Cohort 1
Cohort 2
Melissa Adomako
Originally from Ghana, Melissa Adomako graduated from the University of Georgia with a BS in Biology in 2013. She graduated with an MPH in Global Health from Tufts University School of Medicine in 2017. She also holds a Global Health Diplomacy Certificate from the University of Oxford. Melissa works for the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), as a Regional Officer for Europe, Sub- Saharan Africa, and Multilateral Affairs in the Office for Global Research (OGR). In her capacity as a Regional Officer, she provides regional expertise, supports NIAID biomedical research activities, and facilitates opportunities for scientific collaboration. Prior to this, she worked as a Program Coordinator for Uganda, Ethiopia, and Kenya at the American International Health Alliance HIV/AIDS Twinning Center in Washington, DC. In this role, she supported the implementation of PEPFAR-funded projects focused on HIV/AIDS prevention and lab strengthening in Sub-Saharan Africa. She also managed AIHA’s Volunteer Healthcare Corps (VHC) program, which placed health professionals from the United States in volunteer positions overseas. Melissa’s areas of interest include emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases, pandemic preparedness and response, global health diplomacy, health systems strengthening, and global health security. She is passionate about mentoring and coaching early-career public health professionals and students.
Daliya AlMohammad Ali
Daliya AlMohammad Ali is a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) candidate. She received her undergraduate degree in Medicine from the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and her Master’s degree in Public Health from the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia. Prior to joining NYU, her work focused on contributing to the infrastructure in Kuwait to support public health emergency management. Initially, she was part of a team that was developing a local hospital’s emergency preparedness and response plan in Kuwait. Soon after, she transferred to public health where she could have a bigger impact on planning and responding to public health emergencies, and was inspired to obtain an MPH from the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia where she took courses in disaster management. Daliya has a wide range of experience in public health, where she has learned to effectively collaborate and engage with stakeholders in the public, private and non-profit sectors. She has worked in the occupational health department, managed the implementation of the WHO Healthy Cities Initiative in the Healthy Cities Office, managed the national polio surveillance program and was the national focal point for public health disasters when she was working in the Environmental Health Division in Kuwait. Daliya is pursuing the DrPH to gain managerial skills to expand her skillsets and become a more effective leader. Currently, she is working as the project coordinator of the NYC Transit Workers and COVID-19: Impact of Multilevel Interventions Study led by Dr. Robyn Gershon, and as a researcher on the COVID-19 Healthcare Personnel Study (CHPS) led by Dr. David Abramson.
Hamad AlRashed
Hamad AlRashed is a public health professional who works for the Ministry of Health of Kuwait in the Communicable Disease Control Department, and he used to serve as one of the national focal points for the World Health Organization (WHO) prior to joining the DrPH program at NYU School of Global Public Health. Hamad graduated medical school from UCC in the Republic of Ireland and his professional work experience started in the Kuwaiti hospitals where he worked as a physician for 5 years prior to joining the MPH graduate program in UQ, Australia, in 2017. During the COVID-19 pandemic Hamad gained valuable experience in the management and implementation of numerous public health projects in Kuwait which allowed him to expand his knowledge, teaching, and leadership qualities.
Kiera Bloch
Prior to graduating with an MPH from NYU, Kiera graduated from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts with an undergraduate degree in psychology and biochemistry. She is currently the Program Manager for the Global & Environmental Public Health Program here at GPH. There she is responsible for managing various projects and strategic initiatives, including collaborative courses with UN agencies and other external partners as well as providing ongoing support for current and prospective MPH students. Throughout her time at NYU, both as a student and staff, Kiera has had the opportunity to work on a number of projects with the World Food Programme and UNICEF, including an evaluation of Home-Grown School Feeding Programs in Ethiopia, a cost benefit analysis of using primary schools as a delivery platform for other health interventions and a project looking at ways to strengthen the WFP/UNICEF interagency partnership in emergency settings. While her interests are ever evolving, Kiera is particularly interested in global governance and health-inclusive policymaking to address transnational threats to public health, like climate change, mass migration and future disease outbreaks. Kiera ultimately hopes to work in government or at a think tank, such as the Council on Foreign Relations, that will provide her with an opportunity to influence and advocate for policies that promote and protect public health.
