First published on June 1, 2015 in observance of the COPH’s 30^th anniversary celebration.

It was the evening of May 2.  There was a slight chill in the air as fans gathered in Traditions Hall anxiously awaiting the event of the century.

No, not the Mayweather vs. Pacquiao fight.  The other event ….

The USF College of Public Health’s Inaugural Alumni Awards Ceremony.

More than 180 supporters of the college traveled from as far as Indonesia to celebrate 28 Bulls with significant impact in public health.  From research to practice to policy to teaching, the awardees have done it all and are doing it exceedingly well.

COPH 2015 alumni awardees

The celebration began with a cocktail reception at 6 p.m., followed by dinner and the ceremony.  The dynamic Dr. Joette Giovinco served as mistress of ceremony for the evening.  She’s the first physician to complete the COPH’s occupational medicine residency program, but is probably best known as Dr. Joe, the medical reporter for Fox News in Tampa.

Dr. Joe shared stories and relics from her days as a graduate student in 1988.  She even dusted off some vintage overhead sheets and her carousel replete with slides!

“We were so fortunate 30 years ago that visionary leaders like Sam Bell and Dr. Robert Hamlin believed that Florida deserved to have a school of public health and created the foundation for the first one in the state at the University of South Florida,” said Dr. Donna J. Petersen, COPH dean and senior associate vice president of USF Health.

“It is only fitting on the occasion of our 30^th anniversary that we recognize some of those alumni who, through their commitment to their profession, improve the health of communities around the world and reflect back so positively on our College of Public Health.”

Nominations were accepted through January.  A selection committee comprised of retired and current faculty, staff, alumni, students and community partners in public health had the arduous task of reviewing dozens of nomination packets.

Each alumni awardee received a stunning silver bull engraved with his or her name.

After dinner, Peggy Defay shared her experiences as a public health graduate student.

“As a first generation immigrant from Haiti,” she said, “higher education in any capacity is a priority for me.”

“I discovered my passion for public health through my experience as a Peace Corps volunteer in Namibia.  Through this experience, I gained a better understanding of health issues at the grassroots level.  Being a volunteer in the Peace Corps helped me understand some of my weaknesses and the need to continue training in this field.”

“The past seven years have taken me to various corners of the world where I have been privileged to meet, live and be empowered by many people.  The last two years at the University of South Florida are no exception to that.  And, I can now say that I have once again lived and worked among amazing people!”

Then, it was time for the main event—presentation of the COPH Class of 2015 alumni awardees.  Each alumni award recipient was recognized during the ceremony, and all are listed here.  A few of their stories are included for those who weren’t present to hear them all on May 2.

Tabia Henry Akintobi, PhD, MPH
Director, Prevention Research Center
Director, Evaluation and Institutional Assessment
Associate Professor, Department of Community Health and Preventive Medicine
Associate Dean, Community Health
Morehouse School of Medicine
Atlanta, Ga.

“As a graduate student, I had the opportunity not just to learn how to conduct research, but how to lead it in partnership with experts who cared,” Dr. Tabia Akintobi said.  “They recognized the importance of students as significant contributors to their research as reflected in the number of co-authored papers and abstracts I had under my belt prior to graduation.”

“Among the wonderful colleagues, mentors and leaders I met during my tenure was the love of my life, professional confidante and partner in good Dr. Adebayo Akindele Akintobi [former student and husband].”

Abdel A. Alli, PhD, MPH
Assistant Professor
Department of Physiology
Emory University School of Medicine
Atlanta, Ga.

Philip T. Amuso, PhD, MS
Consultant
Clinical Laboratory Medicine and Public Health Preparedness

Retired Director
Bureau of Laboratories
Florida Department of Health
Tampa, Fla.

Roy W. Beck, MD, PhD
Executive Director
Jaeb Center for Health Research
Tampa, Fla.

Sherri Berger, MSPH
Chief Operating Officer
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Atlanta, Ga.

“My undergraduate degree was in political science, and I didn’t know exactly what to do with it after graduation,” Sherri Berger said.

Sherri Berger and son Jacob.

“Listening to my mother’s advice to ‘get more education,’ I did what other college kids do, and I followed my boyfriend to Tampa, where he had a job offer.  I was hoping to get a master’s degree in hospital administration.  However, in my first semester at the COPH, I fell in love with epidemiology.”

Arlene Calvo, PhD, MPH
Research Assistant Professor
Depts. of Community and Family Health & Global Health
USF College of Public Health
City of Knowledge, Panama

James R. Chastain, Jr., PhD, PE, MPH
President
Chastain-Skillman, Inc.
Tampa, Fla.

“Having an undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering, I found public health a perfect complement to that training,” Dr. James Chastain said.  “While engineering is much more design and nuts-and-bolts execution-oriented, public health was more about the personal impacts and generally a systems-oriented and advocacy approach.  There certainly was a great overlap, but even the way that I had to study was different.  Public health provided fresh perspectives to design problems, and I enjoyed expanding my horizons with my studies.  In a word, public health tended to address the “why” questions, and engineering focused on the “how” questions.  I’ve found that very helpful in my practice.”

The Chastain Family celebrated James accomplishments. James is pictured far left.

“The COPH also was quite progressive at the time in terms of scheduling courses that allowed working professionals to take the courses while working at the same time.”

Chastain managed a company and family with three children while earning his degree.

“The time pressures were intense,” he said, “and would not have been possible without a very understanding and supportive wife.”

Stephen R. Cole, PhD, MPH
Professor of Epidemiology
Gillings School of Global Public Health
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, N.C.

Martha L. Daviglus, MD, PhD
Associate Vice Chancellor for Research
Professor of Medicine
Director of the Institute for Minority Health Research
University of Illinois at Chicago
Chicago, Ill.

Hanifa M. Denny, PhD, MPH, BSPH
Dean
College of Public Health
Diponegoro University
Semarang, Indonesia

“One day, we were brought to new [medical] student orientation session.  After touring a hospital ward, I was not able to eat or sleep for some days due to seeing a diabetic patient with a severe wound,” Dr. Hanifa Denny recalled.

“I asked one professor if there is a program within the college of medicine without a requirement to visit patients in a hospital ward.  I also said that I wanted to help people to live in a healthy lifestyle without necessarily suffering from sickness.  I wanted to make people healthy and able to work without a fear of being sick.  The professor explained public health and how the science would meet my expectation.  After my second year of college, I fell in love with occupational and environmental health.”

