Ashley Meadows (she/her/hers)

Graduate Research Assistant, MPH – Epidemiology, second-year

I grew up in Maineville, Ohio and I lived about 5 minutes from Kings Island.  I love thrill hobbies, I’ve gone to several theme parks to ride roller coasters, gone sky diving, and been human catapulted backwards into a lake.  One of my bucket list items is to go to every theme park in the US.

What drew you to a public health education? 

I was drawn to public health because I want to help educate the public about ways they can help keep themselves and their loved ones safe.  I am a big believer in education instead of forcing someone to make healthy decisions.  Without breaking down why something could be an important change in lifestyle, it’s impossible to get individuals on board with your ideas.  

What makes you passionate about addressing health disparities in your research? 

I am passionate about health equity and leveling the playing field for all people.  So discovering why some minority marginalized groups are experiencing greater health disparities than others is a big drive in my research.   

How do you spend your time outside of academia? 

While I am in school, I spend a lot of my free time going on walks, hikes, and roller skating. Outside of being in school I like to travel to other states and try local foods!  

What advice would you give to students pursuing public health? 

Public health is a huge diverse major.  The beauty of public health is that we are needed in an enormous amount of various places.  Don’t be afraid to branch out and talk to a wide range of people who are looking into public health, because there are so many paths to explore you can find something here that you are truly passionate about.  Don’t put yourself in a small box, be open to the large array of possibilities public health has to offer.   

 

Dr. Brittney Lee Keller-Hamilton, MPH

Pronouns: She/Her/Hers

Title: Assistant Professor, OSU Division of Medical Oncology

Dr. Keller-Hamilton has published more than 10 papers with PS LGBTQ P.I., Dr. Joanne Patterson. Dr. Keller-Hamilton is an epidemiologist and assistant professor at OSU’s College of Medicine. Her primary research interest is reducing health disparities that are caused by tobacco use.

What was a memorable experience of your public health career?

• I always love to hear positive feedback from our research participants—that they quit or cut down on their smoking, enjoyed interacting with our research team, or appreciated the opportunity to contribute to cancer research.

What advice would you give to students pursuing public health?

• Look for opportunities to apply what you learned in the classroom. This helps the concepts stick!

Meet our amazing leader in the PS LGBTQ+ Lab!! Dr. Patterson is this teams Principal Investigator and keeps this ship afloat.  Her hard work and daily dedication to the team motivates us to put our best work forward.  Thank you for all you do Joanne, we really couldn’t do it without you! Read more about her below.

Pronouns: she/her/hers

Title: Assistant Professor, Div. Health Behavior and Health Promotion PhD in Health Behavior and Health Education, 2019, The University of Tennessee

Date: 07/11/2023

Hometown and Public Health interest:

I am originally from Berwick-upon-Tweed, a small town in North England, but I moved to Columbus, Georgia as a teenager. I’m invested in research to reduce cancer rates and risk factors experiences by LGBTQ+ populations living in the United States.

What drew you to a public health education?

I began my public health education through my social work practice. Working in community-based nonprofits, I quickly learned that macro/population-level interventions are needed to complement micro/individual-level and clinical interventions to truly reduce cancer health inequities. Thankfully, I had a great supervisor who pointed me in the way of a dual-degree as an MSW/MPH student.

What makes you passionate about addressing health disparities in your research?

I believe that everyone has the inherent right to live a full and healthy life, to make independent choices about their health and wellness, and to have the resources available and accessible to them to support that health decision-making. LGBTQ+ people experience systematic and structural discrimination that affects their health, health decision-making, and healthcare access. It’s not okay. My goal is to help level the playing field for LGBTQ+ people to reduce inequitable cancer rates experienced by LGBTQ+ populations and improve health during cancer survivorship.

What are your goals for the future?

· To contribute science that informs interventions (including policy, communications, and behavioral interventions) to improve cancer health equity for LGBTQ+ people.

· To produce work that’s impactful enough to warrant an interview by NPR’s Robin Young!

· To engage as many students as possible in public health research through our PS LGBTQ+ Health Equity Lab

· To end my career knowing that I provided excellent mentorship to students from minoritized and underserved groups. I didn’t quite know how to seek mentorship, research experiences, or financial support during my undergraduate and graduate training, and it’s my goal to share what I’ve learned along the way to undergrad, graduate, doctoral, and postdoc students and trainees.

How do you spend your time outside of academia?

I enjoy farmer’s markets; playing cards and entertaining guests with my wife; walking our dog, Nova; and creative writing. Here’s a short poem on how I see what I do:

on science & teaching

Listening.

giving Voice to stories

Our lives in words, numbers.

Heart in hands. Undone:

art – practice – science – art

the teacher always

Being. taught

-JGP 04-17-2023

What advice would you give to students pursuing public health?

Dig into the subjects, skills, and tasks that light you up. Love numbers? Epi or Biostats may be for you. Do you like to unravel context? Are you a good listener? Consider qualitative work. Are you the conversationalist at community gatherings? Do you like to bring people together? Consider applying community engaged methods in your research or practice. Try out scientific and practical experiences by seeking research assistantships, internships, and volunteer positions while in your program. The experience you build while attaining your degree will directly affect your capacity to talk about your interests and skills on the job market. Talk with your peers, faculty, and practice mentors about what you think you want to do. Remember: Life is too short to pursue a career that doesn’t light a fire in your belly. Use this time to figure out what that is and try it on.

That said, don’t make work your whole life. Develop work-life boundaries. Make time for play. When you can, buy yourself flowers, or fancy coffee, or the “good” bread – whatever is a treat for you. Set up dates with family and friends. Sleep. Please sleep. Also, meals and water are critical for keeping up your energy. Don’t forget those either!

