The Wisconsin Population Health Service Fellowship

Salma received her MPH in Epidemiology and Biostatistics from the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis. As a graduate student, Salma worked as a Research Assistant on several projects, including the Neurofibromatosis Type 1 Patient Registry Initiative, a prospective study focused on prostate cancer outcomes, and work related to Open Streets events and the built environment. In her second year of the fellowship, Salma will work with the Milwaukee Homicide Review Commission as the Violence Prevention Research Coordinator. In addition, Salma will continue her work with the Healthier, Safer, More Prosperous Milwaukee leadership team, which is an intersectoral collaboration with public health, community development, and criminal justice partners. Preceptors: Mallory O’Brien and Kathleen Pritchard

Kallista received her MPH in Health and Social Behavior from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Public Health. Kallista has worked extensively in community-based research and brings a depth of experience applying participatory approaches, developing research tools, and conducting quantitative and qualitative research and analysis. Kallista is skilled in using video and photography as a means to identify shared concerns for collective action. Her work focuses broadly on place and health and includes a joint placement with Forward Community Investments and the Wood County Health Department. Through this partnership, Kallista will contribute to the equity efforts of both organizations by developing evaluation measures, designing and implementing a community health needs assessment, and conducting a health impact assessment, among many other projects. Preceptors: Michele Mackey and Kristie Rauter 

Ashley received her MPH from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine. She is passionate about creating health equity through improving understanding of the root causes of health and draws from her experience of providing direct service to her work in population health. Prior to her public health training she studied in Mexico and Lithuania and also spent a year teaching in rural Zambia. She has worked on a range of issues including: homelessness, addiction, mental health, domestic violence, women’s reproductive health, Latino health, and end-of-life care. She has experience conducting qualitative, quantitative and mixed-methods research, primarily with the Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics and the FIELDS program at University of Pennsylvania. She has also worked on Community Based Participatory Research studies in Guatemala and in Philadelphia. Ashley spent the first year of her fellowship working on the Wisconsin Health Improvement Planning Process (WI-HIPP) at the Division of Public Health in the Office of Policy and Practice Alignment. She will spend her second year contributing to health equity efforts within the Bureau of Community Health Promotion and the Bureau of Environmental and Occupational Health. Preceptor: Angela Rohan

Leslie received her MPH from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University. Leslie’s prior public health experience includes strengthening health systems in Kenya as the program specialist at IntraHealth International’s Chapel Hill office, researching various programming for adolescent girls in refugee camps with the Women’s Refugee Commission in NYC, and mapping family planning services in Sierra Leone as the M&E Intern at Marie Stopes International’s Freetown office. Leslie is placed with the Division of Public Health’s Family Health Section of the Bureau of Community Health Promotion and with the Lifecourse Initiative for Healthy Families at the UW School of Medicine and Public Health where she works on various projects such as early home visiting and sexual and gender-based violence to further health outcomes of the maternal and child health population of WI.  Preceptors: Katie Gillespie and Deborah Ehrenthal

Nicholas received his MPH from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health. As an MPH student, Nick worked with Green Lake County to complete their Community Health Improvement Plan, improve vaccination processes, manage social media and create and disseminate information on disaster preparedness. Nick also has international economic development experience; including working with women’s groups in Ecuador to improve socio-economic and health status through marketing of locally produced products. Nick will complete his Fellowship at the Eau Claire City-County Health Department and the Western Regional Office of the Division of Public Health where he will have the opportunity to provide leadership in the areas of public health surveillance and community mental health. Preceptors: Lieske Giese and Timothy Ringhand