process was very fast, and I think the reviewers were very good at suggesting changes that enriched the work. In addition, the journal is very comprehensive in terms of the topics published, all of them of great interest to the public health area.
6. We are an open access journal. How do you think open access impacts authors?
I think that open access has had a significant impact on researchers, mainly due to the rapid dissemination of findings. However, publication fees are generally very high for researchers who do not live in developed countries and/or who do not have the funding to pay publication fees. Therefore, I think that more inclusive policies should be created to provide open access to more researchers.
We would like to express our gratitude to Prof. Celia Landmann Szwarcwald and her research group for choosing the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH, ISSN: 1660-4601) as the platform to publish their research. Submissions and inputs related to the area of health promotion and health presentation are welcomed by our journal.