Alumni Profiles: MPH

Chelsea Davis

What work have you done since graduation? Where do you currently work and what type of work do you do there?

After graduation, I stayed at Mailman and coordinated the Mass Incarceration and Public Health initiative and taught medical anthropology in Woodbourne Correctional Facility, a medium security men’s prison, with the Bard Prison Initiative. After that, I became a researcher at the Vera Institute of Justice in the Substance Use and Mental Health Program. I’m currently a criminal justice project manager in the Office of the First Deputy Mayor. At City Hall, I work with city agencies and offices, including the Department of Correction, NYPD, Board of Correction, Civilian Complaint Review Board, correctional health services, and the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, to create and implement criminal justice policy in New York City and advise the First Deputy Mayor. 

How have you used your SMS degree to transition into your current work?

Much of my work has been about the intersection of health and justice. My SMS degree has helped me figure out where those intersections are and see how criminal justice involvement and mass incarceration are related to social determinants of health, as both a cause and a consequence of other social issues. Drug policy, the history of mental health care in this country, politics about public safety, and economic forces all have a part in creating the high rates of people with behavioral health disorders in the justice system.

How has the "SMS lens" (seeing Public Health as embedded in social/cultural/economic/political contexts) influenced your professional attitudes and approaches in addressing issues in your work? 

Because of the SMS lens, I’ve been able to see criminal justice as embedded in social, culture, economic, and political contexts as well. Much of my work has been about understanding and dealing with criminal justice issues from a public health perspective and attempting to figure out what a public health approach to justice reform might mean in practice. Having the language of public health and using my experiences at Mailman has helped me with that mission, particularly in terms of communicating with stakeholders in other systems. 

How has your view of public health changed (or not) since you were at student at Mailman? 

Mailman did a fantastic job at showing the importance of idealism in principle and pragmatism in practice as related to public health. It also taught me that public health isn’t just healthcare or health promotion, but the way large systems do or do not work together to create social, economic, and political environments that foster health for communities and individuals. The more I work in criminal justice policy in New York City, the more I understand that message. A major goal of public health, prevention, can seem impossible in practice when there’s always something that feels like an emergency that needs a response, but it’s vital to keep your eye on that ball to be effective in government. 

Natalie Dawe

What work have you done since graduation? Where do you currently work and what type of work do you do there?

After graduating from Columbia, I moved down to Washington DC to work for the Advisory Board Company. I was a researcher working on population health management. The Advisory Board’s clients are hospitals and health systems; they essentially subscribe to different research topics and then get best practice research or more tailored researched based on what their interests are in. There was a lot that was really great about my time at the Advisory Board, but I needed to be more connected back to mission. IBM was starting a new corporate citizenship program focused on public health and population health. It was the subject matter that I was interested in, and I was really excited to be part of something new, and help build and form it.

Can you explain more about your work with the Corporate Citizenship Program at IBM?

IBM has made a conscious decision to say we actually think where we can have the most impact is not necessarily giving away money, but giving what IBM does best. My program is called IBM Health Corps, and it’s global. IBM employees work with a health organization somewhere in the world on a strategic challenge the country is facing around health care, which could benefit from IBM tools or technology. I help select who our grantees are going to be, and I also manage the relationship with the grantees. A part of corporate citizenship is also sharing the story. We want to show that IBM is doing good work; so I also think about how do we tell the story of what IBM has done.

How have you used your SMS degree to transition into your current work?

At the micro view, it has involved interviewing the grantees and understanding the challenges that make sense for us to be working on. We try to figure out the problems and the challenges that the grantees come to us with, and what is actually achievable within three weeks time.  Sometimes we are presented with challenges and the root causes are pretty extreme and pretty deep rooted in how policies have been set up or different institutional barriers — that’s not something we can do within a three-week time period. This also involves how I am going to help educate IMB employees about these issues, because many of them do not have a background in public health.

How has the "SMS lens" (seeing Public Health as embedded in social/cultural/economic/political contexts) influenced your professional attitudes and approaches in addressing issues in your work? 

