Current Students

Our MPH students have a diverse set of academic interests and professional backgrounds. This diversity, combined with world-renowned faculty and a rigorous course of study, provides an unmatched educational experience in public health. Listed below is a brief introduction to our current students.

 

Leah Bellow-Handelman is a second year student from New York City. After receiving her Bachelor's degree from Oberlin College, she spent a year in South Africa working for Grassroot Soccer, an international non-profit that uses the power of soccer to fight HIV/AIDS among African youth. Returning to the U.S., Leah conducted research and worked with youth populations in teen pregnancy prevention and school-based health centers in California. She also worked for NYC Medics, a non-profit that delivers global emergency medical relief following disasters, and for the Health and Medical Department of the NYC Office of Emergency Management. Prior to graduate school, Leah worked for the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, coordinating health care for HIV+ inmates in city jails. She is thrilled to be able to pursue her interests in humanitarian relief and disaster response. 

KC (Kathleen) Calungcagin is a dual degree student at the Mailman School of Public Health and the School of International and Public Affairs, where she is the Department Research Assistant for the Humanitarian Affairs Program.  With a B.A. in Economics from the University of Chicago, she spent several years in financial risk management trading interest rate derivatives and futures before shifting focus to disaster risk, response, and preparedness.  She has worked in disaster and emergency management with the American Red Cross in California, the Catholic Charities of Brooklyn and Queens, and most recently, the National Society for Earthquake Technology in Nepal.  Her interests include humanitarian relief logistics and accountability mechanisms in acute emergency response and long-term protracted crises, as well as the complex and careful coordination between civil, military, and government entities.

Tsufit Daniel, originally from Jerusalem, Israel, is a second year dual degree student with Public Health and the School of International & Public Affairs.  Prior to beginning graduate school Tsufit interned for the UNHCR in Israel and also spent time volunteering in an orphanage in Kigali, Rwanda.  Tsufit is particularly interested in the aspects of managing and coordinating humanitarian relief operations, as well as reconstruction efforts and strategic planning in post-disaster and post-conflict settings.

Karen Falkenstein is a second year student from Stamford, CT.  Prior to graduate school she worked as an emergency room nurse in a multitude of cities and hospitals throughout the US.  For the past three years she has been involved with a non-profit, non-governmental organization called Health Bridges International working with impoverished populations and squatter communities in Peru.  Karen is extremely excited to be part of the Forced Migration community and looks forward to learning how to combine two of her passions, nursing and serving the underserved.  

Sarah Frank is a second year student currently working as a development associate at the Guttmacher Institute, a sexual health and reproductive rights think tank.  Prior to that she worked at the New York headquarters of Medecins Sans Frontieres on the interactive educational exhibit, "A Refugee Camp in the Heart of the City".  She is particularly interested in gender based violence interventions and human rights monitoring in complex emergencies.   

Gogi Grewal is a first year student from British Columbia, Canada. After completing a Bachelor of Science at the University of British Columbia, she spent seven months working as an HIV educator in a rural community in Swaziland. After working at a school for children with autism spectrum disorders in Vancouver, she pursued an MS in food policy and applied nutrition at Tufts University. During the course of this degree she had the opportunity to carry out research projects in West Bengal and Ethiopia on the subjects of child nutrition and water and sanitation, respectively. Her many interests include social protection in fragile states,the intersection between water issues and malnutrition in emergencies, and translating research science into policy.

Rohini Haar is a second year student and emergency medicine physician. Her clinical and research experiences, most recently in Haiti, West Africa and New York City, have influenced her interest in evidence-based practice in low income settings particularly in the post-emergency transition period.   

Tanya Hart is from Atlanta, GA and is a dual degree student with the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia.  She is obtaining a Masters in International Affairs concentrating in Economic and Political Development with a regional specialization in Africa. She recently managed an alternative to welfare employment program for refugees and asylees for a resettlement agency in Atlanta. Prior to this, she worked in West Africa interviewing Liberian and Sierra Leonean refugees for inclusion in the United States Refugee Program (USRP). She was also a Small Enterprise Development Peace Corps Volunteer in Ghana concentrating on women and youth micro-enterprise and empowerment programs. Tanya is interested in literacy as a component of public health, the integration of traditional and conventional medicine in developing countries and the role of the private sector in public health initiatives, and countries moving from emergencies to development.

Elizabeth Horowitz is a physician assistant, and while currently working in the Emergency Room at Columbia, has spent many years working in the field of Breast Surgery, and trauma surgery. This past spring Liz worked in Haiti with Project Medishare in the operating room, and has worked in Gaza and the West Bank with mobile health teams. Liz's interests include, (but are not limited to), the training of local providers in emergency situations, and the intersection of human rights policies and international law as applied in complex emergencies and disaster care globally.

Aaron Hultgren is a second year MPH student who is an International Emergency Medicine Fellow at Columbia University Medical Center.  Prior to becoming an emergency medicine physician he obtained a Master of Arts in teaching and taught elementary school. He has worked on projects involving Avian Flu education in Thailand and emergency medicine development in Ghana.

