Department, Degree, Certificate Environmental Health Sciences, MPH, Toxicology Life before Mailman I graduated from the University of Michigan (go blue!) in 2014, where I majored in Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and Evolutionary Anthropology. I spent three of my years there working in a biology lab doing research on monarch butterflies and milkweed plants. I wrote my honors thesis on monarch butterfly wing shape variation. After graduating from Michigan, I joined an AmeriCorps program doing community service in Cape Cod, Massachusetts. I lived on Cape Cod for eleven months doing environmental work outdoors mostly. The focuses of the program were natural resource management, emergency disaster preparedness and response, environmental education, and volunteer engagement. I thoroughly enjoyed my AmeriCorps experience, but after my break from school, I was ready to move to NYC and start at Mailman! Why Mailman? I attended Admitted Students Day last year, unsure of where I wanted to attend. During lunch I was seated at a table with current and prospective EHS students. Talking to the second year students, I realized I had a lot in common with them. I saw that there were, like me, environmentally focused students here at Mailman. After seeing that I shared many common interests with the second year students, I knew that I would be happy at Mailman. Life at Mailman In the Core, Biological and Environmental Determinants of Health was by far my favorite course. It was a review of many biological concepts, as well as an overview of environmental issues. For someone interested in climate change and its effect on human populations, this class was fantastic. Dr. Freyer was the professor for this class, and he is a very captivating lecturer. Additionally, I am on the executive board of Students for Environmental Action (SEA), a student group at Mailman. It has given me a chance to really get engaged with other environmentally focused like-minded students. I am looking forward to seeing all that we can do for Mailman and the Washington Heights community. Life Mailman Although I am not sure what I want to do after I graduate from Mailman, I know that I want to work in the environmental field. My favorite course so far is Risk Assessment, and I hope that I can work in that field. DAVID BOEDEKER Hometown Omaha, NE, USA trial
Why Mailman? The clear commitment to providing students an interdisciplinary public health education, as demonstrated by the Core, the multiple certificates offered, and the ability to take electives that are outside one's department or certificate. Life at Mailman Communicable Diseases in Complex Emergencies with Dr. Rachel Moresky, Research Ethics & Responsible Conduct of Research with Dr. John Santelli, and Epidemiological Modeling for Infectious Diseases with Dr. Wan Yang are some of the most interesting and practical classes that I have taken at MSPH thus far. Life after Mailman I hope to pursue a career that combines epidemiological and complex systems modeling (especially for development and analysis of prevention, mitigation and intervention strategies for epidemic and emerging infectious diseases/complex emergencies) and examination of ethical and equity issues, especially those arising in infectious disease research, public health surveillance and emergency response. ASHLEY GECZIK Hometown Milltown, NJ, USA Department, Degree, Certificate Epidemiology, MPH, Chronic Disease Epidemiology Life before Mailman I attended undergrad at Loyola University located in Baltimore, Maryland and graduated with a BS in Biology in 2015. While at Loyola I worked as a technical laboratory assistant in the biology department, which is where I discovered my passion for scientific research. I was inducted as member of Loyola University Maryland chapter of the Beta Beta Beta Biological Honors Society in 2014.