The “SMS lens” applies to how we structure the IMBers’ on the ground emersion once they are there for the three weeks. Even if the project requires that you sit at a computer, designing something very technical, we also want to expose them to the issues they are working on first hand. It is not just about building mathematical model, but IBMers’ also have to understand what’s going on in the country. Another way I apply the lens is helping others within corporate citizenship see that their work, even if it’s not in Health Corps, a lot of the work they are doing is health related. It’s about helping IBM see itself as doing public health work, even it the work is not in a hospital.

Patricia Dayleg

What work have you done since graduation? Where do you currently work and what type of work do you do there?

Immediately after graduation, I worked as a grant writer and program administrator for a social services organization. I then transitioned back to the organization where I did my practicum, the Coalition for Asian American Children and Families, or CACF. Currently, I serve as the Policy Manager. I get to advocate for a more equitable New York City budget, for increased healthcare access, and for more walkable communities for Asian Pacific Americans. I also lead several community-based health research projects alongside academic partners.

How have you used your SMS degree to transition into your current work? 

One model that I use constantly in my work is the social ecological model. We support Asian Pacific American communities at multiple levels: improving individuals’ self-efficacy; influencing interpersonal interactions that matter; empowering organizations that serve them and holding those accountable who don’t; and shaping policies and culture shifts that protect their health and well-being. Whether it’s facilitating a focus group, meeting with a policymaker, leading a rally, or writing a report, thinking about all these levels of influence provides me with a framework for how to think about both public problems and solutions.

How has the "SMS lens" (seeing Public Health as embedded in social/cultural/economic/political contexts) influenced your professional attitudes and approaches in addressing issues in your work? 

My work, and the work of my organization, is grounded in the belief that children of all backgrounds should have the support- social, cultural, economic, and political- they need to thrive. That means that we take on upstream issues like immigration, the built environment, funding for community-based organizations, the so-called model minority myth, and data disaggregation for Asian Pacific Americans. I don’t think I could ever work for an organization that doesn’t see public health as embedded within these larger contexts- to try to advocate for health under any other assumption just wouldn’t work.

How has your view of public health changed (or not) since you were at student at Mailman? 

The one thing that I’ve learned is that public health is not necessarily everyone’s top priority. As a student, I figured it was a given that public health is paramount. Since I’ve graduated, I’ve learned over and over that fighting for health- and health-promoting policies- is an ongoing and sometimes uphill battle. But that just means that I’ll always have a job to do!

Manasa Muthu

What work have you done since graduation?

I have worked exclusively for health insurance companies since I’ve graduated. I’m working for my second health insurance company now. I got an offer to be a medical management coordinator at Health Republic Insurance of New York. It was one of the Consumer Operated and Oriented Plans (CO-Ops) that came out of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). It was a great experience for me, because even thought I got hired in an administrative position, I really advocated for myself to work in the area I wanted. I felt like I had a lot to offer because I was in SMS. I worked in the quality department, so I was thinking about how to improve the quality measures or barriers to improving these measures.

Where do you currently work and what type of work do you do there?

I now work at the insurance company Healthfirst. It is unique because it is owned by many hospitals, which have a stake in the company. I work on DSRIP, which has to do with Medicaid reform. I serve as a liaison between the Preforming Provider Systems (PPS), the groups of hospitals and providers, and the health plan.

How have you used your SMS degree to transition into your current work?

Without the combination of SMS and my certificate, I don’t think I would have had the skills to immediately jump in and make myself invaluable to the process. Not a day goes by in my past job or my current job when I don’t think about structural barriers and agency, because those affect population health. Being in SMS gave me a really good foundation for understanding what really drives things like health literacy or chronic disease management, outside of the clinician’s office. I think that has given me an advantage over someone who has only taken healthcare management classes, for example.

The SMS lens is really important to understand what the patient can or can’t do, which affects the way they consume or can’t consume healthcare. You can talk about all of the high level changes you want, but if you don’t acknowledge the fact that people who are on Medicaid already face a lot of structural barriers, then no matter how much you make a practice a more welcoming space, if someone can’t make it there, then it’s meaningless.

Eden Solomon

What work have you done since graduation? Where do you currently work and what type of work do you do there?

I am a newly graduate, graduated this past May 2016. Since graduation, I have been working at Public Health Solutions as a Contract Manager, in the Contracting and Management Services (CAMS) Division. CAMS is a division in Public Health Solutions that administers millions of dollars in public health funding through “master contracts” with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYCDOHMH). CAMS contracts with community-based organizations, hospitals, clinics, mental health clinics and other organizations for services in areas as diverse as early childhood mental health, cancer screening, family planning, substance abuse treatment and risk reduction and HIV/AIDS.