Scott Dotson, PhD, MSC, CIH
Lead Health Scientist – Senior Team Coordinator
Education and Information Division
National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Cincinnati, Ohio

Anthony Escobio, MPH, FHFMA, CHAM
Vice President
Patient Financial Services
Tampa General Hospital
Tampa, Fla.

“I wanted to be an MD.  I took a few of the pre-med “weed out” courses as an undergraduate and did not do very well,” Anthony Escobio recalled. “I had an entry-level job at St. Joseph’s Hospital in 1990, and this is where I learned that there were many more opportunities in health care that did not involve practicing medicine.”

The Escobios couldn’t be more proud of Anthony (back row, second from right).

One of the more “interesting” events from Escobio’s COPH days involves a class with Dr. Alan Sear.

“I left a management position at University Community Hospital to be a senior analyst at Tampa General Hospital,” Escobio said.  “TGH was having a host of financial challenges at the time, and the leadership was being ridiculed in the press on a weekly basis.  One of my professors, Alan Sear, spent an entire lecture discussing the poor decisions that leadership at TGH was making.  I sat slouched in my chair knowing that I had just taken a job to be an analyst for these very leaders.  All I could think to myself was ‘what have I done?’  Little did I know that I would be at the center of one of the biggest hospital turnarounds in the country for this period of time.”

Ligia María Cruz Espinoza, MD, PhD, MPH
Associate Research Scientist
International Vaccine Institute
Leon, Nicaragua

Kathryn J. Gillette, MHA, FACHE
Market President and Chief Operating Officer
Bayfront Health-St. Petersburg
St. Petersburg, Fla.

Jan J. Gorrie, JD, MPH
Managing Partner
Ballard Partners
Tampa, Fla.

Richard T. Hartman, PhD, MS, CSP, CIH
Chief Health Strategist
PSI Inc.
Alexandria, Va.

Xiomara Zulay Hewitt, MPH
Director
Infection Prevention and Control
Adventist Health System
Altamonte Springs, Fla.

Winifred M. Holland, MPH, MA, LMHC
Administrator-Health Officer
Florida Department of Health in Clay County
Green Cove Springs, Fla.

Carol Ann Jenkins, MPH, FACHE
Director, Accreditation and Survey Readiness
All Children’s Hospital Inc.
St. Petersburg, Fla.

Claudia X. Aguado Loi, PhD, MPH, CHES
Research Assistant Professor
Department of Community and Family Health
USF College of Public Health
Tampa, Fla.

Christine McGuire-Wolfe, PhD, MPH, CPH
Firefighter/Paramedic and Infection Control Officer
Pasco County Fire Rescue

Adjunct Faculty
Department of Global Health
USF College of Public Health
Tampa, Fla.

Maj. (Dr.) James McKnight
Force Health Protection Officer
U.S. Central Command
Serving in Jordan

Maj. James McKnight’s children accepted his award since he is serving in Jordan.

Rachel Nuzum, MPH
Vice President
Federal and State Health Policy
The Commonwealth Fund
Washington, D.C.

Claudine M. Samanic, PhD, MSPH
Commander
U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps

Environmental Health Scientist
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Research Region 5
Division of Community Health Investigations
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Chicago, Ill.

“Since 1999, when I graduated, I’ve been impressed with the expansion and creation of new institutes and centers, the college’s increasing role in global health, and announcements of various faculty accomplishments and impact,” said Dr. Claudine Samanic.  “It was humbling to be in the room with so many accomplished fellow COPH alumni.”

Angelia Sanders, MPH
Associate Director
Trachoma Control Program
The Carter Center
Atlanta, Ga.

Natalia Vargas, MPH
Public Health Analyst
Health Resources and Services Administration
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
Rockville, Md.

Angelica C. Williams, MPH
Disease Intervention Specialist
Florida Department of Health in Broward County
Pembroke Pines, Fla.

Lauren B. Zapata, PhD, MSPH
Commander
U.S. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps

Senior Research Scientist
Division of Reproductive Health
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Atlanta, Ga.

COPH Deans, from left: Drs. Peter Levin, Donna Petersen (current) and Charles Mahan.

Without question, the night was all about the alumni awardees, but there were a few other show-stoppers in the room. Namely, COPH Deans Drs. Peter Levin, Donna Petersen, and Charles Mahan (above) and COPH alumnus and USF Board Trustee Scott Hopes (below left).

USF Trustee Scott Hopes (on left) with Lesley and Rick Bateman.  Lesley was the college’s first public affairs and development officer.

Founded in July 1984, the USF College of Public Health is wrapping up a yearlong celebration of educating and training public health professionals.  Some of the 30^th anniversary year highlights include

• regional events in Orlando, New Orleans, Chicago, and Washington, D.C.
• the Dean’s Lecture Series featuring alumni like Drs. Richard Hartman, Charlan Kroelinger and Hana Osman.
• community building activities like a tailgate and USF football game, fall networking social during homecoming, Super Bowl party and spring BBQ.
• Team #USFCOPHRocks with more than 50 public health Bulls participating in the Gasparilla Distance Classic.
• raising almost $70,000 in new commitments to student scholarships in the college.

“We are proud of the work we have done building on a solid foundation and creating an outstanding school of public health—one that just recently jumped in national rankings from 21 to 16,” Petersen said.  “In addition to our great champions and the consistent high performance of our faculty and staff, the reputation we have earned is due in no small measure to the incredible contributions of our alumni.”

The alumni awards ceremony was made possible with support from the COPH, as well as corporate sponsors USF Health and Bayfront Health-St. Petersburg, and individual sponsors Drs. Jay Wolfson and Phillip and Jean Amuso.

It takes a village to raise a family AND host an amazing alumni awards ceremony.  Salute!

Alumni awardee Dr. Abdel A. Alli (second from right) enjoyed the festivities with his family, as well as nominator and faculty mentor Dr. Donna Haiduven (center) and her husband, Michael Gronquist (far right).

Alumni awardee Dr. Arlene Calvo shares a special moment with fellow alumnus Dr. Clement Gwede.

Go, Bulls!

“I applaud the College of Public Health for recognizing alumni who not only have tremendous accomplishments, but who have made a difference in the lives of so many,” said Bill McCausland, executive director of the USF Alumni Association.

