Meet PopFam's DrPH Students
Nour Audi
Mohammad Nour Audi is a DrPH student at Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health, Columbia Mailman School of Public Health. Nour is interested in population health and health systems in conflict and post-conflict settings and the impact of forced migration on health. Nour completed his medical education and internal medicine residency in Al Kalamoon and Damascus universities in Syria with focus on the diagnosis and management of Rheumatic autoimmune diseases, among other non-communicable diseases.
Since 2007, Nour worked in the first aid response teams of the Syrian Red Crescent until the initial phase of the Syrian conflict. Then moved to work with the international humanitarian sector focusing on the rehabilitation of primary health centers and establishing community healthcare workers teams to support self-management of chronic diseases. He completed a Master of Public Health degree at Brown University before joining the Mailman DrPH program in 2019.
Research Interests: Forced migration; Health and human rights; Chronic disease; Mental health;Health Systems Strengthening; Maternal and child health; Measurement and estimation of spatial health accessibility and the use of GIS methods in health systems strengthening
Find Nour Online: Twitter
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Courtney Boudreau
Courtney Boudreau is a fourth-year doctoral student in the Department of Population and Family Health at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health. Her research interests are the prevention of sexual violence against children, gender, and social norms. Her dissertation is an assessment of the current state of the evidence on the prevention of sexual violence against children.
Since 2015, Courtney has worked in Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning at Pathfinder International, a sexual and reproductive health and rights NGO. In 2018, she took on the role of MEL Manager for the Act With Her project, which takes a holistic approach to support Ethiopian and Jordanian adolescents as they move into adulthood. Courtney leads the design and management of the project’s monitoring systems, aiming to better understand and respond to the needs of adolescents and their communities.
Prior to Pathfinder, Courtney spent four years conducting health research, including an inquiry into the contraceptive needs of female sex workers in Kigali, Rwanda, and an analysis of the correlates of disclosure of sexual violence among Kenyan youth. She holds an MPH in Global Epidemiology from the Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University and a BS in Behavioral Neuroscience from Northeastern University.
RESEARCH INTERESTS:
Child protection; Gender;Adolescent and youth; Sexual and reproductive health
PROPOSED DISSERTATION TOPIC:
"Where Do We Go from Here? A Critical Examination of Understandings of Sexual Violence Against Children and its Prevention in LMICs"
FIND COURTNEY ONLINE:
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Elen Costigan
Elen Costigan, MPA, MPH, has more than fifteen years of experience working in humanitarian action and public health. Her career with MSF began in 2010 and spans over 18 countries across Africa and Latin America in various emergency settings. In addition to managing emergency response with MSF, Elen has worked with the United Nations and with grassroots nonprofit organizations in Central America. Elen holds a triple BA/BS in Political Science, Economics, and Spanish Literature from Ohio State University graduating Magna Cum Laude, with Honors and Research Distinction. She completed dual Master of Public Administration (MPA) degrees from the London School of Economics and Columbia University, and a Masters in Public Health (MPH) in Epidemiology from Harvard University. Elen is dual citizen of the US and Brazil and is fluent in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Swahili, and Tok Pisin. She is currently pursuing a Doctorate in Public Health (DrPH) in Epidemiology at Columbia University, and her interests center around promoting community engagement and the intersection of health and human rights.
RESEARCH INTERESTS:
Forced migration; Health and human rights; Child protection; Mental health; Implementation Science; Global health policy
PROPOSED DISSERTATION:
"Health and Human Rights for Populations on the Move"
FIND ELEN ONLINE:
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Mikal Finkelstein
By training, Mikal is a board-certified pediatrician and began her professional life as a private practitioner in NYC. In 2010, She traveled to Haiti in response to the earthquake and embarked on a career in global health and humanitarian work. She received her MPH from NYU in Global Health in 2016 and has worked with UNICEF and multiple NGOs in Haiti and Africa. In addition to her international work, she has also worked in school-based health in the South Bronx, NY, where she has provided clinical care, supervision, and training of practitioners. Her experience includes healthcare program development. program delivery, and evaluation. She is interested in advancing maternal and child health, health systems strengthening, sexual and reproductive health, and the decolonization of the development and humanitarian sectors. Since beginning the DrPH program, she has been working on research related to the Global Gag Rule and the impact of the pandemic on decolonization and localization in the humanitarian sector. She lives in Greenwich Village with her husband and Schnoodle, Bandit (who often appears in zoom meetings), and occasionally her son and daughter, both college students.
RESEARCH INTERESTS:
Maternal and child health; Child protection; Global health policy; Health Systems Strengthening; Sexual and reproductive health; Adolescent and youth; Cervical Cancer Prevention and Treatment in Low-Resource Settings
PROPOSED DISSERTATION:
Developing an Operational Framework for Decolonization in Global Health and the Humanitarian Sector
FIND MIKAL ONLINE:
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Hanna-Tina Fischer
Hanna-Tina Fischer is an Instructor in the Program on Forced Migration and Health and a doctoral candidate in the DrPH program on Global Health and Humanitarian Systems. Her doctoral research focuses on the impact of adversity on children’s wellbeing and development, analyzing risk as a function of family-level system adaptation to crises. Tina has over 15 years of experience working with UN agencies and NGOs on issues of humanitarian protection as part of natural disaster and refugee responses in Asia, Europe, and Africa. She has led needs assessments after natural disasters in Thailand and Bangladesh and displacement in Libya. She has supported family tracing efforts in the Philippines, the demobilization of children associated with armed forces in South Sudan, and the provision of psychosocial support post-earthquake in Italy and Pakistan. Tina has also engaged with refugee responses in South Africa, Germany, and Kenya. Over the years, Tina has worked with a variety of organizations including UNICEF, Save the Children, UNHCR, as well as national NGOs. Born in Botswana and raised in India and Pakistan, Tina has a BA in Anthropology and Communication Studies from Goldsmith's, and an MSc in Development Management from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
RESEARCH INTERESTS:
Mental health; Forced migration; Child protection; Health and human rights; Health Systems Strengthening; Implementation Science
PROPOSED DISSERATION:
The Impact of Natural Hazard-Induced Disasters on Family Systems: A Meta-Ethnography
FIND HANNA-TINA ONLINE:
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Mengjia Liang
Mengjia Liang is public health professional with diverse experiences in global health issues. She has over ten years professional experience at the United Nations. She works as a Technical Specialist and focal point for Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) data at the Technical Division of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), focusing on health and gender statistics, and programme monitoring and evaluation. She has contributed extensively to the measurement and monitoring of global development frameworks, including the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Prior to joining the UNFPA, Mengjia worked with UNICEF on child mortality estimation. Mengjia holds an MS in Social Work from Columbia University. Mengjia’s research interests include sexual and reproductive health and rights, adolescent health, and the measurement of gender equality, gender-based violence and harmful practices. She believes in evidence-based programming and aims to pursue her doctoral study to improve gender metrics, strengthen program interventions, and advance policy development.
