Alumnae Awarded CDC Fellowships.

Aja Griffin (’16) and Connie Lo (’15) are among 16 new ASPPH/CDC Public Health Fellows spending the next year on intensive assignments at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Through July 2017, Lo is working with both the Office of the Associate Director for Policy at the CDC and the Center for Surveillance, Epidemiology and Laboratory Services (CSELS), developing curricula for a joint project called the 6|18 Initiative. With a goal of controlling healthcare costs, the 6|18 initiative targets 6 common and costly health conditions—tobacco use, high blood pressure, healthcare-associated infections, asthma, unintended pregnancies, and diabetes—with 18 proven interventions.

Prior to the fellowship, Lo worked in the health access unit of Asian Americans Advancing Justice–Los Angeles, the nation’s largest legal services and civil rights organization focused on the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander population. “Whether working in community health advocacy and civil rights or continuing my training as a fellow at the CDC,” she says, “the depth and breadth of the SPH curriculum, especially in health law, bioethics, and human rights, really prepared me for any number of challenges and opportunities.”

Meanwhile, at the National Center for Infectious and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD), Griffin is assessing vaccination coverage in the US Pacific Islands. She will also develop a project proposal identifying a need in the islands, and a plan to evaluate that intervention.

The ASPPH/CDC Public Health Fellowships combine these professional experiences with mentorship from CDC public health experts. “I wanted some guidance before I really stepped into the field,” Griffin says. “I thought that this was just the perfect opportunity.”

Griffin says her SPH education also made her a prime candidate. “The fact that I had so many opportunities, especially research opportunities, I think really helped me stand out along the application process,” she says.

“I feel like those experiences prepared me very, very well to do well here.”

The Association of Schools & Programs of Public Health (ASPPH) offers the ASPPH/CDC Public Health Fellowships to students and graduate students of ASPPH member graduate schools and programs. The program was established to strengthen the relationship between the academic public health community and public health practice agencies.

—Michelle Samuels