Story by Natalie D. Preston, College of Public Health.  Photos by Ashley Grant and Humberto Lopez Castillo.

Related media:
Alumni Awards photo gallery on Facebook

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The USF College of Public Health (COPH) Activist Lab recently received an American Public Health Association (APHA) Student Champions Climate Justice Award.

The APHA’s Center for Climate, Health and Equity presents the Student Champions for Climate Justice Awards each year to student groups across the country. Students receiving the award are tasked with creating an academic community experience on their campuses to raise awareness about climate justice.

According to Rolando Trejos, a COPH PhD student who also serves as the project lead for the grant, climate justice recognizes the unfair, unequal and disproportionate effects of changes in the climate among communities of color, older adults, children and people with lower incomes and encourages the input of the uplifting community when attempting to tackle its effects.

“As an international student from Panamá, I have observed firsthand the catastrophic role of human-made emissions and contamination in accelerating the rate of climate change in the region I am originally from, called Azuero,” Trejos said. “In this region, pesticide exposure and atrazine contamination of one of the main rivers are hypothesized to play a role in the steep increase in the number of new cancer cases, with little to no attention to this issue. It is hoped that programs such as ours will enhance advocacy.”

The months-long project has been performed in several stages.

In September, Activist Lab members visited Liberty Middle School in Tampa and provided an interactive presentation on climate justice for 22 students.

In October, they released a podcast on climate justice and Latino health that featured COPH professors and Salud Latina members Drs. Arlene Calvo and Ricardo Izurieta and Dr. Joseph Grzywacz, associate dean for research and faculty, from San Jose State University. The third and main event was a climate justice workshop for undergraduate and graduate students held at the COPH at the end of October.

The final events, said Trejos, will be an oral presentation given at the APHA 2023 Annual Meeting and Expo within the APHA Emerging Scholars program and an “Instagram takeover” of the official Instagram of the American Public Health Association.

“Bringing awareness to the importance of climate justice and promoting health equity among Latinos has been exciting,” Trejos said. “On a personal note, as a Latino public health professional and cancer researcher, I aspire to continue to work toward envisioning equity in cancer among Latinos, which will necessitate an understanding of the roles of both the social and built environments.”

Trejos said he and the other Activist Lab members feel “honored” to have received the APHA award.

“It is an honor to collaborate with our Activist Lab director and principal investigator of the grant Dr. Karen Liller and student advisory board members Jenny Ho, Amadeo Brandon, Hannah Harburg and Farshid Faizee in the planning and implementation of this project,” Trejos noted.

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

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In October, USF College of Public Health (COPH) Dean Donna Petersen traveled to Panama, meeting with Panamanian public health professionals, COPH alumni and health ministry officials.

The trip’s aim was to renew existing partnerships and forge new ones ahead of the 20-year anniversary of the Panama Program, housed within Panama’s City of Knowledge. The anniversary will be recognized next year.

The college’s Panama Program, led by Associate Professor and COPH alum Dr. Arlene Calvo, provides the COPH with study abroad programs, international field experiences and internships, service learning, faculty and student exchange and multiple types of research activities. The City of Knowledge is a non-profit community of academic institutions, technology companies and nongovernmental organizations.

The COPH has multiple partners within Panama, and it is in the process of developing and renewing 11 agreements of collaboration with agencies such as the Universidad de Panama, APLAFA-Panamanian Family Planning Society, the Gorgas Memorial Institute for Health Studies, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Institute for Scientific Research and Technology Services (SENACYT).

The college also recently partnered with the Universidad del Istmo, where COPH alum Dr. Arturo Rebollon is the dean of health sciences and where Petersen addressed attendees of a scientific symposium held during her visit. Other alumni of the Panama Program were also in attendance. “They are all doing incredibly well in their positions as leaders in the Panamanian health system,” Petersen said. “I cannot express how gratifying this is—to know that through these efforts, we are truly making the world a better place for public health.” 

Petersen noted that having these partnerships has afforded the college a plethora of opportunities—from hosting study abroad courses, student interns, student and faculty researchers and international conferences in the country to creating professional development programs and recruiting emerging leaders to study public health in Tampa.

The COPH has also taken a supportive role in the establishment of a simulation center in Panama, modeled on USF Health’s Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS), as well as a new vaccine research/production center, currently being built.

Next up, said Petersen, will be an international academic conference on migration and human health in Latin America, to coincide with the Panama Program’s 20^th anniversary.

“In the U.S., we are acutely aware of our migration issues, but we sometimes forget that migration includes many people traveling many miles through fragile ecosystems and small communities, presenting threats to security, health and the environment while also presenting opportunities for those with ill intent to capitalize on the vulnerabilities these populations present,” Petersen said. “We look forward to a rich discussion, which will undoubtedly lead to other ideas that we will nourish, together. We will continue to engage as true partners with Panama, optimizing what each of us brings to the relationship.”

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

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In March, a team of USF faculty, including USF College of Public Health (COPH) Salud Latina faculty members Drs. Ismael Hoare, Ricardo Izurieta, Dinorah Martinez Tyson and Jason Salemi, traveled to Panama to attend and speak at an international forum focused on health disparities and misinformation in Latin America.

Also in attendance were Drs. Sylvia Thomas, interim vice president for research and innovation and president and CEO of the USF Research Foundation, and Ryan McMinds, a research assistant professor with the COPH’s Center for Global Health and Infectious Diseases Research (GHIDR).

They were joined in Panama by the forum’s organizer, Dr. Arlene Calvo, a USF COPH alumna and Panama native who is an associate professor at the college and director of the COPH’s Panama Program and the Salud Latina initiative.

The Panama Program offers international field experiences and internships, service learning, faculty and student exchange and multiple types of research and academic opportunities. Salud Latina works to address public health issues in Spanish heritage/Latin American communities around the globe.

The forum was a collaboration between the COPH, the University of Panama’s College of Medicine and School of Public Health, the Ciencia en Panama Foundation and the City of Knowledge, a research and academic campus that partners with the COPH’s Panama Program.

The registrants, roughly 100 in all, learned about a variety of issues, including those related to social determinants of health and misinformation as well as vaccine hesitancy.

“When I joined Salud Latina in 2021, one of our primary charges was to understand the disproportionate COVID-19 pandemic toll borne by communities throughout Latin America,” explained Salemi, a COPH associate professor, COPH alumnus and Salud Latina member who spoke at the forum. “Following the amazing contributions of my colleagues and students throughout the COPH over the past two years, we began to realize the potential collaborative impact we could have [in the region] on research, community engagement, academic scholarly exchange and support/mentorship of students.”

