Studying at Sheffield helped me realize that I am capable of achieving anything!

What are your main responsibilities in your current role?

I write and edit content for the public-facing COVID-19 vaccine webpages; serve as a subject matter expert for agency vaccine communications.

Please outline your career history: how did you get to where you are today?

MAY 2020 - PRESENT
Health Educator at the Washington State Department of Health. I consult with and support teams across the agency to design and produce health education and promotion materials; coordinate the Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant.

DEC 2019 – MAY 2020
Immunization Health Educator at the Washington State Department of Health. I developed and promoted targeted hepatitis A education materials and social media; updated hepatitis A web content; co-coordinated the statewide hepatitis A awareness campaign with Grindr 4 Equality.

JAN 2016 – AUG 2017
PrEP Coordinator/Navigator for the Cascade AIDS Project. Through this project I connected 200+ patients with PrEP; led PrEP trainings to university health clinics and community-based organizations; coordinated production of an innovative PrEP Provider Guide requested by medical providers locally, regionally, and nationally; successfully lobbied the City of Portland to officially declare July as PrEP Awareness Month.

AUG 2012 – JAN 2016
Project NEON Outreach Coordinator/Health Educator at Seattle Counseling Service. I facilitated, trained, and managed the Needle and sex Education Outreach Network (NEON) HIV-prevention peer education team; tracked and reported grant program deliverables; designed culturally-competent HIV and Sexually Transmitted Disease (STD) prevention materials.

Why did you want to come to the University of Sheffield to study your chosen degree?

I applied for the European Public Health Programme, and Sheffield was my preferred option for year 1 of the program. For graduate school I was keen to have an international experience where I could study public health with students from around the world.

What were your favourite things about or best memories of the University of Sheffield?

Studying with classmates from around the world; exploring the Peaks; steak and ale pie; public transportation was excellent and it was convenient to explore the rest of the UK; also I met one of my best friends!

Please explain how has your qualification and/or time at Sheffield helped you in your career?

The rigorous coursework helped me develop excellent study skills. I also improved my professional confidence and grew a lot personally. Studying at Sheffield helped me realize that I am capable of achieving anything I put my mind to.

What has been your greatest achievement to date?

Serving on the Washington State Incident Management Team in communications when COVID-19 cases were first confirmed.