Columbia Mailman Wins Diversity Honors

Insight Into Diversity, the oldest and largest diversity magazine in higher education, announced that it has awarded Columbia Mailman School two of its 2024 Inspiring Programs in STEM Awards for encouraging and supporting the recruitment and retention of women and underrepresented students into STEM fields.

The awards honor Columbia Mailman’s Summer Public Health Scholars Program (SPHSP), a two-month educational program targeting undergraduate students from historically excluded and socially disadvantaged backgrounds that culminates in a visit to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the NextGen Public Health Scholars Program, a six-year scholarship program for diverse undergraduates at Hostos Community College in the Bronx that offers a B.A. degree through the Columbia University School of General Studies and an MPH through Columbia Mailman’s Department of Epidemiology.

Both programs combine coursework with mentoring and enrichment activities with the goal to bolster the diversity of public health practitioners. Columbia Mailman is one of the first schools of public health to offer these and similar pathway programs; the Biostatistics Epidemiology Summer Training (BEST) program launched in 2007. Since then, numerous graduates have gone on to earn degrees and pursue careers in public health. This year, a recent graduate of the PrIMER (Program to Inspire and Mentor Undergraduates in Environmental Health Science Research), Isaac Mullings, won a Fulbright to pursue research on water pollution in Ghana.

“Your efforts significantly advance the core values of DEI through programs and initiatives deserving of this national recognition,” says Lenore Pearlstein, publisher, Insight Into Diversity.

At Columbia Mailman, students have access to mentoring and support through the Office of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and may be eligible to participate in the Mentoring of Students and Igniting Community (MOSAIC) and R.I.S.E. Peer Mentor Program. They are also welcome to become a FORWARD Fellow to advance equity goals on campus.

SPHSP is led by Michael Joseph, vice dean of education and the principal investigator of the CDC-funded program; Troy Hoffman, director of Educational Initiatives, and Ivy Green, program coordinator. NextGen Public Health Scholars is led by Charles Branas, chair of epidemiology, and Larkin McReynolds, assistant professor of epidemiology and psychiatry.

“We are tremendously proud of these programs and pleased to be recognized with this special honor,” says Joseph. “Our goal is to support diverse pathways to careers in public health. We welcome everyone’s unique perspectives and talents, all of which are critical to the field and its mission to improve health in communities across the country and around the world.”