The group brainstormed on collaborative agreements for research, student and faculty exchange and potential grants among new and existing partners, including Panama’s National Secretariat of Science, Technology and Innovation, the Social Security Research Institute, the Gorgas Memorial Institute and the International Center for Political and Social Studies. In May, some of the Panamanian officials who took part in the partnership forging discussions will travel to the college to solidify project plans.

“We are planning agreements to further our collaborations with eight different agencies here in Panama,” Calvo said. “The City of Knowledge is the perfect hub for these programs because of its centralized location. It allows these programs to have a regional presence for research and exchange in all of Latin America. This year, the COPH celebrates its twentieth-year presence at the City of Knowledge from where we conduct research and academic activities in Panama and other Latin American countries.”

According to Salemi, the forum gave the COPH an opportunity to highlight its dedication and commitment to public health initiatives and improving the lives of those in Latin America and beyond.

“I think attendees got out of the forum exactly what so many get when they interact with any faculty, students or staff from the COPH,” Salemi said. “They know we love what we do. They know we are passionate about exacting real, meaningful change. They know we are committed to the communities we serve. And they know we are tireless in our pursuit of things that matter. From that end, we absolutely accomplished much of what we set out to do. And more.”

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

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USF College of Public Health’s (COPH) Dr. Ismael Hoare, Anna Mayor and Tailyn Osorio are recipients of the 2022 USF Hispanic Heritage Awards.

The USF Status of Latinos (SOL) Committee presents the awards each year to “outstanding Latinx members of the USF community making a profound difference” and who are contributing to the Latinx community through academic research and/or community service.

All three awardees are active members of the COPH’s Salud Latina USF. The initiative aims to address important public health issues among Spanish-speaking communities in the U.S. and abroad through outreach, education and research.

Hoare, assistant professor, is experienced in global health education and working with communities with low resources. He is currently the concentration lead of the global health practice program and teaches in the global humanitarian assistance, disaster management and homeland security program.

Specializing in Caribbean and Central American health systems, human resources for health, community assessment and injury prevention in the field of disaster preparedness, he has led interdisciplinary teams that investigated the factors that contribute to health service utilization. He’s also developed health education programs tailored to Belizean community and conducted a community developed needs assessment survey to identify the impact of chronic diseases within peri-urban populations. His research helps contribute to the development of interventions to reduce the negative impact on the health of the indigenous populations in Central America.

“Dr. Hoare is a valued member of the core faculty team of the Salud Latina. He has been involved in development of the initiative since the onset and actively participates in the research aspects of the initiative as well as Latinx student mentoring, outreach and education and scholarly activities,” said Dr. Arlene Calvo, associate professor and coordinator of the Salud Latina. “Dr. Hoare, not being a native Spanish-language speaker, rose to the occasion to participate and present in the monthly Spanish-language led webinar series, which has been a tremendous feat.”

“Anna Mayor was instrumental in the initial organization and launching of Salud Latina USF. Through her position and experience developing communications strategies, she catalyzed the communications and outreach component of the initiative,” Calvo said. “Anna’s vision on communications has tremendously contributed to the Salud Latina USF outreach and education component among Latinx communities.”

Mayor, engagement officer in the COPH Office of Engagement and Constituent Relations, is a strategic communicator and writer with a passion for working in non-profit, health communication and telling compelling stories.

A double alumna of USF, she earned a bachelor’s degree in mass communications/magazine journalism and a master’s degree in strategic communication management. Mayor has worked as a communications professional for more than 13 years, first starting out as a journalist writing both news and magazine feature stories.

She then began working in the field of non-profit communication for an HIV/AIDS organization providing education and training resources to health care professionals on the prevention and treatment of HIV, focusing specifically on providers located in Florida and the Caribbean.

She continued her health communication path after joining the COPH in 2015, where she oversees the management of the college’s social media pages, writing stories and news releases to promote the college’s story and assists with the creation of both educational and marketing materials ensuring adherence to branding guidelines.

The daughter of an immigrant Filipina mother and military father as well as a first-generation college graduate, she is strongly connected to the Latino community having married her husband Manuel Mayor, who is of Cuban/Colombian background, and having two multiracial Latino children, an 8-year-old daughter Mariella and 5-year-old son Manuel.

She has been working with Salud Latina USF from the beginning, first assisting with social media graphic creation before morphing into a larger communications role to include establishing a branding presence, social media page creation, contacting news media, listserv management, mass email marketing and marketing flyer/collateral creation.

USF graduate student Tailyn Osorio is a trilingual interpreter and research assistant with Salud Latina.

Graduating with a bachelor’s degree in American Sign Language interpreting from the University of North Florida, she moved on to become a student at USF in the graduate applied anthropology program focusing on cultural and sociolinguistic applied anthropology.

Osorio has been working with Salud Latina for the last year and is involved in research activities, student engagement and coordination, community outreach and education and scholarly activities.

Raised to be proud of her culture and Cuban/Puerto Rican/Caribbean identity, Osorio’s hobbies are hiking, reading, skating and dancing. Her research interests are deaf studies, deaf anthropology, disabilities accessibilities, health and health access in the Americas.

“For the past year, Tailyn has brought her passion for disabilities activism, social justice and advocacy for Latinos to her work with Salud Latina USF. She is quick to volunteer within the initiative and goes above and beyond with her creativity in creating social media content,” Calvo said. “She is not afraid to bring her ideas forth and to provide feedback to the rest of the team. She is a role model for other Latino students striving to support their community.”

Story by Caitlin Keough, USF College of Public Health

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USF College of Public Health’s Dr. Arlene Calvo, associate professor, and Erik Ruiz, PhD student, are recipients of the 2021 USF Hispanic Heritage Awards.

The USF Status of Latinos (SOL) Committee presents the awards each year to “outstanding Latinx members of the USF community making a profound difference” and recognizes scholarship recipients.

Their COPH colleagues Drs. Abraham Salinas Miranda, assistant professor and director of the Harrell Center, and Dina Martinez-Tyson, associate professor, nominated them.

Calvo is program coordinator of the Salud Latina USF initiative at the COPH, directs the public health practice and the public health generalist certificate programs, and also leads the COPH’s Panama Program in the City of Knowledge in addition to serving as an associate investigator for the Gorgas Memorial Institute for Health Studies of Panama.

