Alyssa Rentuza

What inspired you to study public health?

I was inspired to study public health after learning about how much plays into a person’s health that we don’t typically think about, especially the sociological and cultural factors like gender or neighborhood.

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

Being able to use my knowledge of public health, such as the ten essential services, to inform my decisions as an activist and to educate myself and my loved ones during both the COVID pandemic and the movement for racial justice.

Advice:

There are so many directions to take your public health career – don’t be overwhelmed, but try to take every opportunity you can to learn different perspectives and disciplines and see how you can work together to relate those new pieces of information to your own interests!

What do you think is the biggest challenge that the public health field should be focusing on?

How the needs of overlooked populations may be different than what commonplace “public health truths” may preach – for example, do Pacific Islanders need different public health approaches than what has been developed for the Asian community based on the East Asian consensus or gold standard?