Masters in Public Health Student Profiles

Simranpreet Bains

Degrees: B.S., Biological Sciences, Minor in Global Disease Biology, University of California Davis, 2023

Professional Interests: Health Inequities, Preventative Healthcare, Health Disparities in Underserved Communities, Health Concerns among Unhoused Populations, Lifestyle and Nutrition Education

Background/Interests: Simran is passionate about serving marginalized communities with a lack of access to adequate healthcare. As an undergraduate, Simran was a volunteer in Bhagat Puran Singh Health Initiative and Imani Clinic where she was the Women’s and Gender Health Specialty Clinic Coordinator. She also worked in the basic needs committee to serve the unhoused population in Oak Park, Sacramento through health education and care package distributions. She is pursuing an M.P.H to gain knowledge to continue to address health disparities prevalent in underserved communities. Simran hopes to pursue a career as a physician to implement cultural humility in patient care.

Entry Year: 2023

Jocelyn Canty

Degrees: B.S., Animal Science (Physiology), University of California Davis, 2019

Professional Interests: One Health, Community Wellness, Sustainable Food Systems, Food Insecurity and Access, Healthy Eating, Environmental Justice, Land Use, Health Education and Promotion, Health Disparities in Underserved Communities, Women's Health, Reproductive Health, Biostatistics and Data Communication

Background/Interests: Jocelyn's introduction to public health occurred after learning about One Health concepts during her undergraduate studies at University of California Davis. With a diverse background, her interests surround the intersections between food systems, land stewardship and animal-human health. She is particularly focused on how these factors contribute to accessibility to healthy and culturally appropriate foods, in addition to their impacts on community wellness. Her commitments to democratized health education and data communication are rooted in the belief that a multifaceted approach and diverse perspective is integral in finding holistic solutions to public health issues that our communities face.

Entry Year: 2023

Alexandra Mia Castro

Degrees: B.A., Chicana/o Studies, Minor in Public Health Sciences, University of California, Davis, 2022

Professional Interests: Emergency and Disaster Preparedness, Health Disparities in Underserved Communities, Racial/Ethnic Health Inequities, Infectious Diseases, Health Education and Promotion

Background/Interests: Alexandra's interest in the public health field began while volunteering with her local NAACP chapter. Acting as a member of the NAACP's Executive Committee and a position on the Health Committee helped her grow her passion for community health. Her father's multiple myeloma diagnosis unveiled a firsthand experience of health inequities within her personal circle and ignited an interest to help serve communities who were facing the same struggle. She hopes to dive deeper into health disparities, inequities, and public health emergency work. In her free time Alexandra enjoys adventuring with her dog and trying new foods.

Entry Year: 2022

Jessica Dhaliwal

Degrees: B.S., Biological Sciences, Minor in Public Health Sciences, University of California Davis, 2023

Professional Interests: Healthcare Disparities in Underserved Low-Income Populations, Preventative Medicine, Chronic Disease Management, Health Education and Resources, Community Health

Background/Interests: Growing up in a community where health disparities were high and the quality of care was low, Jessica was drawn to learning more about issues in public health. During her time at UC Davis undergrad, she became more involved as a volunteer at Shifa Community Clinic and saw the positive effects of implementing public health measures in a clinical setting (e.g. providing a translator, health education, and cultural competency) to alleviate health disparities for low-income, immigrant, and uninsured patient populations. As a future physician, she hopes to provide equitable and individualized medicine while advocating for underrepresented populations in healthcare settings.

Entry Year: 2023

 Berenice Jacobo Zurita

Degrees: B.A. Communications Studies and B.S. Public Health Promotion, California State University Stanislaus, 2023

Professional Interests: Health Disparities in Undeserved Communities, Social Determinants of Health, Infectious Diseases, Epidemiology, and Environmental Health.

Background/Interests: Berenice was born in Mexico and immigrated with her family at the age of 4 to California. She encountered the impact of language barriers amongst primary care physicians and their patients. After encountering these experiences, she set out to do two things. One, learn about how to communicate with people through leadership and persuasion. Two, learn how to educate people about public health. She has been able to put her knowledge into action, through her involvement in a non-profit organization that aims to target underserved communities. Coming from an immigrant background and first-generation, she plans to pursue an M.P.H. to expand her knowledge about public health and assist in the evolving field of Epidemiology.

Entry Year: 2023

Jasmine Kaur

Degrees: B.A., Psychology, Minor in Public Health San Jose State University 2021

Professional Interests: Health Disparities in Underserved Communities, Health Policy, Health Administration, Health Education and Promotion, Preventative Healthcare

Background/Interests: Jasmine is passionate about working in public health to help make healthcare more accessible to communities that face health disparities. She first became interested in working in healthcare when she started volunteering at the Santa Clara Valley Medical Hospital. Seeing so many individuals struggling to get healthcare services due to language barriers and financial challenges, grew her interest to help make healthcare more accessible for these marginalized communities. Jasmine is pursuing her M.P.H. to get a better understanding of our healthcare system so she can help address health disparity and promote health education.