“She has more than 20 years of research experience in the United States, Panama, and other countries in the Latin American region, leading research at the population and community level focusing on the health of vulnerable groups in Latin America and the U.S.,” Salinas Miranda said in his nomination for Calvo. “Dr. Calvo is currently leading an extremely important effort for our Hispanic community, the Salud Latina initiative, which is a transdisciplinary enterprise that originated at the USF’s College of Public Health as a response to the unequal burden of COVID-19 on Spanish- speaking populations in the U.S. and globally.”   

Calvo established Salud Latina USF in January 2021. The group consists of Spanish-speaking faculty at the USF COPH who aim to inform the Spanish-speaking community about public health issues, combat misinformation and provide credible public health messages alongside training of Latinx students, community outreach and education, and research endeavors dedicated to the growing U.S. Latinx and Latin American populations.

“It was quite an honor to be nominated for the SOL awards by my peers. Through the COPH initiative Salud Latina, we are working at delivering appropriate messages in Spanish language that are easy to understand. We are also conducting research that is culturally appropriate, understanding the messages that are being delivered to and engaging Latinx students and communities in the U.S. and globally,” Calvo said. “As a Latina myself, I recognize the plight of international people living in other countries and what they have to go through to have access to health care and appropriate health information in their own language that is science-based.”

Calvo, who earned her PhD from the COPH in 2005 specializing in health education and her MPH in 1998, is based in Panama and is one of seven faculty awarded a seed grant and an internal award this year from the college to expand Salud Latina USF efforts.

Ruiz is a PhD student concentrating in community and family health and graduate research assistant currently working to support multiple research projects focused on the supportive care and health literacy needs of Latinx people in the U.S and in Latin America.

He previously served as a commercial specialist for an environmental health organization and a pharmaceutical research organization. He also has experience in supporting diverse LGBTQ+ youth groups and providing sexual behavioral health outreach to underserved communities.

“I have been Erik’s advisor since he started the doctoral program,” Martinez Tyson said in her nomination of Ruiz. “He is in the top 1 percent of students I have had the pleasure to work with. He has maintained a 4.0 GPA this past academic year while taking 28 credit hours. Erik is highly motivated and action oriented. He wants to do research that will enact social change to address Latin health disparities and create equity through community engaged public health initiatives that are inclusive of diverse populations.”

Ruiz has also actively been involved with the Salud Latina USF initiative, working collaboratively with faculty, participating in monthly webinars and conducting content analysis of Spanish-language social media to examine disinformation.

“He has taken a leadership role and coordinates the work of six other Latino students who are also working on the project,” Martinez Tyson said. “Through these efforts he has become a peer mentor to other graduate Latino students at the COPH and is currently working to start a chapter of the Latino Caucus for Public Health at USF. He is motivated, brings people together and takes ownership of the tasks he is assigned or leads with purpose and humility.”

“I felt honored to even have been nominated!” Ruiz said.  “To me, this award was the recognition of the collective efforts of my family, mentors, peers and colleagues who have allowed me to work in the academic and community spaces. Furthermore, I felt as if this award was a formal recognition by USF of the importance of conducting public health research and praxis with Latinx communities that will hopefully inspire other students at USF to engage in these activities as well.”

Ruiz said addressing public health issues in the Latino community is important for many reasons.

“We are the largest ethnic minority group in the U.S., and we experience health burdens disproportionately to other racial and ethnic groups,” he said. “I also think that culture, including Latinx cultures, shapes how we make health decisions, perceive risk and promote health within our own communities. Capturing these perspectives from culturally diverse Latinx communities is an important step in understanding how we can work together to overcome adverse health outcomes.”

He said he is very thankful for earning the award and for his experiences so far at the COPH.

“I am so grateful to have come to the College of Public Health at USF because I have been able to learn from the most amazing and dedicated educators and mentors, including Drs. Dina Martinez Tyson,  Cheryl Vamos, Jerome Galea, and all the faculty working through the new Salud Latina Initiative at USF,” he said.

Learn more about the Salud Latina USF initiative here.

 Story by Anna Mayor, USF College of Public Health

The post Dr. Arlene Calvo and Erik Ruiz earn 2021 USF Hispanic Heritage Awards appeared first on College of Public Health News.

USF College of Public Health’s Dr. Arlene Calvo, associate professor, has participated in a series of focus groups talking with inner city youth in Panama to develop more appropriate public health messages in the context of COVID-19.

This initiative, convened by Pan American Health Organization (PAHO-WHO) PAHO-WHO, is led by the Ministry of Health Panama (MINSA) Department of Health Promotion San Miguelito Health Region and Calvo will support data analysis to help generate the health messages on behalf of the COPH’s Panama Program and Salud Latina USF.

As part of the initiative for the implementation of the “Guide for the adoption of non-pharmacological Public Health measures in population groups in vulnerable situations in the context of Covid-19,” MINSA held a series of focus groups in the San Miguelito inner city health region.

“The objectives of this initiative include identifying knowledge, attitudes, and practices of the intended audience in relation to the adaptation of non-pharmacological public health measures and vaccination in the context of COVID-19,” Calvo said. “We also aim to establish effective communication interventions that allow a constructive dialogue with young people between 12 and 18 years of age, in relation to the adaptation of measures in the context of COVID.”

The ongoing initiative also aims to develop messages intended for young audiences between the ages of 12 and 18 years in high-density urban areas on public health measures in the context of COVID-19 in a friendly and suitable environment for young people.

Related media:

Conversatorio con jóvenes sobre medidas preventivas de Covid-19

Story by Dr. Arlene Calvo, USF College of Public Health

The post Getting the message right: insights from inner city youth in Panama appeared first on College of Public Health News.

A story of growth

One USF College of Public Health (COPH) internal seed grant has helped the research efforts of Dr. Mahmooda Khaliq Pasha, assistant professor of social marketing, blossom into more than half a million dollars.

As a result of the work she was able to do because of the COPH’s internal grant, Khaliq Pasha said she’s obtained and applied for additional research grants, including funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) and National Institutes of Health (NIH), and completed two published manuscripts, with more in the works. The $28,000 grant she was awarded in 2019 helped her to kickstart a long-standing collaboration with the USF College of Engineering to decrease exposure to lead through water in Madagascar.