Tania Jeanty is a first year student from Silver Spring, Maryland. After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania, she began working as a postpartum and antepartum nurse at an underserved hospital in Washington, DC. She became interested in humanitarian aid after a visit to Haiti in 2009. Her interests include reproductive health in crises and maternal-child nutrition. 

Benjamin Katz is a dual degree student with Public Health and the School of International and Public Affairs.  After completing his undergraduate education at Tufts University he worked for a Ugandan NGO, Youth Alive, focusing on HIV/AIDS prevention and peer education programming.  He returned to New York where he supported a citywide college access network at New Visions for Public Schools and worked as a News Assistant at the New York Times Foreign Desk.  This past summer he led a research team in Western Uganda studying the relationships between livelihoods and child protection outcomes with the Child Protection in Crisis Network.  At Columbia he has taken particular interest in health and education sector policies that aim to bridge emergency relief efforts with longer term development initiatives.

Abby Krumholz is a first year student from New Jersey.  Prior to beginning graduate school she worked for two years as a Case Manager with the AIDS Service Center NYC, a community-based organization that provides services to New Yorkers living with HIV.  She then worked for a year in Mexico City with the Population Council, an international NGO that conducts research in sexual and reproductive health.

Kiryn Lanning is a second year dual degree student with Public Health and the School of International & Public Affairs.  Prior to beginning graduate school Kiryn worked for The Food Trust and Congreso de Latinos Unidos in Philadelphia and also volunteered in Haiti working in mobile medical clinics.  She is a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (El Salvador).  Most recently Kiryn worked with the Child Protection in Crisis Network in Liberia.  Her interests include the gap between relief and development, protection issues for women and children, and climate change as is relates to the humanitarian response model.

Andrew Lewis is a second year MPH student originally from Spokane, WA.  He worked with AmeriCorps on the Gulf Coast where he coordinated with FEMA and UNICEF to establish the largest tent-city on the Gulf Coast in response to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. He has also worked with the Pearson Foundation in coordination with Adobe, Intel and Nokia to establish digital literacy programs in post-conflict and post disaster regions in Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana and South Africa. 

Barbara Magid is a dual degree student with Public Health and SIPA. Prior to beginning graduate school she worked in refugee resettlement throughout West and Central Africa with the USRP and UNHCR. She also spent time in Paraguay and Costa Rica working on small-scale, community based development projects. This summer she worked with the Columbia Group for Children in Adversity on a progress evaluation of UNICEF's Programs on Education in Emergencies and Post-Crisis Transitions in Colombia. Originally from New York, her interests include nutrition and food security, sexual and reproductive health, as well as water and sanitation.

Erin McCoy is a second-year student from Bainbridge Island, Washington.  Prior to coming to Mailman, Erin served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Ecuador.  During her time in Ecuador, she helped coordinate peer-based adolescent reproductive health programming and worked with Colombian refugees in a health education program run by the UNHCR.  She also worked extensively in HIV/AIDS outreach and volunteer training.  Erin is interested in monitoring and evaluation of reproductive and maternal and child health in conflict situations.

Masha Medvedkov is a second-year student interested in the intersection of health, human rights, and advocacy. Before coming to Mailman, she worked with WITNESS on human rights advocacy through film and new media and with Health Right International on assisting asylum seekers and victims of torture in the New York area. Most recently, Masha has been working in the field of harm reduction with Injection Drug Users in Bangkok, Thailand with the Thai Aids Treatment Action Group and the British Columbia Center for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, as well as in New York with the Open Society Institute.

Kate Meehan is a second year student from New York and Virginia. After completing her Bachelor's degree, she spent 17 months working in Chittagong, Bangladesh as a WorldTeach volunteer at the Asian University for Women. She worked for six months on a community needs assessment at a hospital and research lab in Bo, Sierra Leone. Her many interests include reproductive health, maternal and child health and quality of care, especially in emergency situations.

Bronwyn Nichol is a second year student from Toronto, Canada.  Before coming to Mailman she served as a VSO volunteer in Northern Cameroon where she worked with a local health NGO to strengthen their HIV/AIDS programme. Bronwyn has also worked with the Stephen Lewis Foundation, Dignitas International, and GlobalMedic. She is interested in the provision of health care in complex emergencies, gender-based violence, nutrition, and emergency preparedness.

Sneha Patel is a dual degree student in the MSW/MPH program. Prior to attending Columbia, Sneha was the program manager for a medical education company focusing on infectious diseases, cardiology, and neurology. She has also worked for the American Red Cross on emergency preparedness efforts in NYC and for a disaster relief organization coordinating holistic health services for communities affected by 9/11. Her international experience includes advocacy work with the Free Tibet Campaign in London, UK, an urban health internship with the Self-Employed Women’s Association in Gujarat, India, and a community development project with Haitian refugees in the Dominican Republic. Sneha is interested in human rights, health care delivery, and psychosocial issues related to conflict and post-conflict settings.

