A Writer Discovers a Passion for Data at SPH.
Rowena Lindsey on Talbot Green. Photo: Megan Jones
A Writer Discovers a Passion for Data at SPH
Rowena Lindsay, a part-time MPH student and full-time web strategist for MIT Lincoln Laboratory, came to SPH planning to strengthen her skills in health communications and completed a Public Health Post writing fellowship during her first year—then she unexpectedly developed a passion for epidemiology and biostatistics.
When Rowena Lindsay first enrolled at the School of Public Health, she had a plan. After studying journalism in undergrad and working several years in science communications at MIT Lincoln Laboratory—writing scripts, editing videos, and designing web content—she wanted to gain more experience in health communications more specifically. Pursuing an MPH seemed like the natural next step for someone who had been writing since childhood and spent most of her career to date translating complex scientific research for broader audiences.
But something unexpected happened during her first semester of coursework.
“I went into this program for the health communications and promotion certificate,” says Lindsay, “and I actually ended up switching to epidemiology and biostatistics certificate, which was a real left turn for me.”
She began veering left in Quantitative Methods for Public Health (PH 717), a course she was originally apprehensive about, but somewhere between learning foundational statistical concepts and analyzing health datasets, something clicked. By the time Lindsay completed a second introductory course, Introduction to Statistical Applications in SAS (BS 723), with the same professor, Bill MacLeod, research associate professor of global health, she had made her decision. She would switch concentrations.
“That solidified my pivot into epi/biostats,” says Lindsay. “And then I took reproductive epidemiology with Lauren Wise, [professor of epidemiology]. Reproductive health is something I’m really interested in and learning to think through how reproductive health knowledge is created was really inspiring.”
As a part-time MPH student balancing full-time work at MIT Lincoln Laboratory as a web strategist, Lindsay also completed a year-long writing fellowship with Public Health Post (PHP) during her second year at SPH, authoring pieces such as “Cancer In the Shadow of Nuclear Plants” and “Period Apps After Dobbs: More Users, More Risks.” In a new Q&A, she shares what it takes to optimize the MPH experience as a working professional and the power of an advanced degree program to impart skills she may have otherwise found unattainable.
Q&A
With Rowena Lindsay—part-time MPH student, full-time web strategist for MIT Lincoln Laboratory, and prior Public Health Post writing fellow
SPH: Why did you choose to study at BUSPH, and did you know about Public Health Post (PHP) prior to enrolling?
Lindsay: There were several things that made me specifically want to go to BU, and I actually ended up only applying to BU. One reason was the concentrations and being able to really focus your studies on a specific topic. Another was PHP. I learned about it when I was researching the school and it seemed really perfect for me.
In undergrad at Northeastern University, I had a co-op where I was reporting and writing about a lot of different subjects, and that was super helpful in focusing my career on science journalism and science communications. I saw PHP as something that could potentially do the same thing for this part of my career. PHP was part of why I applied to BU, and it ended up being a really great experience.
We write 30-something different articles, so there’s a lot of room to explore many different topics. I was able to write a lot about some of the areas that I’m particularly interested in—like reproductive health, environmental exposures, and rural healthcare delivery—but then I was also able to write some one-off things about subjects that are not necessarily my particular area of expertise. It’s interesting to get to dip your toe into it. Between all the pieces I wrote and all the pieces the other fellows were writing, you just learn a ton. And all the feedback from Jen Beard and Monica Wang, an editor at the time I was in PHP, was really valuable and not something you necessarily get in the professional world, so definitely appreciated that. It made me a stronger writer, and more confident in my ability to interpret and translate public health research for a broader audience.
SPH: How did you first come to be interested in public health?
Lindsay: But at some point it just clicked for me that all my favorite articles to write and projects to work on were about health—like when I reported on the health effects of living near fossil fuel infrastructure during college and when I worked on a project about contact tracing technology during COVID. Then, a couple years ago, I was deciding to come back to school and I was also dealing with some of my own health problems—interacting with the health system more, and thinking more about the process by which new health knowledge is generated—so as soon as I had the idea to get an MPH, I knew that’s what I would do.
SPH: You completed your fellowship with PHP, but you are still working full time while pursuing your MPH part time. How do you manage that balance, and what would you want prospective students who are considering a similar arrangement to know?
Lindsay: It’s definitely been challenging to balance everything. I’m a pretty organized person, so that helps—I use a lot of color coding in my schedule. But I’m really happy to be going about it this way. Especially since I didn’t have a really solid idea of what I wanted to do with the degree when I went into it, I haven’t minded taking my time with the program. There’s a lot of ways in which [being part time] makes my schedule less flexible, but I’ve also been able to take a lot of the classes I wanted, with the professors I wanted, just because I have the time to spread things out. I’m also really grateful to have the years of work experience already, and how I afford to pay for the program is to work at the same time.
SPH: You originally planned to pursue a certificate in health communications and promotion, but during your first year in the MPH program, you switched to epidemiology and biostatistics. Could you elaborate on what changed, and what you hope to do with the skills you gain?
Lindsay: I’ve never been naturally good at math, and I was absolutely dreading the quantitative methods core class. Then, I just ended up really loving it, which is still kind of shocking to me, even years later. But it made me realize that even if something doesn’t come naturally to me, like, say, writing generally does, I can still learn to be good at it. Taking statistics classes and conducting research was really empowering actually. So I changed my concentration to epi/biostats, and that expanded what is possible for my career. My dream job would probably be a data journalism role, with a focus on public health.