Entry Year: 2023

Aron Kishore

Degrees: B.S, Neurobiology, Physiology and Behavior. Minors: Global Disease Biology, Public Health Sciences, University of California Davis, 2023

Professional Interests: Health Disparities in Underserved Communities, Diabetes and Obesity Prevention, Health Education, Food Security, Infectious Diseases

Background/Interests: Aron was born in the Fiji Islands and moved to the United States in 2016. Coming from a Pacific Islander background, he has witnessed the challenges his community faces when it comes to healthcare access. At UC Davis, he was involved in research at the Contreras Lab. He also served as a monitor at Shifa Community Clinic, where he assisted in providing primary care services to the uninsured populations. His experience working at Shifa has reaffirmed his passion for becoming a Primary Care Physician, and he hopes to utilize the knowledge he gathers from the M.P.H program to break down barriers in medicine in the future.

Entry Year: 2023

 Jesus Magdaleno

Degrees: B.S., Psychology, Minor in Public Health Sciences, University of California Davis, 2021

Professional Interests: One Health model, Prevention and Management of Chronic Diseases, Infectious Diseases, Mental Health Promotion, Health Disparities

Background/Interests: Born in Mexico and raised in the Napa Valley, Jesus comes from an immigrant family and is a first generation college student. His interest in Public Health began while attending UC Davis for his undergraduate degree and volunteering for Knights Landing One Health Center. Jesus held various positions throughout his years at Knights Landing such as, One Health Chair, Community Representative, and Telehealth Monitor. After graduating, Jesus worked as a Reproductive Health Specialist and Clinic Flow Coordinator for Planned Parenthood Northern California, where his interest in health disparities among vulnerable and underserved populations grew. Outside work and academics, Jesus enjoys playing soccer, going on runs, and photography

Entry Year: 2023

Mallale Mahmood

Degrees: B.S., Human Biology with a minor in Public Health, University of California Davis, 2022

Professional Interests: Health disparities among underserved communities, preventative healthcare methods, Health Education for immigrants and refugees, Disease Control/Epidemiology

Background/Interests: Mallale's interest in public health stemmed from her own struggles as a first generation student who came from a low-income background. She was inspired to pursue an M.P.H. after declaring a minor in public health sciences and developing a passion for establishing a positive impact on the lives of others. After realizing the lack of health education resources for minorities, she co-founded a student-run clinic at UC Davis called Juvenile Caduceus that focuses on providing assistance and care to adolescents in the greater Sacramento area and Yolo County. She is excited for this new chapter in her life as an M.P.H. candidate in hopes of using her knowledge to her benefit when she undergoes a career as a physician. In her spare time she loves playing the piano and learning new languages while spending time with her family :)

Entry Year: 2023

Anika Mohanty

Degrees: B.S., Neuroscience, Santa Clara University, 2023

Professional Interests: Epidemiology, Neurodegenerative and Age-related Diseases, Chronic Diseases, Health Disparities

Background/Interests: Anika's interest in public health grew throughout her undergraduate years studying Neuroscience at Santa Clara University. Through working as an EMT, Anika was able to experience and learn about how socioeconomic disparities plays a huge role in a patient's health and treatment. Also, she conducted research concerning the comorbidities and mortality rate of heart transplant patients who contracted COVID-19. As an M.P.H student, Anika hopes to learn more about how to properly treat those with neurodegenerative and age-related diseases by looking at risk factors, their prevalence in certain populations, and the health disparities surrounding them.

Entry Year: 2023

 Christine Nguyen

Degrees: B.S., Biological Sciences, University of California Davis, 2023

Professional Interests: Disparities in primary care, health disparities among the neurodivergent population, preventative and holistic healthcare, equity in healthcare, autism and ADHD, social determinants of health, clinical and public health research

Background/Interests: Christine's interest in public health started when she dropped in on an M.P.H info session. After her time in EMRAP, she better understood the health disparities that are present among the underserved and in clinical research. This drove her to pursue a public health minor. One lesson she learned was how education is one of the most important social determinants of health. Christine serves as a mentor with the Redwood SEED Scholars, where she witnessed how a chance at a postsecondary education can help students with intellectual disabilities drive. She hopes to use the M.P.H to gain the knowledge she needs to practice as a physician who values holistic health.

