SPHHP Graduate Student Rocked Public Health in 2019

Aubree Jones, a graduate student in the School of Public Health and Health Professions (SPHHP) Master of Public Health program, is one of 2019’s Students Who Rocked Public Health, announced last month in JPHMP Direct.

The companion site of the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, JPHMP Direct has for the past three years featured students rocking public health in a popular ongoing series of the same name. The year-end review showcases a group of students whose projects tackled pressing public health challenges. Nominations for recipients came from deans, faculty, advisors, mentors, and classmates.

Jones will receive her MPH and MSW degrees in May this year. She received an honorable mention for her project “Foodbank Analyzes Root Causes and Underlying Conditions of Hunger.”  In the project, Jones analyzed data from focus groups to help a nonprofit organization in Rochester, N.Y., develop a policy advocacy plan to “better inform lawmakers as they address food insecurity. This led to a more in-depth understanding of poverty as a determinant of food access.”

JPHMP Direct evaluated Students Who Rocked Public Health nominees on these criteria:

• the timeliness and urgency of the public health issue they addressed
• level of success achieved
• overall impact of the project
• level of inclusiveness and diversity.

2019 saw “a record number of nominations,” according to JPHMP’s editors. “Competition was high with projects aimed to research or mitigate a wide range of important public health issues.”

“Aubree is a star student making an impact in her community by using data to advocate for policies to alleviate hunger,” said Kim Krytus, MSW, MPH, CPH, assistant dean and director of graduate public health programs in SPHHP. “She demonstrates characteristics of a public health leader in everything she does.”