Julius Torres Kellinghusen
Julius Kellinghusen is a public health professional with a passion for ending health inequity by supporting the most marginalized communities. Julius holds a B.A. in International Relations from Pomona College, where his public health career started when he interned with UNAIDS in Vietnam. Before earning a Master of Public Health degree from New York University in 2020, Julius served two years with the Peace Corps in Panama. There, working in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene sector, he helped a rural community rebuild their potable water system and establish a community water committee to maintain the system going forward.Currently, Julius is the Operations & Development Officer at HealthRight International, a global health and human rights nonprofit organization. In this role, he oversees the grant application process across HealthRight’s projects in Ukraine, Kenya, Uganda, Vietnam, and the U.S. He also leads fundraising and communications efforts and manages office operations from IT to human resources. Julius’s academic interests lie in implementation science, making impactful interventions work in the marginalized communities that need them most. Originally from Germany, Julius currently lives in Brooklyn with his partner and two cats.
Johanna Miele
Johanna received her Master of Public Health with a concentration in Community & International Health at NYU School of Global Public Health and her BA in Psychology from Columbia University. Johanna has been a New York State certified Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) for over seven years, volunteering in college and in her neighborhood ambulance corps. Johanna is a Manager in the Emergency Management + Enterprise Resilience team at NYU Langone Health, directing the implementation of an enterprise-wide infectious disease response, mass fatality operations, mass decontamination, and multi-casualty incident readiness across several acute care and faculty practice facilities in New York City and Nassau County. During COVID-19, she and the EM+ER team coordinated the hospital's response through the strategic development of key task forces, emergency operations centers, and at the tactical level managing mass fatality surge operations. Prior to her role at NYU Langone Health, she worked at NYC Emergency Management as the Deputy Director of Health and Medical Planning coordinating with city, state and federal health officials in planning and response activities. During citywide emergencies, she worked with multiple public health and medical partners on a variety of natural and man-made hazards including supporting executive leadership during the city’s response to Ebola Virus Disease, Zika, and Legionnaires’ Disease. In addition to her work in public health incident planning and response she also worked with key agency partners on planning for Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear and high-yield explosives (CBRNE) incidents. Her work has been presented at the World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine on the importance of the integration of public health in emergency management. She’s also presented NACCHO’s Preparedness Summit on emergency management response in coastal storms as well as the rapid planning model response structure used during COVID-19 at NYU Langone Health. This year, she’s hoping to publish her NSF Converge team’s research on transportation justice during COVID-19.
Andrea Muraca
Andrea’s professional path began in his native Italy; he built on his lifelong interest in biology by training at a hospital in Bologna and earning a master’s degree in human biology and pharmacology there. Hoping to expand the impact of his work from a “micro” to a “macro” level, Andrea enrolled at NYU and graduated with his MPH in global health leadership. Andrea also conducted research in virologic monitoring of intestinal transplant patients and worked on studies in chemo-prevention through nutrition, adding a credential in healthcare policy and management from the graduate business school of Bocconi University in Milan. Andrea spent a few years as a project manager for Johnson & Johnson, marketing medical devices for diabetics and innovative telemedicine software. As Director of Student & Alumni Affairs at the NYU School of Global Public Health, Andrea’s expertise lies in overseeing strategic planning initiatives, and academic program development to propel increased enrollment and retention while enhancing student achievements and learning experiences. Andrea is currently pursuing a DrPH, with an eye to practice and teaching, so he can continue on a track toward leadership in higher public health education.