Entry Year: 2023

Daniel Pasillas-Pablo

Degrees: B.S., Public Health Promotion, California State University Stanislaus, 2023

Professional Interests: Social Determinants of Health, Health Equity, Health Behavior, Nutrition, Disease Prevention, Health Policy

Background/Interests: Initially from Chino Hills, CA, Daniel’s passion for public health developed after moving to the Central Valley and researching drug use among young adults with CSU Stanislaus’ McNair Scholars Program. He also gained professional experiences as a research assistant evaluating the application of an AI chatbot assistant in epidemiology courses and as a member of the university’s Student Health Advisory Committee. Daniel aims to apply skills and knowledge gained from his Master’s Program to address health inequities in local and underserved communities through public health research. In his free time, Daniel enjoys time with family, discovering new music, and alpine skiing.

Entry Year: 2023

 Caitlin Schweller

Degrees: B.A., Kinesiology with an emphasis in Health Promotion and minor in Sociology, Saint Mary's College of California, 2023B.A., Biology, University of Tampa, 2019

Professional Interests: Food Insecurity, Health Promotion, Social Determinants of Health, Health Education, Community Health, Nutrition

Background/Interests: In her Freshman year of undergrad Caitlin began working with her campus food pantry at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. She immediately became passionate about supporting the nutritional needs of underserved populations. Caitlin has also tutored students online who have struggled in school due to financial constraints, limited familial support, and other socioeconomic factors which has made her feel that her purpose in life is to support and work with others who don't have the means to support themselves. She wants to work directly with community members to be a partner in getting them the resources they need.

Entry Year: 2023

Muhammad Tariq

Degrees: B.A. Political Science, University of California, Davis

Professional Interests: Muhammad is interested in health disparities and preventative health advocacy for under-served communities such as immigrants, LGBTQIA+, Muslim Americans, and communities of color. Muhammad is interested in harm reduction efforts and direct community outreach in the areas of diabetes, skin cancer, and heart disease for communities of color and immigrant communities. Muhammad enjoys qualitative and quantitative research and wants to help create initiatives and programs for preventative care for the communities he inhabits and advocates for.

Background/Interests: As an immigrant, Muhammad saw his family struggle to navigate an inequitable healthcare system. Muhammad was inspired to develop culturally aware and relevant healthcare models to reduce medical barriers and increase culturally appropriate care. Muhammad fell in love with public health taking classes with Dr. Taylor and Dr. Garcia where he was exposed to benefits of using public health to educate underserved advocate for minority communities and through outreach and culturally aware and relevant policies. Muhammad volunteered at the Joan Viteri Memorial Clinic where he learned about harm reduction and meeting people where they are at. Muhammad has experience with quantitative and qualitative research.

Entry Year: 2023

Franklin Tran

Degrees: B.S. Public Health, University of California San Diego, 2022

Professional Interests: Epidemiology, Health Disparities in Marginalized Populations, Chronic Diseases, Infectious Diseases, Biostatistics, Health Disparities, Health Equities

Background/Interests: Franklin was born and raised in the Bay Area, where his interests in serving communities and healthcare advocacy began through his contribution towards local student-led community service groups. Studying public health at UC San Diego, Franklin found his passions in Epidemiology through his student research assistant position at the Golomb Group Research, where he contributed to research studies involving veterans with gulf war illness. Franklin enjoys playing video games such as League of Legends and Valorant with his friends, and watching anime like Jujutsu Kaisen and Hunter x Hunter.

Entry Year: 2023

Berenice Vences

Degrees: B.S., Public Health, California State University, Fullerton, 2023

Professional Interests: Health Disparities in Underserved Communities; especially within Latinx communities affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, Health Education and Promotion, Social Determinants of Health, Community-engaged Research

Background/Interests: Berenice’s interest in the public health field began while growing up in an immigrant community where poverty-stricken families like her own, did not have the means to live in a privileged neighborhood where quality healthcare was accessible. This realization compelled her to volunteer with the Medical Reserve Corps National Network for the COVID-19 Mobile Vaccine Clinics in her hometown. Acting as a volunteer, she served as a Spanish-speaking translator and managed to schedule appointments for hundreds of predominantly low-income and underrepresented families. Berenice is determined to pursue a career in public health to help predominantly Latinx and underserved communities.

Entry Year: 2023

Paola Vidal-Espinoza

Degrees: B.S. Global Disease Biology, University of California Davis, 2020

Professional Interests: Gender Health, LGBT Health, Harm Reduction, Intersectionality, Community Health, Health Policy

Background/Interests: Paola's interest in public health comes from observing the healthcare barriers her immigrant parents faced. This led to her majoring Global Disease Biology at UC Davis to better understand the challenges her community experiences. She served two AmeriCorps terms as a Pediatric/Perinatal Coordinator and became involved at a Trans/Queer Youth Clinic at the SF Department of Public Health. An aspect she hopes to address in her career is stigma present in the LGBT community, which has devastating impacts on health outcomes. Her goals of M.P.H. is to inform health policies, educational trainings, and curricula to teach about the needs of transgender/non-binary people.

Entry Year: 2023