Mari Matsumura Receives Graduate Equity Fellowship Award

Congratulations to Mari Matsumura, master’s student in public health as a recipient of a Graduate Equity Fellowship (GEF) award for the academic year 2019-2020.

The graduate equity fellowship is a need-based scholarship awarded by the university to a diverse group of students. The scholarship encourages and assists people to successfully complete the program. “One great feature of the award is the faculty mentorship. “With Dr. Michael Harvey’s mentorship, I feel more confident to successfully finish the program and start a career in public health after graduating,” says Ms. Matsumura.

Separate from the fellowship, Mari has been participating in a research project related to the topic of opioid use disorder in the United States with Dr. Harvey. Mari and Dr. Harvey will be presenting a poster for the research at the upcoming American Public Health Association conference.

Health Science MPH Student Alexis Fields Recipient of AAPHP’s Community Engaged Research Scholarship

by Edward Mamary

I am pleased to announce that Alexis Fields is the recipient of a Community Engaged Research Scholarship awarded by the Association of Accredited Public Health Programs.   As Alexis’s faculty sponsor, I am so proud of her achievement – she is one of two national recipients of the award!

She is proposing an innovative research project during a time that just happens to coincide with our Health Science Department’s merger with the Department of Recreation. Her MPH graduate project will be the first in our newly merged department (Health Science and Recreation) that values the role of nature and recreation, and their combined contribution to enhancing health of communities. Her qualitative research project aims to increase our understanding of the roles of physical activity, outdoor space, and health from the unique perspective of adolescent minority girls living in an urban environment.

The results of her research will help to inform policies that promote recreational activity in parks, with the ultimate goal of addressing the obesity epidemic among our minority youth.  Please join me in congratulating Alexis Fields.