It wasn’t until her last year of undergraduate work at the University of South Florida (USF) that Dr. Laura Riley even thought about a career in public health.

“I took an intro to public health course during the last year of my undergraduate degree, which really introduced me to the field and the possibility of pursuing a career in that direction,” said Riley, who graduated from the USF College of Public Health in 2016 with her doctorate in occupational exposure science. 

“I began researching the different departments within the COPH,” she added, “and Dr. Yehia Hammad [now retired] met with me personally to discuss the environmental and occupational health department. After hearing more about this department and researching all of the potential career opportunities available for someone with this background, I made the decision to pursue an MSPH degree [and later her doctorate].”

Three-time Bull

Staying at USF for her two graduate degrees was a no-brainer for Riley, a native of Melbourne, Fla. She says being on campus already made it easy to research the graduate program and meet with department leaders to get her questions answered. “USF seemed to have such a great and well-established program,” she said. “And not having to pick up and move my entire life to a new place was a bonus!”

Riley says one of her fondest memories while attending the COPH was sitting in Dr. Steve Mlynarek’s office (her graduate thesis advisor) for what she dubbed her “therapy sessions.” 

“There were laughs and sometimes tears, but I always left feeling like I had someone in my corner during this sometimes stressful process,” Riley said.

One of Riley’s biggest challenges during her six-year graduate journey was becoming a first-time mom while a student. 

“I knew that after graduation that I wanted to launch into my industrial hygiene career, and that immediately getting pregnant when entering the workforce may impact that,” Riley explained. “So, I made the decision to have both my kids while completing my doctorate degree. This definitely added a whole other layer of stress and exhaustion, but I’m so grateful to the faculty (Dr. Jaime Corvin, in particular), who were reaffirming and supportive of my decision. My kids were too young to remember watching their mom walk across the stage to receive her doctorate degree, but I think it is a great story to tell them and a lesson on ‘where there’s a will, there’s a way.’”

Creating a safer hospital system, especially during COVID

Riley’s first job post-graduation is also her current one. For the past five years, she’s been a certified industrial hygienist for Northside Hospital’s Infection Prevention Department. Northside has five acute-care hospitals and over 240 outpatient facilities and takes care of patients in 25 counties across Georgia.

“I love that I serve as almost an ‘in-house consultant’ for our hospital system, which means that no week is ever the same! I’ve helped integrate industrial hygiene and environmental health into many programs and policies throughout the Northside system, including the fields of employee exposure assessments, indoor air quality, ventilation systems, water management and construction infection control,” said Riley, who is also the infection control subcommittee chair for the American Industrial Hygiene Association’s (AIHA) Healthcare Working Group and the second year director for the AIHA Georgia local section.

With the advent of COVID-19, making hospitals safe has taken on an even greater urgency. 

“Once COVID hit, my work became much more focused on assisting our employee health department with N95 mask selection and respiratory-protection education for our staff,” Riley stated. “I also worked closely with our engineering department as we set up COVID influx units.  A lot was being asked of our engineering department regarding ventilation design changes, so I felt sort of like the liaison and ‘translator’ between operations and administration. This involved a lot of education on pressure differentials, filtration efficiency and air changes.”

Beyond the books

According to Riley, the COPH not only gave her a top-notch academic education, but it also taught her essential communication skills. 

“I have an entire shelf in my office where I keep all of my old textbooks, and I’ll frequently reference them for different questions or issues,” Riley said. “But in addition to what I learned academically, I also learned so many interpersonal skills that helped me navigate more easily in my professional career—things like being comfortable speaking or presenting to a group, being able to explain technical concepts in a way that makes sense to someone outside the IH field and using scientific reasoning to problem-solve issues when they arise. I find that [this job] is the perfect blend of strict science and people-focused work. It allows you to interact and collaborate with so many different groups of people. I can confidently say that my degree program gave me such a thorough knowledge base for so many facets of this diverse profession.”

Alumni Fast Five

What did you dream of becoming when you were young?

I wanted to be a dentist from such a young age, all the way up until my sophomore/junior year of college! But when it came time to start planning to take the DAT and applying to dental schools, I just could not find the motivation. That made me realize that I perhaps needed to start expanding my horizons into other facets of STEM.

Where can we find you on the weekend?

Hiking or camping in the North Georgia mountains with my family or working in the yard!

What is the last book you read?

“Commonwealth,” by Ann Patchett

What superpower would you like to have?

Teleportation!

What’s your all-time favorite movie?

Any 90s romantic comedy!

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health