While Hanifa Denny isn’t in global health in the departmental sense, she undeniably is in it in the practical sense.

“As a farming couple with a big dream, my late parents once told me that I should explore the world,” she said. “In fact, their dream came true with so far 17 countries visited.”

But some of those many destinations were far more than a week or two here, a week or two there, and smiling snapshots in front of waterfalls and monuments.

Born in Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia, Denny earned her bachelor of science in public health at Diponegoro University in her home town, a master of public health at the University of the Philippines in Manila, and her public health PhD at the USF College of Public Health.

Add to that mix graduate certificates from Ludwig Maximillian University in Munich, Germany, the National Institute of Working Life in Stockholm, Sweden, USF and the University of the Philippines, and Denny’s version of “global health” begins to emerge.

“My passion is working with the underserved population worldwide to improve their long-term health status and productivity,” she said. “My hope is to educate and to promote and develop programs with transparency and integrity using local wisdom and practical approaches with emphasis on the social determinants of health.”

Anyone inferring a social marketing angle in that statement would be absolutely right. Denny earned a social marketing certificate from USF during her PhD studies.

It should be mentioned that her USF COPH studies were in fact centered in the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health and that all three of her degrees are firmly rooted in that major.

Since completing her doctorate, Denny has returned to her home town and the institution where she earned her bachelor’s degree, Diponegoro University. There, she teaches as an associate professor of occupational health and directs public health undergraduate studies.

She also is principal consultant for the Directorate of Occupational Health and Sports with the Ministry of Health in Indonesia, president of the Indonesian Public Health Union and vice president of the Indonesian Professional in Occupational Health Management Union, as well as an occupational and safety consultant tovarious private-sector enterprises and hospitals and a speaker at World Health Organization and Institute of Medicine global occupational health partnership events.

Denny’s work has brought her a good deal of recognition, not the least of which is a Satya Lencana medal from the president of Indonesia. She also has received Diponegoro University’s Distinguished College of Public Health Alumni Award and a James P. Keogh Scholarship from the American Public Health Association.

During her USF years, she received a Student International Research Scholarship and a Student Honorary Award for Research and Practice (SHARP) from the College of Public Health, and a Government Student Professional Council Award from the university.

“The doctoral program helped me greatly with international engagements and strengthened my resolve to achieve my goals,” she said.

To that end, she credits the college’s “progressive mission” and “innovative approach and passion toward improving health in society.”

As for her goals, Denny aspires to become a minister of health or a director of occupational health at the Asian Development Bank, the World Bank or the World Health Organization.

Given her global embrace of public health, it’s no surprise that she sees a world of possibilities.

Story by David Brothers, USF College of Public Health. Photo courtesy of Dr. Hanifa Denny.