Alumni
>Carlota Medus
>Bailus Walker
>Penny Rechkemmer Andresen
Carlota Medus
Carlota Medus knew she wanted to help the community and conduct research. A course in epidemiology helped solidify her academic and professional direction. "I found out I could combine my areas of interest in public health," says Medus.
Born in Boston, Medus grew up in Argentina and Panama—her parents' native countries. At 18, she returned to the United States to attend college.
After earning a B.A. in psychology from the University of Minnesota, Medus worked as a health counselor in a psychiatric setting. She thought about pursuing a Ph.D. in clinical psychology, but public health prevailed: "Once I learned what epidemiology was, tracking diseases, studying diseases in populations, I was hooked. It fascinated me."
Her fascination led to academic fruition. In 1999, Medus received an M.P.H. in epidemiology. In 2005, she completed a Ph.D. in environmental health. "I benefited tremendously from both programs," she says.
Medus is grateful for the School's mentor program, which helped her make connections at the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH). She is now a senior epidemiologist at the agency. Part sleuth, part scientist, Medus works on research studies, looking at risk factors for different infections and investigating food borne outbreaks.
"I have the best of both worlds, research and public health practice," she says. "I really love what I do and I really like working at the MDH. I'm motivated by the fact that we do make a difference. We have an opportunity to stop an outbreak and prevent others from getting sick."
Bailus Walker
"My public health degree from Minnesota created opportunities that I never dreamed of as an unfocused undergraduate," says Bailus Walker, Ph.D., M.P.H., professor of environmental and occupational medicine at Howard University College of Medicine and the President of the American Lung Association of the District of Columbia.
Dr. Walker spent his early childhood in a small rural community in the South where he witnessed an array of environmental risk factors, from substandard housing, poor water quality, and improper waste disposal to name a few. This sparked his interest in public health.
"I chose the University of Minnesota School of Public Health because I had high regard for the African-American leaders who had graduated from the University," says Dr. Walker. He says his career has been greatly enhanced with his public health degree. Positions have included Director of the Michigan Department of Health, and Commissioner of Public Health for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He was the first non-physician appointed to both of those positions. He also served as head of the occupational health standards directorate of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA).
The former president of the American Public Health Association, Dr.Walker is a member of the Institute of Medicine and a fellow of the American College of Epidemiology. He recently served as chairman of Washington, D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams' health policy council and the city's health services reform commission.
Penny Rechkemmer Andresen
Penny Rechkemmer Andresen seemed instinctively drawn to public health—even while finishing her master's degree in anthropology.
"I was looking for some way to apply anthropology to situations happening now," she remembers. "I happened upon public health. I didn't even know it existed."
Andresen made her first foray into the field in 1997 as a student in the Public Health Administration and Policy program. By 2000, when she received her M.P.H., Andresen wanted to pursue a career in academia. "Environmental Health seemed like the right fit for me," she says. "In my anthropology work in Nigeria, I would see the influence of the environment on public health."
Andresen was thrilled with the support she received in the program and credits her professors and advisors with helping her pursue interests in international health and research, including her dissertation work in India exploring women's respiratory health and their cooking fuels. She completed her Ph.D. in August, and then began a post-doctoral fellowship at Johns Hopkins University. There, she is merging environmental health science with community outreach through community-based participatory research.
Too often, she explains, "people just go out and do public health, and the community is not really involved." Andresen strives to build partnerships with the community. "That way they get feedback, and you make sure they have a vested interest in the research."
