Everyone was certain Dr. Michelle Crozier would grow up to be a veterinarian.

After all, Crozier, who grew up in Deland, Fla., and attended Stetson University, raised Belted Galloway cattle and even once won a cow in an essay contest.

But everyone was wrong.

“I was more interested in understanding how the human body worked,” Crozier stated.

As a biology major at Stetson, Crozier was taking pre-med courses and shadowing physicians. “But I didn’t feel much passion toward the field once I began learning about its realities,” she said. “During my junior year, I selected a book from the Health and Science shelf at Barnes & Noble called “Level 4: Virus Hunters of the CDC.” I was introduced to the exciting career of epidemiology, and I talked to my faculty advisor about how to become one just as soon as I learned how to say it. He helped me look into MPH programs, and the rest is history!”

Crozier enrolled at the USF College of Public Health (COPH) right after college and graduated with her MPH in epidemiology in 2009. In 2017, she received her PhD from the college.

“As a practical person, I love the emphasis on prevention in public health,” Crozier said. “I’m always looking to prevent bad things from happening and promote the good in life, and I’m a natural fit for a field with the same description.”

Crozier started out in public health as a communicable disease epidemiologist for the Volusia County Health Department—a job she started just a few months before the 2009 H1N1 influenza pandemic hit.

“I was the go-to person for the epidemiology response, and talk about baptism by fire,” Crozier said. “I learned more in the subsequent six months than I would have learned in five years on the job in non-pandemic times.”

Crozier took what she learned into the classroom. She’s held teaching positions at the University of Central Florida (UCF), USF (where she was the online epidemiology MPH coordinator from 2013-2017) and was most recently director of the Health Sciences Collegiate Academy at Lake-Sumter State College.

Today, Crozier is a lecturer at UCF in the School of Global Health Management and Informatics. She also serves as program director of the Health Care Informatics MS Program. 

“I spend my days handling admin stuff related to students and program accreditation, teaching, prepping classes, meeting with students and finding time to write a little on research projects. I like that it combines two of my childhood dream jobs, teaching and medicine, with a public health focus.  It’s also in my hometown where I can be close to my family,” Crozier said.

Crozier sees herself staying at UCF, building on the knowledge and skills she learned at the COPH.

“I’m diligently working on creating my niche at UCF so I am successfully promoted to associate lecturer in a few years,” she said. “I see myself retiring from here, but I wouldn’t mind doing it a little early so I can travel extensively, especially to cooler places during the hot Florida summers!”

Alumni Fast Five

What did you dream of becoming when you were young?

I wanted to become a teacher, architect or medical doctor.

Where can we find you on the weekends?

Swimming at the beach or pool, seeing a traveling Broadway show or concert and/or eating a scrumptious meal.

What’s the last book you read?

“Florida Woman,” by Deb Rogers.

What superpower would you like to have?

Invisibility

What’s your all-time favorite movie?

It’s a toss-up between “The Sound of Music” and “The Silence of the Lambs.”

To view the awards ceremony, click here.

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health