Amy Poppers is a first year student from California. Her past experience includes serving as an AmeriCorps member at a rural school district in Oregon, where she planned and implemented bilingual (Spanish/English) healthy sexuality programs. Prior to that, she worked as a Program Assistant for the California Wellness Foundation, an organization that makes grants related to health promotion, wellness education, and disease prevention. Additional experience includes spending a summer volunteering at an orphanage in Phnom Penh, Cambodia as well as time at a health clinic in rural Ecuador. Her interests include human rights, reproductive health, and psychosocial and mental health issues related to post-conflict settings.

Natalie Rhoads is a first year student from Madison, Wisconsin. She spent the past two years working at UNICEF in the HIV/AIDS, Health and Child Protection sections working primarily in capacity building and knowledge management. Prior to UNICEF, she volunteered with Operation Crossroads Africa in Ghana building a school and teaching second year students. Natalie is interested in gender-based violence and children affected by armed conflict.

Christine Saba is a dual degree student with Public Health and the School of International and Public Affairs, originally from Chicago, IL. Prior to beginning graduate school, Christine worked in refugee resettlement and advocacy and also spent two years as a research assistant examining neurodegenerative disorders in urban minority populations. This past summer, she worked for UNAIDS evaluating the integration of TB-HIV services in Malawi. Her interests include health systems strengthening and geriatric health in complex emergencies and post conflict settings.

Ilaria Schibba is a second year student from Rome, Italy. She is particularly interested in the mental health of children affected by emergencies. In Rome, she studied the mental health needs of refugees and asylum seekers and victims of torture living under the umbrella of the Italian Council for Refugees (CIR).

Maggie Schmitt is a second year student from Chicago, IL. Following her bachelors in global health & history, she spent time in South Africa working on a film project focused on the role of gender in the sport for development movement. She has worked with Northwestern University's Global Health Studies program, assisting in media and communications work and providing programmatic support and on-site evaluations to their international education programs. Additionally, she became involved in refugee resettlement and family reunification while working with Congolese refugees through the PanAfrican Association of Chicago. 

Craig Spencer, MD is a Fellow of International Emergency Medicine at Columbia University Medical Center, where he serves as an Instructor in Clinical Medicine and as an attending physician at New York Presbyterian Hospital. Originally from Detroit, Michigan, he moved to Flushing, Queens to complete his residency in Emergency Medicine. He has lived and worked abroad in Burma, China, Dominican Republic, Greece, India, France, and multiple countries in Central and South America. He has previous experience as a consultant for developing Emergency Medicine programs abroad and is interested in neglected tropical diseases and food security interventions during complex humanitarian disasters.

Nathaly Spilotros is a dual degree student with Public Health and SIPA. She spent the summer interning at the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration and worked on a variety of projects including an analysis of the reporting on internally displaced persons in State Department Human Rights reports. Nathaly also participated in the review of proposals submitted by NGOs and IOs for funding and helped organize a monitoring and evaluation workshop. Prior to graduate school, she was the Executive Assistant to the Executive Director of the Women's Refugee Commission and a reasearcher/private investigator at the James Mintz Group. Nathaly is excited to pursue her interests in humanitarian relief and is particularly interested in gender-based violence prevention and response in humanitarian settings.

Erin Stone is a first year student from Maine. Before coming to Mailman, she served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Uganda where she developed reproductive health and HIV prevention programs for adolescents and nutrition and water and sanitation programs for families. She also served as an AmeriCorps volunteer in New Hampshire developing programs to support residents of public housing. She is interested in gender-based violence and protection of children during complex emergencies.

Hui Mien Tan is a second-year MPH student from Singapore. After completing her undergraduate education at the Georgetown School of Foreign Service, she worked at the World Bank with the Civil Society Team on issues of civil society engagement. She then spent 2 years in Kunming, Yunnan Province, China, working as an advocacy officer with World Vision International, where she managed the implementation of the Regional Anti-Child Trafficking Advocacy Project and developed advocacy and anti-trafficking capacity of World Vision projects in China.  Before coming to Mailman, she worked on a research study at the National University of Singapore on migrant indirect sex workers and HIV/AIDS prevention. She has also had prior experience in the area of human rights, having worked with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Center for Justice and Accountability and Human Rights Watch.

Andi Tenner is an International Emergency Medicine Fellow and second year MPH student from Lubbock, TX.  Andi completed the International Health Track while in medical school at Baylor College of Medicine and spent time working in Lima, Peru.  Andi then entered a residency program in Internal Medicine and Emergency Medicine at University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), and worked clinically through the UIC International Emergency Medicine Program in Guatemala and Ethiopia.  Andi's interests include the delivery of health care in complex emergencies, disaster preparation and response, infectious disease prevention and treatment, and developing health services infrastructure both in displaced and underserved populations.

Sanjay Upadhyay is a family medicine physician and second year MPH student. Originally from New York, his interest in providing healthcare in underserved communities overseas sparked when he served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Niger. Since then, he has worked on various healthcare projects in the Caribbean, Ecuador, Laos and Kenya.