As I write this, my last column as program director, I want to thank all of you for the privilege of working with you to further your individual goals, achieve your collective aims, and strengthen this program. In the end, the program metric that matters the most is: have our students learned important public health skills, and have they used those skills to further health and wellness?
As I look at the student news section of this issue, I see students who are already using what they are learning, engaging with their communities, and making an impact on the school. Ashley received the 2024 Student Award for Outstanding Contributions to Advancing Belonging, Equity, and Justice; Jeff co-authored a paper with one of our faculty; Domna was a guest speaker at the Yale Law School; Jolene and Nathan each collaborated on papers; Janna presented her capstone project at the White House; Dan presented his AI tools at the AI in Medicine Symposium; Jay has been certified as a Public Health Ambassador; Charles received a $2.8 million grant from the National Institute on Aging; and Leah has been named Associate Medical Director at Oregon Health & Science University.
A number of students from the inaugural class of the Executive MPH program have contacted me to say how impactful the experience was, and how useful it is now. My hope is that this will be true for you as well.
I will continue in the program as Critical Topics Track Director, so I look forward to working with the Class of 2025 and the incoming Class of 2026, and I again wish all the best to the 2024 graduates.
With great warmth and respect,
Marty
Robert McDougal, PhD
Faculty profile
Robert A. McDougal, PhD, is an assistant professor in the YSPH Health Informatics Division of the Department of Biostatistics. McDougal is affiliated with the computational biology and bioinformatics graduate program, the Yale Center for Medical Informatics, and the Center for Biomedical Data Science. His research focuses on developing methods for aggregating, computationally representing, analyzing, and modeling experimental data, with an emphasis on understanding brain function and dysfunction.
The Yale Center on Climate Change and Health (YCCCH) envisions a world with a stable and safe climate in which human health and diverse ecosystems can thrive. The center uses research, education, public health practice, and policy development to help safeguard the health of human populations from the adverse impacts of climate change and human activities that cause climate change.
Congratulations to Ashley Nicole Reynolds Marshall, (shown in the middle of the photo next to Dean Megan L. Ranney), who received the 2024 Student Award for Outstanding Contributions to Advancing Belonging, Equity, and Justice. The awards recognize student scholarship, leadership, innovation, and commitment to public health. Also featured in student news:
The YSPH communications team recently updated the Why the YSPH Executive MPH? webpage with a new student video, more photos, and an improved page layout.
“Why the YSPH Executive MPH?” webpage has been updated
Be Well@YSPH
The free app, How We Feel, helps us to describe our feelings, spot patterns, and learn to regulate emotions in healthy ways. Watch a conversation with Marc Brackett, director of the Yale Center for Emotional Intelligence and a professor in the Child Study Center, and Ben Silbermann, co-founder of Pinterest and a Yale alumnus, about how technology can be used to help us better understand our emotions.
Yale Insights reports on Teresa Chahine’s interview with Yelpaala, the new faculty director of InnovateHealth Yale, and a senior fellow and lecturer at YSPH.
Upkeep Care Awarded 2024 Thorne Prize for Innovation
Upkeep Care, an AI platform connecting older adults and caregivers to resources, won the 2024 Thorne Prize for Social Innovation in Health or Education, presented by InnovateHealth Yale.
You can change your notifications in Canvas at the course level, so that you receive useful notifications about actions in any of your courses. You can customize your notifications in a number of ways, so that you get an email when your grades are posted or new materials are added to the course.
The YSPH Communications Office, and Development & Alumni Relations, publish Alumni Spotlights on the YSPH Alumni page. To let the YSPH community know about your life after graduation, please fill out an Alumni Profile Feature form, so we can shine a light on your post-YSPH career.