 

Grace Turk (she/her)

Student Research Assistant, MPH Graduate Student

5/26/2023

I like to say I’m from Cleveland-ish; I’m actually from a small town about 45 minutes northeast of Cleveland called Chardon. I started my undergraduate career with plans to go to medical school, however when the Covid pandemic hit and I started working at the Covid testing center on campus, I became passionate about public health, health disparities and taking preventative measures for disease rather than treating disease after diagnosis.

What are your goals for the future?

I plan to pursue a master’s degree in epidemiology, hopefully in Boston or New York City. I would like to continue to research health disparities and how underrepresented populations are affected by disease at higher proportions. Eventually, I plan to use this knowledge to influence policy in health care.

How do you spend your time outside of academia?

Outside of academia, I also work as a server at an Italian restaurant in Grandview Heights, Trattoria Roma, and spend majority of my free time working out or spending time with my friends. I’m very into running, but I recently started taking barre classes with my roommate which has been a fun change! I also love to read, listen to podcasts, and do puzzles.

Alysha Caine Ennis, MPH (she/her/hers)

Title: Research Administration Management Analyst

UPDATED 10/10/2024

I’m the staff research manager on the PS Health Equity team, and a graduate of the Master of Public Health program at OSU, with a specialization in Health Behavior and Health Promotion. I mostly grew up in Texas, but have also lived in Arizona, Georgia, and most recently Brooklyn, New York before moving to Columbus, Ohio in 2019! My research interests include LGBTQ+ health disparities and sexual and reproductive health.

What drew you to a public health education?

I have a slightly non-traditional background, my undergraduate degree is a BFA in Fashion Design! I was drawn to Public Health because after several years of working in fashion and graphic design I wanted to pivot to a career that addressed equity and social justice, but that had several options for career paths. The Black Lives Matter movement coinciding with COVID-19 also influenced my decision to pursue a career tackling the social determinants of health and health disparities.

How do you spend your time outside of academia?

I have a pretty full household with a dog (Ellie), cat (Marcie) and brand-new baby (Mia)! I love taking walks with my family through my neighborhood and listening to podcasts and audiobooks. Besides walking, yoga is my favorite form of exercise. I also love meeting friends for dinner and drinks and exploring new places in Columbus.

What advice would you give to students pursuing public health?

Be open to your research interests and flexible with the type of career path you might take. Public health can open you to a surprisingly diverse number of opportunities if you keep your mind open to the types of opportunities you might be interested in! I took a GRA position in tobacco research even though I didn’t think of tobacco research as one of my passions, but that lead me to the PS Health Equity lab where I am able to combine my experience of tobacco research with one of my public health passions, LGBTQ+ equity!

Emma Jankowski (she/her) 

Undergraduate Research Assistant, BSPH in Public Health Sociology, Minor in Public Policy, Graduating May 2023 

2/21/2022 

Emma is a senior studying public health – sociology with a minor in public policy from Cleveland, Ohio. Her public health interest is analyzing the impact of policy decisions on historically marginalized populations.
 

What drew you to a public health education? 

I was drawn to a public health education through a high school internship at the Cleveland Clinic, where I helped to facilitate their school-based health mobile unit. I saw first-hand the disparities in health that arise just from one’s zip code or skin color, and became passionate about being a part of the change we need to make. I hope to become an epidemiologist, working in policy research.  

What are your goals for the future? 

I want to analyze policies and programs and help to improve them so all people have equal access and outcomes.  

What advice would you give to students pursuing public health? 

To students pursuing public health, I want to say that you are pursing one of the most rewarding and challenging programs at Ohio State. Keep at it and ask for help when you need it. Everyone around you is rooting for you to succeed.

Sydney Galusha (she/her/hers)

Research Assistant, Public Health with a specialization in sociology, 2025

I am from Rochester, New York. The public health sociology specialization programs focuses on how social factors impact health in order to improve the health communities.

What drew you to a public health education?

I was drawn to public health education because it takes into account the health of the whole population rather than focusing on one individuals. Public health education recognized that the inequality gap has a huge impact on the health of communities and works to close that gap. Also I love how public health focuses on how to prevent illnesses and encourage healthy lifestyles rather than developing a cure to something.

What makes you passionate about addressing health disparities in your research?

I am passionate about addressing health disparities because they affect so many people worldwide and there is not enough research addressing these issues.

What are your goals for the future?

My goals for the future are to work in within a health care setting and use my public health education to help close the inequality gap that exist and better treat my patients.

Hayley Curran (she/her)
Program Manager, MPH-PEP Year 2

Hi everyone! I am a current MPH-PEP student and live in Mount Vernon, OH. I am interested in supporting cancer prevention initiatives in rural and underserved populations.

How do you spend your time outside of academia?
I love creating a small homestead with my husband and many pets! I’ve learned so much about gardening, raising chickens, and DIY home renovations in the last two years! I also enjoy spending time with family and pets, exploring local parks, and reading.

What advice would you give to students pursuing public health?
Stay curious! I had a huge misconception that research only involved a windowless lab where you sat at the bench all day. Instead, in my role I get to talk with and learn from participants every day and support PIs in the implementation of new projects. There’s something out there for everyone, you just have to be curious enough to find it!

Fun facts:

• Supporting the local cat population! Trap, Neutered, and Released (TNR) 22+ cats in the span of a year. We currently feed ~17 cats (7 of which are indoor).
• I have a mini horse and a pony. The mini horse sometimes wears build a bear workshop shoes on his feet.