John Pateña
John Pateña, MPH, MA is a public health professional with a passion for promoting mental health through dissemination and implementation research. His career focuses on developing innovative approaches to prevent mental illness and support mental well-being among high-risk populations; scaling up evidence-based interventions and public health programs/initiatives in low-resourced settings; and fostering organizational- and systems-level changes through public health leadership. John has a dual background in public health and counseling psychology, integrating his mental health training with a prevention framework. John graduated from Brown University School of Public Health (MPH ’14) concentrating in behavioral and social sciences interventions. He has conducted mental health research at academic medical centers, developing and testing digital health interventions for behavioral health disorders and violence prevention. John has also implemented public health programs/initiatives in the areas of tobacco cessation, lung health, and chronic disease management at various non-profit organizations. He has extensive experience collaborating with community-based organizations, health departments, and health clinics. John also has a degree in counseling psychology, and has practiced as a mental health counselor working with youth and adolescents in hospitals, schools, and community centers. John is currently the Program Director at the Brown-Lifespan Center for Digital Health. In this role, he executes the Center’s intellectual mission, vision, values, and strategic plan to advance its research portfolio, educational initiatives, and community partnerships. John serves as the strategic and operational partner to Brown University to develop and grow the Center as a resource for digital health innovation. John is part of the 2021 inaugural DrPH cohort. He has a vision to be a public health leader within the population mental health field. John is currently a member of the Implementing Sustainable Evidence-based interventions through Engagement (ISEE) Lab at NYU and serves as the Section Leader for the Section on Advancing the Science of Implementation in Global Settings.
Joshua P. Prasad
Joshua Prasad (Josh) is focused on building equity in communities through public health, entrepreneurship, media and innovation. Josh has served as the Director for Innovation at the Health Resources and Services Administration. Here, he built the Community Connected Health Initiative with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, as well as served as a key advisor for the Social Determinants of Health (SDoH) and Community Benefit. Prior to this, he was on the HHS Innovation team, where he served as the Director of Health Equity Innovation. Among other things, he led the $25 Million KidneyX Public-Private Partnership, served on the HHS COVID-19 Testing and Diagnostics Working Group’s Informatics team, led the creation of a Community Vulnerability Index, built a strategy for the Chief Data Officer related to Equity and Data sharing, and started the HHS Island Areas Council. Prior to this stint in government, Josh served at HHS from 2012-17, where he was a Special Assistant and Public Health Advisor to the Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health (Science and Medicine) within the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)’s Immediate Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH). Josh helped create Public Health 3.0, the first federal framework on SDoH, served as the Director for the National Tobacco-Free College Campus Initiative, led OASH’s Healthy Weight, Physical Activity, and Nutrition efforts, as well as developing a regional implementation strategy for the National Adult Immunization Plan, among many other programs. Josh has led change with the private sector. At Deloitte Government and Public Services Consulting, he led projects on the Social Determinants of Health (SDoH), Health Equity and COVID-19 related disparities for agencies like CMS, CDC, state government, and Managed Care payers. He was also the Center Director of a rural health center that expanded Medicaid patients’ access to Medication Assisted Treatment, mental health, telehealth, psychiatric and primary care services and integrated access to community supports related to food and housing insecurity and workforce development in their recovery. In 2015, he got involved in the emerging health innovation space, and co-founded Caravan, a startup focused on addressing and disrupting the primary care model by integrating it with community health workers and SDoH. He later worked at Sherbit in 2017, where he was Director of Health Outcomes and National Partnerships and helped expand their digital data dashboard towards preventive health and equity until their acquisition by Medopad in 2018. Josh also served as the Board Chair of Counter Tools, a national nonprofit focused on point-of-sale regulation and chronic disease. Josh completed an Innovation Fellowship at Harvard Center for Primary Care in 2016. He received his Master’s in Public Health from Drexel University, and his Bachelor’s from Rutgers University, where he majored in English and Psychology. He was named one of Drexel Universities’ 40 under 40 in 2017 and is an adjunct faculty member at the Dornsife School of Public Health.
