Student Profile

Student Coordinates Contact Tracing, Vaccine Trial at U. of Illinois Chicago

Executive MPH student Adrian Raygoza holds leadership roles in contact tracing and a COVID-19 vaccine trial, and he served in the US army for 10 years.

Adrian Raygoza’s public health journey began in 2007, when he enlisted in the US Army during the height of the Afghanistan War. The Executive MPH student’s desire to serve led to several travels and deployments overseas as a sergeant in the Middle East, Central America, and Northeast Asia for more than 10 years. 

“Serving in Afghanistan was my first real job and first time leaving the country,” says Raygoza, a Chicago-area native. While overseas, “I wasn’t just working—I was able to interact with people all around the world, learn about other cultures, and gain exposure to population health issues in different countries,” he says.

When he returned home, Raygoza decided to go back to school, first earning an associate’s degree in criminal justice at College of DuPage, before discovering a passion for science and earning a Bachelor’s degree in biological sciences from the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC). While completing his degree, he worked as a research aide in the Division of Infectious Diseases at UIC’s Department of Medicine, as well as a research project coordinator at UIC’s School of Public Health, and a peer recovery coach providing support to military veterans.

Juggling multiple roles and clinical research projects has paid off. Raygoza still works in infectious diseases at UIC, except now, he is at the helm of the university’s COVID-19 response, managing several initiatives at the school level and city-wide in collaboration with the Chicago Department of Public Health (CDPH). The multifaceted global health crisis is in part what motivated Raygoza to pursue his MPH degree, so he attends classes at night in SPH’s online EMPH program. 

“All of the skills that I have gained in each facet of my life are helping me now in my career,” says Raygoza. “I gained population health skills in the army, investigational skills studying criminal justice, scientific skills through my biology degree, and now I hope to move to the next level of my career with an MPH degree.”

At UIC, Raygoza is a clinical research coordinator for a Moderna mRNA vaccine trial, where he leads a research team and performs a host of other tasks, including interviewing study participants, analyzing data, and performing COVID tests. “Right now, we’re in the unblinding phase, where we bring back participants to let them know whether they’ve been receiving the actual vaccine or the placebo,” he says.

Raygoza is also a project manager for the Department of Medicine’s COVID-19 Rapid Response Team, in collaboration with CDPH and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He manages COVID-19 testing programs at multiple testing sites such as homeless shelters and nursing homes, coordinates the delivery of PPE and medical equipment, and also performs COVID tests.

In connection with Boston EMPH’s practicum requirement, Raygoza applied and became an operations manager at UI Health’s (University of Illinois Hospital System) Contact Tracing Center to support the city’s broader efforts to track community spread of the virus. The position began as an internship, but he has become a core part of the team, conducting budget analyses and equipment procurement, and managing the tracing program. The contact tracing program investigates positive cases from the UI Hospital and traces the contacts of those patients, as well as assists to provide resources and refer social services to those affected by the COVID-19.

“Contact tracing has become more challenging in the past few months, as some people become complacent with the pandemic,” says Raygoza. “It’s not easy, but we’re doing a good job working interdepartmentally and communicating with multiple institutions, and part of my job is to handle all of those moving parts.”

Raygoza hopes to build upon these leadership skills in the Executive MPH program, which has been an ideal fit for both his professional goals and non-stop schedule.

“Employers who need people to lead an entire public health operation or intervention are looking for people who are skilled in more than science,” he says. “We’re not only about learning about quantitative methods, we’re also learning about healthcare management and how to communicate better, and evaluate health systems, which is crucial when presenting to executive boards, or boards of public health.”

Luckily, time management is one of the many skills Raygoza mastered during his service in the army. 

“In the military, we had to get up early every morning, with continuous movement throughout the day,” says Raygoza. “I try to use all the time I have in the day to accomplish everything I need to get done—but it’s also important to know when to stop and restart in the morning. That’s the strategy I used every day in my professional life.”