“The Right People at the Right Time”

More than 600 students began the Mailman School journey today to enter the ranks of public health researchers and practitioners. Upward of 450 are part of the School’s signature Master of Public Health program; close to 90 are pursuing Master of Health Administration degree; around 80, a Master of Science degree; and approximately 30 working toward a doctorate.

“You are the right people at the right time, in the right field, and in the right place,” said Dean Linda P. Fried in a welcoming address. “Together we are in a pact to create extraordinary impact in transforming the health of our city, this country, and the world.”

The School’s newest students come from about 40 countries, an equal number of states, and all walks of life. The youngest is 20, and the oldest is over age 65. They are both neophytes to health and seasoned professionals who include a Somali refugee who has worked to help other refugees, a medical interpreter in the Afghani army, a physician who immunized 500 children against polio in Ecuador, and multiple teachers, doctors, and Peace Corp volunteers, and many others, all united by the understanding that health is a human right.

Incoming Epidemiology student Richard Gamarra first got excited about public health from a surprising place: while he was in prison. He credits the Bard Prison Initiative and classes taught by Robert Fullilove, professor of Sociomedical Sciences, for developing his passion for epidemiology and infectious disease, and for giving him the tools to understand health disparities and mass incarceration. Since being released, Gamarra has worked with the Coming Home program at Mount Sinai and St. Lukes to help formerly incarcerated men and women access the health care they need. At Mailman, he hopes to study the connections between mental health and solitary confinement. “I was in solitary for two years,” says Gamarra. “I know what it does to people. … I want to do research that’s going to bring about change.”

In Ethiopia, there is one doctor for every 100,000 people. Tsion Firew, a native to the country, earned her medical degree in 2011. Today she is an incoming International Emergency Medicine Fellow. The two-year program, run jointly with the Mailman’s Department of Population and Family Health, NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, and the Columbia University Medical Center, trains graduates to work in humanitarian aid and emergency development, like Doctors Without Borders volunteer Craig Spencer, MPH ‘13. Building on her experience teaching bedside ultrasound and simulation to residents in Ethiopia’s first Emergency Medicine residency program, Firew hopes to expand emergency care to underserved areas. “Emergency medicine is advancing in every part of the African Continent, and is at a critical time of opportunity,” she says.

Based on the strength of her laboratory experience, Yanelli Núñez is going straight from a Bachelor’s degree in Biology to a PhD program in Environmental Health Sciences. From the sterile labs at the University of California San Diego and the Salk Institute, where she used stem cells to study neurodevelopmental disorders like autism, Núñez went to Senegal as a Peace Corps Volunteer. There she witnessed deplorable living conditions with “families living next to trash dumps and open sewage systems, mining towns exposed to mercury vapors, and urban cities flooded with motor pollutants,” an experience that inspired her interest in environmental health. Going forward, Núñez, who grew up in a village in Southern Mexico, is eager to tap the expertise of faculty like Frederica Perera and Diane Re as she studies the environment's role on the onset of developmental disorders in low-income communities.

Andrew Vernon, incoming Master of Health Administration student, is a veteran of the Armed Forces. After researching and becoming familiar with a VA Hospital, a new career path became clear. Vernon went on to get a masters degree in physical education and kinesiology from the University of Maine, then returned to the VA, this time as an employee. He is currently a physiologist working with veterans who have heart and lung conditions. Knowing the financial difficulties that veterans face, Vernon, who is also an Appointed Board Member for the U.S. Selective Service System, has lobbied the VA and Congressional Budget Office to lower costs of copayments for rehabilitation. Recently, U.S. Congressman Lee Zeldin pledged to take up the cause.

At Mailman, Vernon relishes the opportunity to become a better health administrator aided by the diverse experiences of his classmates. “I’m looking to learning a lot,” he says, “not just from professors, but from my fellow students.”