Alisamarie Yiatras

What inspired you to study public health? 

I have always been interested in and passionate about the healthcare field, helping others and making a difference. After seeing the impact that the COVID-19 pandemic had on everyone, I decided that going into the public health field would give me the opportunity to utilize skills to make a positive impact and be at the forefront of healthcare challenges and issues.

What has been the single most rewarding experience of your career/studies so far? 

In my current role in healthcare operations, I have the opportunity to witness patient success stories related to different social determinants of health disparities including but not limited to food accessibility, transportation, and safety. Being able to see the impact my colleagues and company can make for our patients to improve their lives and overall health outcomes is one of the best parts about my job and something that I think is rewarding every day.

Where did you do your practicum? What was it about? 

I did my practicum with Ronald McDonald House New York. My practicum was about analyzing trends and improving patient and family outcomes in patients with a cancer diagnosis. My practicum involved a literature review, data analysis in SAS and assessment of clinical trials in New York City (NYC) as well as looking at how the data within Ronald McDonald House New York compares to NYC overall. This experience was very rewarding and impactful as I was able to gain first handle experience of real-life datasets and analysis. Additionally, I was able to provide information to the Ronald McDonald House New York staff that may help them better understand their patient population.

What do you hope to accomplish in your career? 

Throughout my career, I hope to make a meaningful contribution to the epidemiology sector of public health, specifically focusing on chronic and/or infectious diseases. Long-term after gaining important clinic experience in epidemiology, I hope to be apart of a healthcare leadership team in a hospital based setting.

Advice: 

One piece of advice I wish someone gave me when I started out the program would be to ask my professors/mentors more about their career in public health and get to know what has shaped them into the public health leaders/educators that they are today. I realized that a lot of the professors/staff/faculty have contributed significantly to the public health field and learning about their work and how they were able to get the opportunities that they had is important.

If you are working, what is your job? 

Provider Relations Representative/ilumed (full-time) Case Manager/EAC Network (part-time)

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