As a Contract Manager, my contract portfolio encompasses contracts directly with OneCityHealth (OCH), the largest Performing Provider System (PPS) in New York City formed under the auspices of the New York State Delivery System Reform Incentive Payment Program (DSRIP).  I assist with the implementation of innovative reimbursement and monitoring approaches; the promotion of effective service delivery; the maintenance of program and fiscal integrity by setting and communicating standards and the management and support of successful executions of newly DSRIP related initiatives through the collection, analysis and reporting of data.

How has the "SMS lens" (seeing Public Health as embedded in social/cultural/economic/political contexts) influenced your professional attitudes and approaches in addressing issues in your work? 

Graduating from the SMS Department has allowed me to truly understand what it means to look through a multifaceted lens and what it means to become a strategic system thinker when trying to develop new procedures, systems, and protocols for new initiatives. Specifically, working with OCH, it is essential to understand and acknowledge the political, social, and economic dynamics that are embedded within this arena. It allows me to provide a comprehensive analysis in determining what approach may be the best to encourage partner participation or to identify best methods to improve payment procurements.

In addition, I consistently challenge myself, always thinking of innovative approaches to improve systems to become more efficient while maintaining thoroughness and being mindful of potential unintended consequences that can often emerge. I feel as though I am not only more equipped with the knowledge and skills attained from the SMS Department to take a lead in making decisions, but I now have the perseverance to remain confident in achieving them.

Anna Van Slyke

What work have you done since graduation? Where do you currently work and what type of work do you do there?

Since graduating this past May, I have had the privilege to join the American Heart Association | American Stroke Association (AHA), a national nonprofit dedicated to building healthier lives, free of cardiovascular disease and stroke. I am based in AHA’s Manhattan office, where I serve as the Director of Quality and Systems Improvement for the New York City and Long Island region. In this role, I partner with hospitals and other healthcare organizations under the shared goal of advancing acute cardiovascular care by increasing adherence to evidence-based treatment guidelines. This effort is executed through a suite of AHA quality improvements (QI) programs called Get With The Guidelines. 

How has the "SMS lens" (seeing Public Health as embedded in social/cultural/economic/political contexts) influenced your professional attitudes and approaches in addressing issues in your work? 

The SMS lens informs both my daily work as QI Director as well as AHA’s overarching approach to advancing its mission. The AHA health strategy is based in the social ecological model, recognizing that health-influencing factors operate at all levels – from knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs of individuals to larger societal challenges and opportunities, such as health-related legislation. The AHA is, therefore, multifaceted in its approach to improving cardiovascular health – deploying diverse staff, fostering a dedicated volunteer base, and building powerful partnerships in order to effectively and collaboratively intervene on all levels of the social ecological model.

SMS and Health Promotion also provide the guiding framework for how I approach my role specifically at the AHA. As I cultivate strategies to facilitate adoption, implementation, and maintenance of AHA’s quality improvement initiatives, I am consistently drawing on public health theory and models (Diffusions of Innovations and Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research, to note a few). Theory offers both a framework as well as a toolkit for executing my professional goals, pushing me to consider diverse facilitating and hindering factors in the adoption-maintenance program lifespan. Keenly aware of the health disparities facing NYC and the US as a whole, the SMS lens also defines my priorities within my role, devising goals focused on reversing inequities and prioritizing the health of those with fewer resources and opportunities for a heart healthy life.

How have your interests in public health changed (or not) since you were at Mailman?

Entering Mailman with a background in social-behavioral research, I never envisioned myself working in a clinical capacity. I also had naively placed hospital-related opportunities outside the domain of SMS. When the job description came to my attention, I recognized how short-sighted my perspective had been. While I lacked hospital experience, my SMS background – including programmatic training, systems perspectives, and a deep understanding of public health theory – provided unique qualifications for this position. So, as I reflect on my time since Mailman, I would say that my interests have not changed but have merely been further defined. It is a privilege to contribute my SMS training and teachings that I so value to the clinical care efforts of the AHA and to ensuring that all patients receive the highest quality of care possible.