The team developed a social marketing campaign, centered on a training program for local manufacturers of hand pumps—teaching them to replace lead components with locally sourced materials.

“As you can imagine, in a community with a low understanding of lead and its health consequences, sudden change in the norm can create a sense of unease,” said Pasha, who is also associate director of the WHO Collaborating Centre on Social Marketing and Social Change. “That’s especially true if it’s initiated by folks who aren’t necessarily representatives of your community.”

Khaliq Pasha brought in her expertise of social marketing to work with the community to make those changes for a better public health outcome.

As a result of the COPH’s seed grant, Khaliq Pasha has been able disseminate the results in:  

“Midstream Players Determine Population-Level Behavior Change: Social Marketing Research to Increase Demand for Lead-Free Components in Pitcher Pumps in Madagascar,” in International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health in 2021.

“Health and Economic Consequences of Lead Exposure Associated with Products and Services Provided by the Informal Economy” in Environmental Science & Technologyin 2021.

She said she credits the COPH’s seed grants for doing what they are intended to do.  

“The funding was vital to my success as an assistant professor, it provided me with the support to start an independent research project,” she said.

She said that she now has a research team with the College of Engineering that meets weekly, consisting of a postdoctoral fellow, doctoral students, and master’s students who are advised on conducting research from both an engineering and social marketing lens.

With the NSF grant, Khaliq Pasha said they will be able to expand this even further. She will be serving as co-PI alongside principal investigator Dr. Jeffrey Cunningham of the USF College of Engineering.

“In essence, we’re creating a pipeline of social marketers and engineering students working together on water safety and quality issues in an international setting. We are forging this relationship between our students, our faculty, to get this new initiative off the ground,” she said.

“The COPH internal grants provide resources that are sufficient for doing high-quality research and disseminating it.”

2021-2022 Awardees

According to Dr. Dina Martinez Tyson, chair of the college’s research committee funding these grants, a total of 15 proposals were received for this year and seven were awarded.

“We are delighted that COPH can provide this level of support to faculty. Our hope is that the funds provided will stimulate research collaborations and lay the foundation for future external grant applications, as illustrated by Dr. Khaliq Pasha’s work,” Martinez Tyson said. “We had a very robust response to the call for proposals that was released this past summer. To see that level of interest from faculty is outstanding. We are glad we were able to fund the top seven proposals with support from COPH.”

The 2021-2021 awardees are:

Dr. Monica Uddin, professor of psychiatric genomics

Epigenetic profiles of treatment resistant depression (TRD) and response to transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS)

“This seed grant is enabling our research team to ‘take a risk’ that would otherwise have been prohibitively expensive/costly to undertake. The TRD population is challenging to work with due to the severe and chronic nature of their depressive symptoms. This funding is allowing us to work with an initial pilot site we have started to work with in South Tampa—The TMS of South Tampa Clinic under the direction of Dr. Kenneth Pages, while also recruiting from Dr. Currier’s Neurotherapies clinic here at USF. In addition, the project is facilitating major new research opportunities for the first PhD student in genomics, Jan Dahrendorff, who will be critical to all aspects of this work.”

Dr. Rays Jiang, associate professor of systems biology

Tracking the first global pandemics

“The first global pandemics happened more than 1,000 years ago. Large waves of plagues (541-767 AD) torched across the entire Mediterranean Basin, affecting Northern Europe, South Arabia and Africa. Similar to the spread of COVID-19, global trade and cultural exchange precipitated the calamity of the first pandemic. My colleagues in USF Anthropology, [Morsani] College of Medicine, and Florida Atlantic University and I will use ancient DNA to track down this first world pandemic. The team will study biomaterials of plague victims excavated in Jerash, Jordan, a hub of the historical silk-road linking continents, and a nexus of trans Afro-Eurasian trade. We aim to uncover pathogen transmission patterns and human genetics in one of the world’s first cosmopolitan cities. The team will establish transdisciplinary expertise from anthropology to genomics and is in the process of developing related NSF projects with international outreach programs.”

Dr. Amy Alman, associate professor of epidemiology  

The Oral Microbiome, Immunophenotype, and COVID-19 Post-Acute Sequelae

“Approximately 30 percent of those who survive the acute phase of COVID-19 experience enduring symptoms, such as fatigue, loss of taste or smell, dyspnea, “brain fog” and chest pain.  This has been called “post-acute sequelae of COVID-19” (PASC) and has affected individuals across the full spectrum of disease severity.  It is not currently understood what factors lead to PASC. I am very excited to be working with an excellent team of investigators across USF to accomplish the objectives of this project.  This grant will allow us to better understand post-acute sequelae of COVID-19.”

Dr. Amy Stuart, professor of environmental health and science

Pilot study and methods development on the use of low-cost sensors and citizen science to reduce air pollution exposure inequality and empower vulnerable communities

“Traffic-related urban air pollution disproportionately affects historically disadvantaged communities. For example, neighborhoods that are predominantly Black and Brown or have high poverty rates often have higher levels of air pollution exposure; residents also have poorer outcomes for related health effects. However, these same communities have also been less empowered to engage in the environmental decision-making processes that could affect such inequality. With this grant, we will develop methods and pilot data for community air pollution monitoring in the Tampa Bay area using low-cost sensors and citizen science, and we will plan a study on the effects of this community participation in research on empowerment of historically disadvantaged neighborhoods in urban decision making.  I am excited to have this opportunity to address such an important public health problem affecting our local communities, while positioning our team to compete for a large external grant that could help to improve urban environmental health and health equity broadly.”

Dr. Amber Mehmood, associate professor of global disaster management, humanitarian relief and homeland security

Prephugee: Pilot test of a curriculum to increase awareness and self-efficacy toward disaster preparedness

“Florida is home to an array of natural disasters. It also has the largest refugee program in the nation. Strengthening local preparedness is viewed as an essential element in effective response and recovery. The complexity of preparedness among refugees is further increased due to limited resources, temporary housing and language barriers. Many refugees and visitors underestimate the enormity and scale of natural disasters. In addition, people require sufficient knowledge, motivation and resources to engage in preparedness and planning, which are offset by a lengthy resettlement procedure. In this project called “Prephugee,” we are developing a community-based, customized and culturally sensitive educational program to build awareness, increase knowledge and self-efficacy at individual and household levels to plan and prepare for the common emergencies in Florida. This study is the first to assess the feasibility of strengthening self-efficacy among Tampa Bay refugees and employs two delivery settings to evaluate the efficacy of classroom vs. community outreach in meeting the goal of achieving household disaster preparedness.”

