In late spring of 2020, after campus shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a group formed at Cornell to plan for the potential reopening of campus in the fall. “Reopening was predicated on understanding behavioral surveillance data,” says emergency preparedness and response expert Dr. Isaac Weisfuse, adjunct faculty with…
As unprecedented unemployment rates and disruptions in food supply chains have continued to unfold around the world, the pandemic has led to a substantial rise in food insecurity, which includes actual and perceived lack of access to nutritious food. In the United States and in New York State, record…
Michelle Falkenbach, a Postdoctoral Associate working with Assistant Professor Dr. Willison recently released her book volume on health policy. The Populist Radical Right and Health includes case studies from around the world about how these political trends are affecting health and public health policy, the influence on covid-19, and what…
Students Kellyann Baxendell and Victoria Montero qualified for the Emory Morningside Global Health Case after winning the Cornell competition last spring. Their winning case, “Measles Elimination and Nutritional Supplementation Program: The MEANS to an end of measles in Syria,” focused on empowering locals to distribute measles vaccines and nutrition packets…
Since its inception, the MPH Program has been dedicated to working hand-in-hand with public health organizations to support their needs. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic overwhelmed health departments across the state, national assessments showed that many public health agencies would benefit from more formal training and support. “It has long…
After graduating from the Cornell MPH program’s Infectious Disease Epidemiology track in May 2020, Shane Conyers began a PhD program in Epidemiology. In addition to a full roster of coursework in his first year at Emory University, Conyers is already involved in two of his own research projects there, one…
In his senior year of college, Kenny Escobar took a class on healthcare disparities that changed his trajectory. He wanted to make a difference in communities. “I’m glad I found out that public health was my path,” says Escobar. “The M.P.H. Program at Cornell was a great choice for me.”…
Cecelia Madsen (left) and members of the Cornell Lightweight Men’s rowing team after beating Columbia Cecelia Madsen was a fellow with the Master of Public Health Program at the very start, before there were staff, faculty or students. She had just returned from the Peace Corps from Senegal to live…
Lakshman Balaji joined the Cornell MPH Program after working as a dentist in the only government funded hospital in his home state, in India. As an MPH student specializing in Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Lakshman refined skills in biostatistics and data analytics through his courses and internships with the Smithsonian Institutes,…
Gary Whittaker studied Biochemistry and completed a PhD in Microbiology at the University of Leeds (UK) before moving to the US to do post-doctoral studies in cell biology at Yale University Medical School. Gary came to Cornell in 1996, where he has established a research program in virology, focusing on…