Scholars
Students and Faculty Leading the Way
Forward Fellows Advance Equity In and Out of School
In the past academic year, eight master’s students collaborated with faculty, staff, and community leaders on projects to promote racial equity through the School’s FORWARD Fellows program, a paid training experience for students focused on racial justice and health equity.
The Second Annual Equity Showcase in the spring of 2024 featured a student poster session about their projects. Rose Monet Little, MPH ’24, and Joelle Mentis, MPH ’24, worked on enhancing content about vulnerability to structural racism in Sociomedical Sciences courses. Brandon Christophe, MHA ’24, and Moza Mendes, MPH ’24, facilitated student partnerships with community organizations that address health disparities as part of a Health Policy and Management consulting course. Janelle Micaela S. Panganiban, MPH ’24, and Folashade Wilson, MPH ’24, produced a series of short films highlighting community organizations in Washington Heights through the School’s Digital Learning Studio. And Olamide Fagbamiye, MPH ’24, and Caroline O’Connor, MPH ’24, proposed curricular changes in a leadership course to bolster community engagement.
The fellowship program gives students valuable professional experience working on team-based projects. Yvonne Ortiz, MEd, associate dean of inclusive excellence, who moderated a panel discussion with students at the showcase, emphasizes that the equity goals pursued by the fellows align with the goals of the field of public health—“to create healthy communities that are successful and work for everyone,” she says.
The newest group of fellows is now hard at work. Says Christophe, “The sky is the limit on what you can accomplish through this program.”
Not Your Typical Public Health Students
The Global First Ladies Academy convened for a second time to hear from Columbia Mailman School leaders as part of a partnership with the Global First Ladies Alliance. Over three days, with simultaneous translation services in several languages, presentations by experts in public health and executive leadership sparked lively discussion among 14 first ladies and former first ladies from countries in Africa, South America, and the Caribbean, as well as their advisors. The Alliance was co-founded in 2009 by Cora Neumann, MPH ’23, a member of the School’s Board of Advisors.
Workshops and roundtable discussions focused on interdisciplinary strategies to improve public health and well-being. Facilitators included Wafaa El-Sadr, MD, MPH, MHA, director of ICAP and Columbia World Projects, and Michael Sparer, JD, PhD, chair of Health Policy and Management. First ladies also learned from one another: Fatima Maada Bio, first lady of the Republic of Sierra, spoke about her successful campaign to end childhood marriage in her country, which had been signed into law only days earlier. Mellisa Santokhi-Seenacherry, first lady of Suriname, discussed her work to improve mental health among women and girls.
“Learning from other first ladies has been so valuable, I am so grateful I came,” said Leticia Ocampos, first lady of Paraguay.
Books by Campus Authors
Three new works by our faculty bring public health to the page
Building the Worlds that Kill Us
(Columbia University Press)
David Rosner, PhD, MPH, Ronald H. Lauterstein Professor of Sociomedical Sciences, and Gerald Markowitz, PhD, adjunct professor of Sociomedical Sciences, explore U.S. history through the lens of death and disease and explain how deep inequities determine health disparities among populations.
Winning with Data Science
(Columbia Business School Publishing)
Howard Steven Friedman, adjunct professor of Health Policy and Management, co-authored this comprehensive guide to data science with data scientist Akshay Swaminathan. The book walks readers through each step of managing a data science project, with a focus on how readers can collaborate productively and efficiently with data science teams.
Health care Law and Policy: Acronyms and Terms
(American Health Law Association)
Editor Ari J. Markenson, JD, MPH ’98, adjunct assistant professor of Health Policy and Management, says he got the idea for this book on his first day at Columbia Mailman School. “At orientation, we were given a packet of terms and acronyms and told by the time we were done with our program, we should know them or the School hasn’t really done its job. I never forgot how useful it was.”
From top left: scholars sorted and packaged food for the Washington Heights community at West Side Campaign Against Hunger; students visited Inwood Farm to learn more about the Lenape people of New York and a health disparities framework for public health; Rayna Patel from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill studied use of SNAP nutrition benefits with New York Common Pantry; Vaughn-Regan Bledsoe from Duke University and classmates in an Environmental Health Sciences course; the University of Pittsburgh’s Matthew Tang presented his research at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Ermelinda Calderon from the University of Chicago discussed her research; program leaders Michael Joseph, PhD, MPH, vice dean of education and Troy Hoffman, MPA, director of educational initiatives and of the Summer Public Health Scholars Program with most of the SPHSP class of 2024.
How I Spent My Summer ‘Vacation’
Columbia Mailman School’s Summer Public Health Scholars Program brings together undergraduates from across the country to explore public health and biomedical sciences careers—and have a little fun along the way. The 2024 class of 30 scholars came from 25 colleges and universities. The rigorous program includes public health courses; hands-on field experience; seminars with public health leaders; and mentoring by faculty members—all within a diverse, economically disadvantaged urban environment—to ensure students’ exposure to the breadth and importance of public health as a career option.
References
This article was first published in the 2024-2025 issue of Columbia Public Health Magazine.