Marsha Williams
Marsha Williams is a Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) candidate at New York University's School of Global Public Health. Marsha’s current work focuses on healthcare systems' preparedness planning serving populations with special medical needs, including transplant recipients, individuals with end-stage renal disease receiving dialysis, the elderly and pediatrics. She has expertise leading and providing technical assistance to federal, state, and local public health agencies in response to public health disasters such as, H1N1, Zika, Legionella, Measles, TB, Superstorm Sandy, COVID-19 pandemic and most recently, the 2022 Monkeypox outbreak. Her research interests include global health security, communicable disease preparedness, disaster epidemiology and the impact of public health emergencies on medically vulnerable populations post-disasters. Marsha began her career as a Public Health Epidemiologist with New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Bureau of Tuberculosis Control where she worked on Multidrug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) outbreak investigations as well as functioned as the Deputy Director, Regional TB Program Field Office for Bronx and Staten Island responsible for establishing the overall strategic direction of TB control and prevention programmatic activities and administration. Previously, Marsha worked for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Division of Global Migration and Quarantine, as a Contractor, for the Pandemic Influenza Border Strategy Initiative and facilitated the evaluation of existing and proposed plans, systems, strategies, and services, in response to public health disasters/emergencies and participated in refugee health initiatives, focused on the assessment and safe migration of refugees in partnership with CDC Specialist and the International Organization of Migration (IOM). Originally from Jamaica, Marsha received her BA from Colgate University and her MPH from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. In 2020, Marsha was a fellow of the Harvard National Preparedness Leadership Initiative (NPLI), an executive crisis leadership training program which is a joint partnership with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, Center for Public Leadership.
Sara AlMunif
Sara AlMunif is a doctoral student at the School of Global Public Health at New York University. Sara works as a health policy manager at the Saudi Center for Value in Health which is part of the transforming Health System in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, where she advised on policy frameworks that enable value-based healthcare implementation in the country. She has worked on many global health initiatives with international organizations, including the OECD’s Patient Reported Indicators Survey Project, the G20 Health Working Group, World Economic Forum’s Global Coalition for Value in Health, and the Global Innovation Hub for Improving Value in Health. Sara is a medical doctor by training and has a master’s degree in global public health from Georgetown University. Before working with the Saudi health system transformation, she worked at a tertiary hospital in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on preventative medicine and public health policies, and at WHO on equity and social determinants of health. Her interest is in health systems sustainability and equitable distribution of healthcare services. Upon completing her studies, Sara plans to continue to work on strengthening health systems globally by accelerating the progress on the health-related Sustainable Development Goals by implementing high-impact policies to protect population health.
Emeka Iloegbu
Emeka Iloegbu is a first-year Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) student focusing on leadership and the quality of infectious disease activities in emergency and humanitarian settings. He holds an MSc in Forced Migration and Health from Columbia University and an MPH in Global Health from Mount Sinai. At Mount Sinai, he was inducted into the Delta Omega Honorary Society and received the Excellence in Public Health Service and Leadership award. He received specialized training in humanitarian aid and field epidemiology from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School for Public Health and Implementation Science in Tropical Disease Research from the World Health Organization. Emeka has over ten years of experience responding to health emergencies in partnership with in-country NGOs and has contributed to field operations and policy discussions domestically and internationally. Emeka currently works as a Quality Management Officer within the Division of Disease Control at the NYC DOH Public Health Laboratory. He oversees the quality of laboratory operations and activities in response to disease threats such as COVID-19, Monkey Pox, Select Agents, and other emerging threats. His specialty is Microbiology and Immunohematology, and he holds a Board of Certification from the American Society of Clinical Pathologists and a New York State License in Clinical Laboratory Science. Before accepting this position at the NYC DOH, he provided laboratory testing and technical assistance to New York Presbyterian Hospital-Columbia, SUNY Downstate Hospital, and NYU Langone Hospital (Long Island) at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in NYC.