Dr. Jesper J. Madsen, research assistant professor

Improving stability of Plasmodium vivax malaria vaccine antigen

“Plasmodium vivax is the leading cause of malaria outside of Africa. The blood-stage infection causes a debilitating, often life-threatening disease especially in young children, and an increased risk of low-birth-weight babies in pregnant women in the resource-limited endemic countries. There is parasite resistance to currently available anti-malarial drugs. Hence a vaccine is urgently needed to protect against disease and prevent transmission. [This grant] gives me the opportunity to enter a new field of tremendous public health significance. I think we have a solid chance of actually improving on the current state-of-the-art in the most promising vivax malaria vaccine candidate. Vaccine development is usually extremely laborious and typically will take many years or even decades. People might forget this since the most recent breakthrough in vaccine development, the COVID-19 vaccine, was created in what appears to be a record-breaking time. However, it’s important to realize that pre-pandemic scientific research done by McLellan and Graham, who was engineering the spike protein for a MERS vaccine, just happened to work out perfectly for also creating a COVID-19 vaccine in only months. We are seldom this lucky and for a malaria vaccine to be successful, there’s still more work to be done. With this proposal, we can take another step in that direction.”

Dr. Arlene Calvo, associate professor of community and family health

Inequality of Latinx communities in the U.S., Latin America, and Globally: Salud Latina USF

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, it was evident that public health interventions were lacking appropriate science-based information in a language that the communities understand; this applies to many health issues and social outcomes. The Latino population has been one of the most affected due to the COVID pandemic, both in the U.S. and in their countries of origin. The Salud Latina USF initiative is an appropriate forum to understand the reasons for the disparities.”

Story by Anna Mayor, USF College of Public Health

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Hispanic Heritage Month is Sept. 15 – Oct. 15

USF College of Public Health (COPH) faculty members have come together to provide credible public health messages and combat misinformation in Spanish.  

Salud Latina USF, as the group calls itself, includes the following Spanish-speaking faculty from the COPH:

• Arlene Calvo, PhD, associate professor of community and family health based in Panama City, Panama, at the City of Knowledge. 
• Ricardo Izurieta, MD, DrPH, MPH, professor of tropical and infectious diseases, expert in vaccinology. 
• Dinorah Martinez Tyson, PhD, MPH, MA, associate professor of community and family health, with a focus on sociocultural aspects of public health. 
• Miguel Reina Ortiz, MD, PhD, CPH, assistant professor of global communicable diseases, global health practice and global health diplomacy. 
• Ismael Hoare, PhD, assistant professor of health education in community and family health.  
• Abraham Salinas-Miranda, MD, MPH, PhD, assistant professor and director of the Harrell Center for the Study of Family Violence. 

The group also includes collaborative support from graduate students, research assistants and volunteer students. COPH staff Anna Mayor, Carlos Montoya and James Taylor also assist with communication outreach, messaging and logistical support.

Calvo, the coordinator of the initiative, said that credible information in Spanish is an area that is greatly lacking, especially at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In May 2020, the World Health Organization declared Latin America as the epicenter of the pandemic. An important gap in research and appropriate Spanish-language information existed among Latinx communities worldwide. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, it was evident that public health interventions were lacking appropriate science-based information in a language that the communities understand; this applies to many health issues and social outcomes,” Calvo said. “The Latinx population has been one of the most affected due to the COVID pandemic, both in the U.S. and abroad. The Salud Latina USF initiative is an appropriate forum to understand the reasons for the disparities.”

Salud Latina USF conducts research and educational activities. It has currently held five monthly virtual public discussions allowing Spanish-speaking participants to engage in a live conversation with the public health experts in their language. The conversations are also livestreamed to the USF COPH’s Facebook page and uploaded to the YouTube Salud Latina USF channel.

The first discussion focused on the COVID-19 vaccine, followed by COVID-19 treatment myths, COVID-19 variants, the social impact of COVID on the Latino community, and variants and vaccines.

“The Salud Latina initiative provides a platform to engage the broader Spanish-speaking community about public health topics. While we started with COVID-19, we will expand to other topics,” Martinez-Tyson said. “This initiative has provided a wonderful opportunity to connect with other Hispanic faculty, connect with and mentor Latino students and provide opportunities for collaboration. This is worthwhile and I look forward to seeing how we can grow the initiative and connect with others across campus interested in Hispanic health.”

“It has been such an honor to work with the USF COPH faculty in the Salud Latina Initiative because not only have I been able to engage in work relevant to my own research interests, but I have also been able to learn from experienced academicians who are truly committed to improving the health and well-being of the Latino community here in Tampa, in the U.S. and in Latin America,” Erik Ruiz, a graduate research assistant, said.

In addition to live monthly community webinars, the group also regularly produces science-based social media content in Spanish, including videos on health topics such as proper mask wearing and ways to prevent the spread of COVID. They also actively pursue funding opportunities to support their efforts to help conduct research on social media content analysis, behavioral online surveys, qualitative studies, and to incorporate experiences and mentoring for Latinx students.

“We’re aiming to have a more informed Latin population,” Izurieta said. “Health messages are better accepted if they are in the native tongue.”

“Ethnic minorities have less access to health care. By providing information in their native language, we are helping to close the gap of information, we are helping people to be informed to make the best decisions for themselves,”

“Ethnic minorities have less access to health care. By providing information in their native language, we are helping to close the gap of information, we are helping people to be informed to make the best decisions for themselves,” Reina said. “I hope that we are able to stem and counteract the wave of COVID-19-related misinformation. In the long-term, I hope we are able to address the needs of our communities and to address other health issues beyond COVID-19.”

So far, the Salud Latina USF Initiative has been accepted to present at several academic and education venues, including the annual American Public Health Association’s meeting (APHA 2021), Project ECHO Latin America from the University of New Mexico and others. They are also developing scientific publications and have been awarded COPH support, including being recipients of an internal research award.

Story by Anna Mayor, USF College of Public Health

The post Salud Latina USF combats misinformation in Spanish appeared first on College of Public Health News.

