Minal Patel first gained an appreciation for the complexities patients with chronic disease face while working with them in situations where other forces made decision-making challenging.
“As an epidemiologist, these traditional tools for collecting, organizing, and interpreting data are our bread and butter—What diseases are out there? Who is getting them? Why are they getting sick?” Prevots says. “Public health is all about data in action, and we want to do research that ultimately has an impact on clinical practice and policy.”
“What I love about Michigan Public Health is our mentoring and teaching. We’re lucky to have a vast network of professors and alumni who can help students achieve their goals,” Wainstock says.
Isadore Seeman was born in 1916, a year before the University of Michigan would celebrate its centennial anniversary. His storied career in public health demonstrates what happens when passion, dedication, and effort meet opportunity.
“Public health offered a way of thinking about policies and practices that can strengthen the well-being of people on a large scale. I wanted to improve the lives of Detroiters, particularly children. At the School of Public Health, I learned how to mobilize communities to change health outcomes,” Allen says.
Alum Chris Cobb's latest challenge, and his biggest to date, is the opioid epidemic. “The opioid epidemic has impacted our communities so tremendously here that the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is putting a lot of resources into its public health response,” he says.