Mentalla Ismail
Mentalla Ismail is a Doctor of Public Health candidate in the School of Global Public Health at New York University. She earned her BS in Biology and Neuroscience at the University of Cincinnati. As an undergraduate student she founded Refuge-UC, a student organization focused on mitigating educational barriers refugee students face after resettlement. Mentalla later continued her studies at the University of Cincinnati College of Medicine earning her MPH in Public Health with a Global Health concentration. She completed her master’s thesis on refugee health literacy, developing a study to evaluate the functional and comprehensive health literacy rates of adult Syrian refugees. While completing her MPH she worked as a Research Coordinator at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital in the department of Emergency Medicine where she led and facilitated multiple studies in the emergency department. After receiving her MPH, she expanded Refuge-UC into Refuge Collaborative, a non-profit organization that focuses on creating education accessibility for refugee students through mentorship. Mentalla currently serves as the Executive Director of Refuge Collaborative, leading education, and health promotion initiatives for refugee youth. Her research interests include education accessibility and refugee health literacy. She is passionate about creating and implementing public health programming that centers accessibility for refugees and displaced persons.
Alyson Lippel
Alyson Lippel is a DrPH student at the New York University School of Global Public Health. Alyson received her BS in Neuroscience and Psychology from the University of Scranton in 2010 and her masters in Bioethics from NYU in 2012. Alyson has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for the last ten years in various roles ranging from Clinical Research scientist, Integrated Patient Centered Medical Team Head and Director of Medical Capabilities. Alyson hopes to acquire the skill set to assess determinants of health and implement innovative solutions on how to overcome potential barriers to care and pursue more diverse, equitable and inclusive clinical trials. She is interested in leveraging her strong cross-organization relationships to elevate the conversation around all aspects of public health, create a shared vision, advocate for change through internal education and information sharing and bring all the key stakeholders together to create a shared vision to deliver care at the highest level for all patients, not only through their physical treatment journey but support their emotional and cognitive health as well, with the goal of improving their quality of life.
Kellen Namusisi
Kellen Namusisi is a doctoral student at the School of Global Public Health, department of Public Health Policy and Management at New York University. She earned a Master of Science in Population and Reproductive Health from Makerere University Kampala Uganda. Currently she is a junior research scientist under the guidance of Professor Donna Shelley. Prior to joining New York University, she was a Research Associate at Makerere University School of Public Health in Kampala, Uganda, where she led and co-led several projects on tobacco control research and policy implementation in Africa for over 8 years. She also offered technical assistance on enacting and implementing tobacco control laws, policies, and programmes under the African Center for Tobacco Control in ten African countries. Internationally, she has contributed to developing research guidelines and agendas on tobacco control working in partnership with academia, UN, and governments; coordinated the IDRC tobacco control research project for 5 Universities in Eastern Africa and was part of the consortium that organized and delivered the 18th global conference on tobacco or health which was hosted by Uganda and South Africa. Her research interests focus on non-communicable disease integration and interventions on risk factors, specifically tobacco use, alcohol abuse and air pollution at both global and regional levels through implementation science.
Rashmi Shrestha
Rashmi Shrestha is an adjunct faculty at New York University College of Dentistry. She teaches SAS programming, Data Management and Data Analytics in Clinical Research to graduate students. Rashmi received her MPH with a concentration in infectious disease epidemiology and a certificate in vaccine science and policy from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. She received her M.S. in Clinical Research from New York University College of Dentistry. She worked as a scientist for Lifecell Corporation for four years. She has years of experience volunteering for non-profit organizations in different capacities since 2003. She was one of the co-founders of Adhikaar, an organization based in New York City that promotes and advocates policy on human rights and social justice for the marginalized Nepali population. She is also the Founder/Director of Celeritas Foundation, a 501(c)(3)public charity/organization dedicated to saving lives from preventable diseases in developing countries.