Kristen Mitchell

Long waits for appointments, out-of-date information about health care providers and the risk of discriminatory treatment are just a few of the hurdles facing Americans seeking adequate, accessible health care. A “secret shopper” project co-led by College of Public Health Associate Professor Wendy Xu aims to quantify these challenges and expose students to research designed to better understand and, ultimately, improve health care.

Master of Public Health-Epidemiology student Rachel Saadey went into the summer thinking she might be interested in a career focused on infectious disease. Now, she’s sure of it. 

Saadey spent her summer interning with Columbus Public Health’s Office of Epidemiology where she worked on their 2022 summary of reportable diseases. The annual report summarizes data on infectious diseases that must be reported to state and local health departments, illnesses such as Lyme disease, measles and sexually transmitted infections.

On the first Friday after a large tobacco regulatory conference in Bethesda, Maryland, Assistant Professor Joanne Patterson assembled what she calls her “dream team” to debrief.

Going into the annual Everett V. Fox Student Case Competition, Master of Health administration student Elijah Hendrix said he was eager to put the skills he’s learned at the College of Public Health into practice. It was out of his comfort zone, and? a step in the right direction. 

Meet Micah Berman, an international expert in tobacco policy and the College of Public Health’s new Stephen F. Loebs Professor in Health Services Management and Policy. 

Berman shares the big questions that guide his work, his aim to support innovative research partnerships and the moments that make him most proud to work in public health. 

Walking through a New Mexico desert, Micaela Richter couldn’t see anything but blue sky for miles. If you were going to conduct secret nuclear bomb testing, she thought, this would be the place to do it. 

Meet College of Public Health alumna Rachel Hardin ’16 BSPH, who brings a passion for affordable housing to her role as volunteer and community resource manager for Habitat for Humanity-MidOhio.

As an intern with the White House’s Office of National Drug Control Policy, Alex Ochoa spent his summer gaining hands-on experience working on public health policy. 

Ochoa, a fourth-year student majoring in public health, contributed to the office’s ongoing work focused on harm reduction, prevention, treatment and recovery. He worked alongside policy analysts on the White House proclamation on national youth substance prevention.