Alumni Conversations

Alums to Discuss Epidemiology Careers in COVID Era

During a virtual Alumni Conversation event on February 18, three alums will share their experiences working in healthcare and local and state government.

The COVID-19 pandemic has thrust epidemiologists into the spotlight, placing what was generally considered a behind-the-scenes profession into daily news coverage and public conversation.

On Thursday, February 18, the Department of Alumni Relations and the Career & Practicum Office at the School of Public Health will co-host Alumni Conversations: Epidemiology, a virtual conversation with SPH alums who are advancing epidemiology during the field’s most challenging moment in a century.

The event will feature a panel discussion with five alums: Kayleigh Sandhu (SPH’17), infectious disease surveillance epidemiologist at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health; Emily Glowienka (SPH’18), research scientist at PRECISIONheor; Nicole Strauss, (SPH’19), analytics epidemiologist at Seattle & King County Public Health; Matthew Stafford (SPH’19), assistant director of clinical investigations at Boston Children’s Hospital; and Debora Perez (CAS’09, SPH’16), systems integration associate, data consulting, at Athena Health.

The discussion will be moderated by Susan Garfield, chief public health officer, Americas and health sciences and wellness sector commercial lead at EY (SPH’11), and will include introductory remarks by Mary-Lynn Fulton, head of clinical trial management, global clinical operations at Vertex Pharmaceuticals (SPH’99).

The alums will share insight about their current positions and journeys into public health, and offer best practices and advice to students interested in pursuing a career in the field. A breakout session will take place after the panel discussion for attendees to ask questions and network.

Strauss says the skills-based courses, as well as the relationships she developed, are what she appreciates most about her SPH experience. She has stayed in touch with several classmates and faculty members, whom she can call on for professional knowledge and support as she focuses on the COVID-19 response in King County, Washington. As an analytics epidemiologist, Strauss reports possible clusters of positive COVID cases in healthcare settings to the county’s investigative and contact tracing teams, and develops interactive dashboards for the department to facilitate and prioritize investigations of the positive cases.

“The statistical analysis courses at SPH very literally prepared me for the state and local databases that I’m using now to determine the trends and prevalence of COVID,” says Strauss, who completed the epidemiology and biostatistics, and chronic and non-communicable diseases certificates. “The study criticism courses that I took also helped with my consulting skills and ability to communicate information to investigators who have a very deep knowledge of COVID, as well as to lay audiences.”

She says the county’s COVID-19 work will also help inform the way it tracks other infectious diseases.

“The great thing about the work we’re doing now is that it can apply to more than just COVID,” say Strauss, who also studies Hepatitis A. “We work on all different kinds of communicable diseases, so hopefully we will be able to take the dashboards and reports that we’re creating for COVID and use them in the future.” 

Sandhu began working as an infectious disease epidemiologist at the Massachusetts Department of Public Health after completing the MPH program in epidemiology in 2017. She says collaboration has been at the forefront of the Commonwealth’s COVID-19 response, with private and public organizations working together to coordinate case investigations, contact tracing, treatment, and vaccinations. 

“I think there is so much to learn from this—primarily that public health is deserving of attention regardless of active emergencies, and that preparedness is worth protecting and promoting in the future,” Sandhu says. “There is no promise that this ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ pandemic is limited to once a century.”

She says her training in infectious disease topics and epidemiology methods at SPH has translated well into her current role.

“My greatest takeaway advice for MPH students is always to focus on skills-based courses that you don’t think you would be able to teach yourself,” says Sandhu, adding that it is also important to balance those courses with classes that reflect students’ interests. “I find that in general there is an ‘epidemiologist’ way of thinking that becomes inherent once you’ve learned the methodology, at least when considering infectious disease investigations.”

At Boston Children’s Hospital, Stafford manages the day-to-day operations of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) Office, interfacing with the Human Research Ethics Committee and researchers to help investigators navigate federal regulations for human subjects research.

“I interpret a lot of regulations to investigators and also interpret the investigators’ desired outcomes to the Ethics Committee, and help people complete their research in a way that is convenient, appropriate, legal, and ethical,” says Stafford, who has worked in the office for 15 years.

He decided to pursue an MPH degree in health policy and management to gain a broader understanding of the gaps within the US healthcare system and the tools needed to develop innovative solutions.

“My degree has given me an improved understanding and appreciation for what we are currently witnessing with COVID,” Stafford says. “It has given me a fascinating lens through which to view the unfolding of the pandemic.”

To hear more from the alums about their careers in epidemiology, register here for Alumni Conversations: Epidemiology on Feb. 18.