Provost Award

PhD in Implementation Science program

Please tell us a little bit about yourself.

I am a public health professional with an undergraduate degree in Microbiology and a master’s in public health. I started my career in the lab but have branched out to public health research because of my love of understanding how social determinants of health are responsible for why people get sick and what can be done to improve health outcomes. Getting out of the lab for the first time, I was responsible for support and training of women living with HIV who in turn provide psychosocial support to currently pregnant women living with HIV. I have also worked with adolescents and families experiencing homelessness to provide comprehensive health and housing opportunities for the young people I met on the East coast. Before starting the program, I was involved in managing vaccine trials for infectious diseases. 

Why did you decide to attend the UW for graduate school?

I had first been exposed to the UW via the short summer classes offered by the Department of Global Health. I loved the expertise of the faculty and UW was among my top choices when it was time to decide. I had been exposed to implementation science just before joining the department for graduate school and I knew DGH had one of the best Implementation Science PhD programs in the world, so it was a privilege to have been accepted into the program. I wanted to continue the implementation science work I had already stated before joining the program but also to hone skills to help me with identifying problems, crafting effective solutions, and helping with implementation strategies to deploy designed interventions. I am interested in bridging the gap that exists between health research and policy.

What are your research interests?

I am passionate about creating innovative ideas for the deployment of effective vaccines for infectious diseases especially among marginalized communities. I want to understand motivators to participation of communities in clinical trials and how that can be leveraged to create implementation strategies to scale up delivery and uptake of vaccines for diseases like HIV when one becomes available.

What are you enjoying most about your graduate program?

I enjoy the comradery of my cohort mates; they are a bunch of smart people all coming with very diverse experience which makes for rich interactions. Fellow students are also very supportive, willing to share tips and tricks for survival.