RESEARCH INTERESTS:
Child protection; Sexual and reproductive health; Gender; Adolescent and youth
PROPOSED DISSERTATION:
Reproductive Coercion
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Joanne Michelle F Ocampo
Joanne Michelle F Ocampo is currently a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) student at Columbia University, Mailman School of Public Health, where she is focusing on global public health and humanitarian crises, including how the COVID-19 pandemic affected low- and middle-income settings. She is currently a board member with the NGO Women of Color Advancing Peace and Security. Ocampo was formerly with the CDC Foundation, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, and has worked for Georgetown University on NIH, NSF, and CDC-funded projects related to disease surveillance, HIV, and global health security. Over the years, Miss Ocampo has worked on a number of projects across Europe and the United States, with activities leading her to parts of Asia and West Africa. In 2017, Ocampo was recognized as one the 100 Most Influential Filipina Woman in the World (Global FWN100™) by the San Francisco-based Filipina Women’s Network. She holds Bachelor of Science in Biology from Eastern Connecticut State University, a Master of Science in Biohazardous Threat Agents and Emerging Infectious Diseases, and a Professional Certificate in Business Administration from Georgetown University. Ms Ocampo is an avid painter, a musician, business owner, and recreational diver, and has a multicultural background spanning Norway, the Philippines, and the US.
RESEARCH INTERESTS:
Infectious disease; HIV/AIDS; Mental health; Health Systems Strengthening
PROPOSED DISSERTATION:
The interactions of the COVID-19 pandemic burden with other public health needs in low- and middle-income settings
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Esther Spindler
Esther Spindler is a DrPH Candidate in Population & Family Health and Director of the Structural Determinants and Social Transitions among Adolescents and Young Adults in Rakai, Uganda (SSTAR) Project. Esther uses mixed-method research to examine how gender, social and structural inequities shape marriage, and sexual and reproductive health outcomes of adolescents and young people. Esther cares deeply about bridging public health research to practice, and addressing the Global North/Global South inequities in knowledge production, collaboration and dissemination within global health. Esther previously worked as a Research Officer at Georgetown University's Institute for Reproductive Health (IRH), where she led gender-based violence, family planning and couples counseling studies in Uganda, Jordan and Togo. Esther has also worked on HIV prevention research with Latinx migrant populations in Washington D.C, as well as gender-based violence research with Promundo in Brazil. Esther is American, Brazilian and French and fluent in French, Portuguese, Spanish and English. Esther was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala (2009-2012), has a M.S. in Development Management from the School of International Service (SIS), at American University and a B.S. in Political Science from New York State University (SUNY) at Oneonta.
RESEARCH INTERESTS:
Global health policy; HIV/AIDS; Sexual and reproductive health; Gender; Adolescent and youth
AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS:
Columbia Population Research Fellow (2019-2022)
PRB-NIH U.S. Policy Communication Training Program Fellow (2021-2022)
Initiative for Maximize Student Initiative Fellow (IMSD; 2020-2021)
P.E.O. Scholar Award (2020-2021)PROPOSED DISSERTATION:
Uncovering the relationship between international aid, policies and norms in driving adolescent marriage declines in southcentral Uganda
FIND ESTHER ONLINE:
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Jonathan Sury
Jonathan Sury, MPH CPH is a second-year DrPH student and is a Project Director for Communications and Field Operations at the National Center for Disaster Preparedness (NCDP), Columbia Climate School, Columbia University. He holds a master of public health degree in Environmental Health Sciences with a concentration in Environment and Molecular Epidemiology from the Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University. He has a keen interest in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and their use in disaster preparedness and recovery. Presently, he contributes to a variety of disaster-related research at NCDP, including community resilience and child-focused disaster preparedness, community attitudes to informal shelter planning in Puerto Rico, developing a Disaster Hazards Index, creating a child-centered community model and index of disaster recovery, evaluating the unanticipated consequences of pandemic flu, determining racially and ethnically appropriate emergency messaging, analyzing the long-term disaster resiliency and recovery issues in the US following Hurricane Katrina, the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill, and Superstorm Sandy, and the measurement and mapping of social vulnerability and the role of place and space in disaster recovery. In addition to he work at NCDP he co-founded and is the executive director of a small non-profit which supports adolescent girl programming in Sierra Leone.
RESEARCH INTERESTS:
Child protection; Mental health; Implementation Science; Global health policy; Humanitarian response; Disaster recovery and resilience
PROPOSED DISSERTATION:
Child-focused metrics of community disaster recovery
FIND JONATHAN ONLINE:
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