Alumni Highlights
"I am the Administrative Project Manager for a multi-institutional, federally funded research center focused on health disparities in chronic diseases. Columbia Mailman’s MPH program gave me a solid public health knowledge base that I draw from daily. All the MPH courses I completed were valuable, but the practical applications of Public Health Program Planning, Evaluation of Health Programs, and Determinants of Health are particularly relevant to the work I do, managing impactful research and community engagement initiatives. Many of my classmates had worked in other industries before pursuing an MPH, so it was wonderful learning with an amazing group of professionals. To prospective students: If you’re interested in an excellent graduate education that will prepare you to advance public health in meaningful ways, I absolutely encourage you to consider Mailman’s GPH program!"
Nicole Bayne, MPH'21
Project Manager
Columbia University Irving Medical Center
My MPH has encouraged me to think about my patients’ health issues on both an individual level and on a larger scale. I am interested in better understanding acute kidney injury in the neonatal population, and I regularly use the concepts I learned in my epidemiology classes to guide my research. I chose the GPH program because it best matched my timeline for my education (MD-MPH dual degree), as well as the flexibility to choose a variety of classes from different departments. I truly enjoyed having professors with extensive real-world experience in their areas of expertise, and I still find their teachings to be relevant to issues I encounter in my career.
Elliott Huang, MD, MPH'19
Assistant Professor of Pediatrics
Columbia University Medical Center, Division of Pediatric Nephrology
My MPH has really helped support my career interests conducting epidemiology research in both psoriasis and cardiovascular disease. It gave me a systematic framework for thinking about health equity, structural barriers, and population health. One big piece of knowledge I gained from my MPH was to think about dissemination. I learned to not just identifying findings, but also to communicate them in ways that different audiences understand. Whether communicating to clinicians, patients, policymakers, or community members, I came to appreciate the importance of making research accessible, relevant, and impactful.
Faradia Kernizan, MPH'18
Current Medical Student
Tulane University and Sarnoff Cardiovascular Research Fellow
Returning to Indonesia after my time at Mailman shifted my perspective completely. Once I joined SEAMEO RECFON as a Community Development Officer, it felt entirely natural to sketch out a new Early Childhood Care, Nutrition, and Education (ECCNE) model for disaster-resilient villages in East Lombok. I was able to build this directly on the Theory of Change and SMART objectives I learned deeply during the Public Health Intervention (PHI) course. I’ve also been able to directly apply the skills from my Research Methodology (ReMA) course. This has been invaluable for my research roles, whether I’m managing qualitative data collection for the sedentary workers’ obesity study at Universitas Indonesia, or analyzing data using multiple linear regression for my international publication in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. The rigor of Mailman's accelerated GPH program forced me to become highly disciplined and intentional with my time. Beyond the classroom, it trained my brain to always think in systems, allowing me to confidently balance both worlds: clinical care and public health.
Annisa Maulidina, MD, MPH'25
Community Development Officer at the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education-Regional Centre for Food and Nutrition (SEAMEO RECFON);
Research Assistant at the Oxford University Clinical Research Unit (OUCRU) Indonesia