“This group of students have persevered under unprecedented circumstances. Their worlds were flipped upside down and they have hung in there, learning in new ways since March of 2020. This group has learned in real-time what it means to confront the failings of our system.” said USF College of Public Health’s Dean Donna Petersen. “We have a lot of choices to make in the coming years about healthcare, the value of work, our place in the global economy, climate change, systemic racism and how to prepare for a future pandemic but I’m not worried. You all are smart, capable, committed and passionate.”

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this year’s graduation ceremony was presented virtually to family, friends, students, faculty and staff. Petersen delivered her address and congratulated the Summer 2021 graduating class in front of a camera instead of an audience. (Click here to watch the ceremony). 

This semester, 185 undergraduates, 61 masters and 8 doctoral students graduated and entered the public health profession. 

Every year, the COPH Excellence in Teaching awardee offers words of inspiration to the graduating class. This year’s speaker was Dr. Joe Bohn, assistant professor and director of community engagement and deputy director of the DrPH program.

“I have one final lesson for you all,” Bohn said. “Some of you know I have spent a little time on the dance floor these past four years, so I offer you four pillars of practice from my West Coast swing training that we can apply in your public health journey: timing, distance, connection and purpose.”

Timing

“Know when to start the dance if you are the leader and be ready to respond to a public health crisis when it happens,” Bohn said.

Distance

“Manage the distance with others on the dance floor. In your community, understand how distance impacts people and their access to the resources they need,” he cautioned.

Connection

“Pay attention to the connection with your partner in dance and find ways to connect better to your community, virtually and in-person,” Bohn continued.

Purpose

“Practice with intent—and in your community, practice your passion to help others in need,” he urged.

Dr. Alison Oberne, director of the BSPH program, also presented her end-of-the-year address to the graduating class.

“Did you know that only one-third of the U.S. population has a 4-year degree? It is no small feat to earn your degree, and amidst a pandemic it’s even more challenging and inspiring. It is a time where you were tested in more ways than one,” Oberne said. “You learned the value of self-determination through remote learning, the power of data literacy as we’ve been bombarded with information about COVID-19 and the election, and the creativity to find opportunities for community engagement at a time where in-person gatherings have been restricted.”

“I hope these challenges have made you stronger and helped you realize your passion and perseverance despite all obstacles you have faced and that you continue to overcome” she said.

Here are some of the stories from the Class of 2021:

Marina Martinez Rivera, MPH

Originally from San Juan, Puerto Rico, Marina Martinez Rivera moved to Gainesville, Fla in 2008. She earned her undergraduate degrees in public health and psychology from the University of Florida before moving to Tampa in 2019 to begin her master’s degree in behavioral health at the COPH.

“My passion in public health issues revolve around behavioral health with topics like mental health, substance use, HIV/AIDS, harm reduction approaches, LGBTQIA+ and youth/adolescent populations,” Martinez Rivera said. “With that in mind, I thought the behavioral health concentration was a great fit along with wanting to participate in the Institute of Translational Research in Adolescent Drug Abuse as I thought that was something of interesting to participate in and great experience.”

Martinez Rivera said that despite the impact of the pandemic, she did the best that she could to make the most out of her time in the MPH program.

“I made some good friends and developed my professional skills in any way I could. I think the college did the best it could to maneuver through the pandemic while retaining the standard that the college is known for,” she said. “I’m grateful to all the professors that did their best in modifying the curriculums to fit student’s needs and the circumstances we were working with.”

Martinez Rivera’s post grad plans are to continue working in public health and to find a position with a focus in behavioral health so that she can begin developing her professional skills.

“My dream job is a position where I can apply my skills in translational research and community engagement to improve behavioral health outcomes, reduce stigma and improve health equity for youth/adolescent populations, HIV/AIDS populations and/or LGBTQIA+ populations,” she said.

Rolando Trejos, MPH

Originally from Monagrillo, Panama, Rolando Trejos became introduced to public health while working as a program developer and coordinator for USF Health’s Office in Panama City under Dr. Arlene Calvo.

“During my time involved in the USF Health office in Panama, I saw the drive for changing the world for good. I was exposed to so many incredible projects and assets unique to the USF and even more to the USF COPH,” he said. “Out of those assets, the people and their passion for creating healthier communities was why I chose USF COPH for my MPH degree.”

As a student, Trejos was heavily involved with the COPH Activist Lab as both a student board member and graduate research assistant.

“As a member, we were able to tackle with evidence so many important topics like racism and COVID-19 by creating a pathway to deliver information from decision-makers, researchers and community-based organizations back into the general community and to our USF community,” he said.

During his time, he also was a graduate research assistant to the Public Health Interdisciplinary Center in a homelessness cross-college initiative with the Morsani College of Medicine’s Tampa Bay Street Medicine team, a volunteer for the USF Health Peace Corps, a volunteer for the COPH racism working group and a fellow for the Chiles Center.

Trejos’ post-grad plan is to enroll as a PhD student with the COPH.

“I hope to continue to expand my knowledge and skills in grantsmanship, teaching, mentoring, and translating research into practice, policy and tools applicable to communities, decision-makers and individuals,” he said. “My dream job is in academia as a full-time professor and researcher to provide a platform for individuals that have been pushed out of academia due to their sex, gender, sexual orientation, religion or any other category. I want to reclaim their space and have their voices heard and their input elevated so that science can truly become for everyone, not just a reflection of specific communities or individuals.”

Danielle Washington, BSPH

After overcoming adversity as a teenage mother, Danielle Washington graduated with her BSPH with a minor in infection control and specialization in nutrition.

“I became a teen mother to my first son who is now a teenager. I worked many jobs over the years to provide for us. I always wanted better and to prove naysayers wrong,” she said.  “I knew accomplishing my dreams of graduating college would happen if I kept going no matter how many times I failed.”

Washington said that one of the things she loved about USF was its course diversity and the flexibility to take online courses that allowed her to graduate on time.

“My favorite memory during my time at the COPH was taking the workforce course where I learned how to create a resume properly. This gave me the tools I needed to attract more employers,” she said.

Washington plans to attend graduate school to earn her master’s in public health with a specialization in health care management.

“I would like to open a health office that educates the public and also offers testing and routine lab work. I hope to own a health clinic and travel the world helping to solve global health issues,” she said. “I know that attending graduate school will help me go to the next level with owning my business. As a student at the COPH, I worked in groups to complete class projects so having a team will help me bring my vision to life. Teamwork always makes the dream work!”

Story by Caitlin Keough, USF College of Public Health

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