Beyond the Surface: Interview with Melissa
I met Melissa prior to starting school at UNC Chapel Hill. If I am recounting our first interaction correctly, I DMed her on twitter and asked if she had also received the Gates Millennium scholarship. Fast forward, we attended the Gates conference together and *switched out roommates so we could* room together. This was the start to a lifelong friendship -- later turned sisterhood (s/o to that Theta Pi). Melissa has always been an example of a diligent, stop-at-nothing, grace to the finish, mentality. Throughout our friendship, she has challenged me to not take an answer at face value, but to seek to understand why, to understand how and then to form my own opinion. Her incredible curiosity challenges all those around her to look at the bigger picture and then discover the little pieces that came together to create that big picture. I sat down with Mel to understand how she went about pursuing her Masters in Public Health. I hope you enjoy reading about her passion and pursuit as much as I enjoy seeing her live it out!
When did your family migrate to the states?
My mom migrated to Florida when she was 21 with her two younger sisters and then my dad joined her after they got married in 1991.
Why did you decide on public health?
I think that I have always been fascinated by understanding the reasons behind why things are happening especially as they relate to health. My mom had a younger sister pass away at a really young age and of a very sudden and probably preventable medical condition. Public Health attempts to answer questions surrounding a person’s lived experiences and how that translates into health outcomes. Public health aims to answer the critical questions and go beyond the surface. I have always been extremely curious and studying Public Health has fed that curiosity.
I saw a lot of examples in my personal life that led me to inquire about the reasons why -- for example, why do so many people in my family suffer from chronic diseases? I knew that this was not just happenstance or purely genetics but that there was a reason my family and many other black families were experiencing this and it became a strong desire of mine to understand the world I am living in, and how all these things play together to create our reality.
Actually, it is funny because when I was trying to decide where to go for undergrad my top two choices were UNC and Emory and when I visited Emory, I felt like a place that I should be but it didn’t feel like the right time so I chose UNC instead. I liked the program and really liked the school. They had one of the top 5 public health programs in the country and ultimately, Emory came in as the best choice for me.
What did you study?
My degree is in Global Health with a concentration in community health development.
I studied public health programming, from creation to implementation to evaluation and scale-up, that would work to combat public health issues. An area I became most passionate about was sexual reproductive health. An example of putting public health work into practice is in Somalia and many countries around the world, there is a longstanding belief that female genital cutting was the best thing for the society and given that this ultimately had many negative physical and psychological repercussions on women. In planning a public health program, especially for a community very different from your own, it is so important to understand that people are born into certain societies and their life is the only reality they have ever known. We learned how to strategically create programming that doesn't shame anyone for their reality but instead utilizes community leaders and members to educate, inform, and participate in community transformation.
In my program, we learned how to conduct research, plan programs, implement them, and then evaluate them for effectiveness and potential scale-up.
What was your favorite thing about your program?
Being co-president of the Emory Reproductive Health Association was easily one of my favorite memories. That role taught me just as much about myself as a professional as my classes did.
I learned so much about myself as a leader. I learned I had a high level of emotional intelligence and that I knew how to navigate obstacles while still remaining composed and ensuring achievement of the final objective at hand. I have natural leadership qualities in that I am understanding, calm, and allow everyone on the team to have a voice and share their opinions. While I have generally thought of myself as meek, this role helped me learn that these same characteristics made for a solid leader-- in this position I was able to acknowledge my leadership potential and help drive our organization towards success. We put on programs for the student body around abortion, contraception, maternal mortality, sex positivity, among other things.
We won an award from the center for women for the best programming. This made me feel super accomplished because this is an area that I am super passionate about and my board worked really hard all year among classes and jobs to produce great events.
I also got an opportunity to travel to Ethiopia three times for my graduate assistantship. This position involved managing health programs in Ethiopia so several times a year, we would visit to ensure that operationally, things were moving along as anticipated.
What would you tell someone thinking about pursuing a Masters in Public Health?
I would say...Public Health means so many things and there are so many areas where you can be of impact. For example, homelessness to women’s reproductive issues to housing and food deserts are all Public Health issues, which makes the field really broad. I would say that anyone considering Public Health is naturally an empathetic person given the nature of the issues and they shouldn’t feel pressure to pick an area right away. I think you discover your passions by experiencing different things, taking classes that sound exciting, and taking on new roles and positions.
I think the most important thing for graduate school and specifically Public Health is to gain as many skills as you can in the time that you are in school. I think in doing that you will discover your passions, what you are good at, and how you ultimately want to have an impact.
What are your next steps?
I am currently working at my internship where I am working as a program and evaluation assistant and currently applying to full-time positions and looking to secure something by September.