Lauren MacConnachie’s personal and professional experiences led her to be deeply interested in public health. Now, she is graduating with a Master of Science in Biostatistics from the University of Michigan School of Public Health. In the fall, she will remain at the Michigan Public Health as she begins her pursuit of a doctorate degree in Epidemiology.
Rachel Davis, who is graduating from the University of Michigan School of Public Health with a Master of Science in Biostatistics, has always been intrigued by the immense amount of information one could learn from a dataset. She decided she wanted to use statistics to better the world in some way.
Serendipity has steered Tian Gu, MS ’17, PhD ‘21, from China to the United States, mechanical engineering to statistics, and corporate work to academia. Through all the lucky breaks or happy chances, Gu has discovered her niche in biostatistics. Though she said, “It was Michigan Biostatistics that chose me,” when she was pursuing a graduate degree program in statistics.
Health disparities between Lakshmi Meyyappan’s Michigan hometown and where her grandparents live in India was a major factor in her decision to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Public Health Sciences from the University of Michigan School of Public Health.
Geremy Lowe chose to earn his MPH in the hopes that he could better the conditions of the health care systems that he’s watched friends and family struggle to navigate. He’s now taking on two graduate-level degree programs to learn to use health data and history to reimagine the experience that vulnerable populations face in healthcare.
For me, the true spirit of public health is staying focused on the essential things—coming together for the greater good, working in teams on scientific questions, and worrying less about things like grades and more about the chance to learn together and advance community health.