USF College of Public Health alumnus Ryan Graydon, who earned his MPH with a concentration in global health practice in 2017, has devoted his life and work to improve the public’s access to clean water.

As a life scientist with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 5 Office in Chicago, he is currently serving as a drinking water rules manager with the Public Water System Supervision program, a communicator of the health effects from drinking water contaminants, and a researcher supporting Great Lakes ecosystem restoration initiatives.

A clear path toward clean water

He originally wanted to be a strength and conditioning coach to help athletes compete at the highest levels. Always devoted to service, he participated in international service-learning trips, getting the opportunity to visit 26 countries.

After returning from a senior trip to Guatemala, he attended his girlfriend’s (now wife, Jessica) presentation of a poster for her social work program. Her research topic of how contaminated drinking water causes the death of tens of thousands of children a year and its easy prevention so affected Graydon, he changed the direction of his life from coaching to a career in public health pursuing the goals of clean water and sanitation for all.

“Seeing these preventable challenges plague these wonderful people and restrain them from living healthy lives to the fullest motivated me to redirect my life’s work to making a difference in these areas of public health.”

“I’m privileged to have had nearly two years of international service-learning experiences across 26 countries. During several of these experiences, I witnessed people who live without access to safe water and sanitation services, who live next to polluting coal-fired power plants or burn wood in unvented stoves in their kitchens to cook their food, who did not have the financial resources or support to afford routine medical services. Seeing these preventable challenges plague these wonderful people and restrain them from living healthy lives to the fullest motivated me to redirect my life’s work to making a difference in these areas of public health,” he said.

He said he chose USF for his public health education because of its numerous partnerships in his geographic area of interest, Latin America and the Caribbean. He also took advantage of the flexibility to take courses on water, sanitation, and hygiene through both the COPH and the College of Engineering’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

He even participated in three service-learning trips: one with the one with the Engineers Without Borders-USF chapter where we partnered with community members in Miches, Dominican Republic to build rainwater harvesting systems to provide water in a community without piped water connections; and another trip with USF Health’s Interdisciplinary Health Service Collaborative in which the group conducted a four-day health clinic over spring break in Chicá, Panama. Graydon’s nine-week international field experience, the capstone of the global health practice concentration, was completed with the Independent University of Santo Domingo’s Institute of Microbiology and Parasitology in the Dominican Republic assisting with research identifying microbial contaminants of the country’s surface water supplies.

“I made the right choice attending USF. All the academic outcomes I was seeking in an MPH program were fulfilled.”

“I made the right choice attending USF. All the academic outcomes I was seeking in an MPH program were fulfilled,” he said. “My wife Jessica and I loved the Tampa area and made many friends through our programs and in the community. We would love to return to Tampa to live and work someday.”

Putting his passion into practice

His work with the EPA in the Great Lakes region builds on the skills he used at the USF COPH. He analyzes large datasets of census data, health outcomes, and water quality data, and communicates trends to broad audiences.

His first opportunity out of graduate school, what he calls “water diplomacy,” was a fellowship with the International Joint Commission, an independent diplomatic commission of six commissioners, three appointed by the U.S. President and three appointed by the Canadian Prime Minister. He participated in high-level diplomatic and scientific tasks contributing to the study of decommissioning of nuclear power facilities on the Great Lakes and its effect on the lakes’ water quality.

His research is currently being used for the Great Lakes Water Quality Board’s Nuclear Decommissioning project and Health Professionals Advisory Board’s acute gastrointestinal illnesses project.

He said he is using many of the skills he obtained while earning his MPH in his current position.

“Like I did during my MPH program, I have to find authoritative sources of information and analyze large datasets, like census data, health outcome data, and water quality data,” he said. “I have to determine which claims about environmental health issues are real (evidence-based) and which claims are misleading or false. I enjoy making maps and thinking creatively about how to communicate important trends in the data to broad audiences.”

A vision for the future

Graydon said he would also like to take his science-policy skills to work on Capitol Hill as the U.S. faces issues with lead and PFAS in the drinking water as well as extreme drought and storm events driven by climate change.

“I want to continue collaborating on international water issues and I plan to maximize the opportunities with the U.S. EPA, as well as the opportunities with other agencies, such as the U.S. State Department and United Nations,” he said.

He believes there are plenty of water issues to dedicate a career to and plans to continue collaborating on international water issues as “nearly 750 million people around the world still lack adequate access to safe drinking water.”

Fast Five:

What did you dream of becoming when you were young?

A marine biologist

Where would we find you on the weekend?

Hiking through a nature preserve or biking a trail with Jess and our two-year-old son Carter.

What is the last book you read?

Carbon Captured: How Business and Labor Control Climate Politics by Matto Mildenberger (2020)

The Arsenal of Democracy: FDR, Detroit, and an epic quest to arm an America at war by A.J. Baime (2015)

Short Circuiting Policy: Interest Groups and the Battle Over Clean Energy and Climate Policy in the American States by Leah Cardamore Stokes (2020)

What superpower would you like to have?

Fluency in all languages

What’s your all-time favorite game?

Catan

Story by Rachel Blaasch, USF College of Public Health