MCHP graduates contribute to improving the health of women, children, and families through a wide variety of careers.
Research Coordinator: Jessica Barnes, MPH, Class of 2012
Recently, Jessica was hired on as a research coordinator at the University of Illinois at Chicago, College of Medicine for the Hispanic Center of Excellence. The Hispanic Center of Excellence (HCOE) seeks to improve the medical care of Latinos in Illinois by providing enrichment programs that strengthen the pipeline and increase the number of Latino applicants pursuing healthcare careers. With an interest in adolescent health and youth-based programming, this was a perfect fit for her professional goals.
Jessica spends the majority of her time overseeing an NIH-funded longitudinal, mixed-method research study that involves 5 local high schools. The project explores Hispanic students’ motivation, beliefs, and behaviors related to pursuing healthcare careers. She manages several research assistants, contributes to all quantitative and qualitative data collection efforts, and leads data management and data analysis activities. In addition, Jessica assists in designing and implementing program evaluation plans for all of HCOE’s enrichment programs.
Project Manager: Amanda Giese, MPH, Class of 2011
Ms. Giese works as a Project Manager with the Section of General Internal Medicine at the University of Chicago Department of Medicine. In that position, she oversees the implementation and evaluation of a church-based diabetes research study in Little Village. She also manages two diabetes research projects conducted by the University of Chicago in collaboration with the Midwest Clinicians Network. As a Project Manager, Ms. Giese has the opportunity to manage a research team of research assistants and diabetes class leaders; engage in both qualitative and quantitative data collection, management, and analysis; present findings in written publications, through poster presentations, and at research conferences; and develop strong relationships with community partners involved in the research.
Study Administrator/Communications Coordinator: Kendall Ziegler, MPH, Class of 2010
Upon graduating from the MCH program, Ms. Ziegler accepted the position of Study Administrator/ Communications Coordinator for the Michigan Alliance for the National Children’s Study, centrally housed at Michigan State University. The National Children’s Study is the largest long-term study of children’s health ever conducted in the United States and will ultimately collect information on over 100,000 children in over 100 counties across the United States. Ms. Ziegler is responsible for organizing and tailoring information from the partnering federal agencies (DHHS, NICHD, NIEHS, NIH, CDC, EPA) to Michigan communities. She maintains contractual budget efforts of the study, and also participates in determining population-specific recruitment strategies and community engagement efforts.
MCH Epidemiologist: Deborah Kane, PhD, Class of 2003
Upon graduating from our program, Dr. Kane was hired by the State of Mississippi as an MCH Epidemiology ORISE Fellow. In that position she used the National Children with Special Health Care Needs (CSHCN) dataset to describe access to health and dental care of Mississippi CSHCN and their families and to explore factors that facilitate access or create barriers to health and dental care. Dr. Kane later transferred to the Iowa Department of Public Health, Bureau of Family Health where she now serves as the CDC Assignee/MCH Epidemiologist.
Public Health Analyst: Josephine Ansah, MPH, Class of 2001
Ms. Ansah works as a Public Health Analyst for the DHHS Health Resources and Service Administration (HRSA) and is a founding member (along with eight other women) of an emerging non-profit organization called Voices International. Founded in spring 2005, Voices International is dedicated to promoting and sustaining the economic and social well-being of people of color through education, cultural awareness and advocacy. The organization is committed to enhancing the quality of life for youth and families in local and global communities to achieve long term, sustainable outcomes.
BACK TO TOP