The Wisconsin Population Health Service Fellowship

Masami completed her fellowship dual-placed at Centro Hispano and Public Health Madison and Dane County.

Masami received her Master of Public Health from the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine and Public Health. During her two years in the fellowship, Masami was reminded of the importance of feeling accepted, nurtured, and connected, a realization that confirmed why she decided to work in public health. This was illustrated so clearly in her work at Public Health Madison & Dane County, where Masami advocated for plain English for immigrant population for CHA/CHIP process in PHMDC work. Additionally, in her work at Centro, she centered historically marginalized communities in the Employee Wellness Plan. Following the fellowship, Masami will work at Public Health Madison & Dane County as their Public Health Specialist in Overdose Prevention and Harm Reduction.

Lexi completed her fellowship with the Wisconsin Division of Public Health supporting the Bureau of Community Health Promotion.

Lexi Davis received her Master of Public Health and Bachelor of Science in Biology and Spanish from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Lexi completed her fellowship with the WI Division of Public Health’s Chronic Disease Prevention Program. As a Fellow, she supported various aspects of the statewide chronic disease prevention programming, including coordination with local communities around implementation of diabetes and heart disease prevention strategies and health equity capacity building. She engaged key partners and stakeholders to gather local data and build support for expansion of childhood obesity prevention initiatives across the state as part of the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Childhood Obesity Initiative Cost-Effectiveness Study (CHOICES). She collaborated across the Division of Public Health on various projects, including the State Health Assessment. Additionally, she worked alongside the HWLI coaching team to support coalition capacity-building efforts. Following her fellowship, Lexi will continue working with the Wisconsin Department of Health Services as a Healthy Communities Coordinator.

Maddie completed her Fellowship dually placed at the City of Milwaukee Health Department and the Center for Urban Population Health.

Maddie Johnson graduated from Concordia College with a Bachelor of Arts in Biology and History and from the University of Minnesota School of Public Health with a Master of Public Health with a focus in public health administration and policy. Maddie has been a teaching assistant for a health policy course, a research assistant focused on rural mental health, a case manager, and a student worker conducting state level disease surveillance. As a fellow, Maddie worked at the Milwaukee at the City of Milwaukee Health Department and the Center for Urban Population Health, addressing issues of lead poisoning, housing, and policy as well as analyzing community health needs assessment data. In August, she will begin working full time in Madison as a Mental Health Planner at the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.

Rachel was placed at Public Health Madison and Dane County.

Rachel received her BA from the University of Chicago and her Master of Public Health from the University of Washington. As a Wisconsin Population Health Service Fellow, Rachel worked on maternal and child health initiatives, including participating as a member of the Breastfeeding Community Collaborations Team, the Fetal and Infant Mortality Review (FIMR), and the Sexual and Reproductive Health Alliance. As a part of her work with FIMR, Rachel helped create and implement FIMR Action Networks, a framework to structure short term, tangible action to reduce fetal and infant mortality and decrease racial disparities. For the last 4 months of the fellowship, Rachel worked on the COVID-19 data team, sharing responsibilities to update PHMDC’s data dashboard, communicate with the public about COVID-19 data, and contributing to setting reopening metrics for Dane County. Following the fellowship, Rachel will be working as an Epidemiologist at Cook County Department of Public Health.

Julius completed his Fellowship at the Wisconsin Department of Health Services and UW Extension.

Julius (Jules) Lee is a first-generation graduate of Indiana University with both a Bachelor and Master's degree in Public Health. As a Population Health Service Fellow, Jules has served at the Wisconsin Division of Public Health (DPH), and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Division of Extension. At DPH, he supported the Minority Health Program with Preceptor Lola Awoyinka. This included reviewing the Minority Health Program's Community Grants, internal health equity programs, and supporting the State Health Assessment. At the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Division of Extension, Jules supported the Institute for Health and Well-Being with Preceptor Amber Canto. He was responsible for creating online learning modules for the Safe and Healthy Food Pantries Project, an evidence-based program supporting food pantries operations. Jules worked with FoodWIse and KW2 to support FoodShare usage at Wisconsin Farmer's Market. Following the fellowship, Jules accepted a position as a Food Security Manager with Middleton Outreach Ministry.

McKenzie completed her fellowship dual-placed at both Chippewa County Department of Public Health and Eau Claire City-County Health Department.

McKenzie received her BS in Biology from UW-Madison and her MPH in Community Health from East Tennessee State University. As an MPH student, she focused her fieldwork research on health communication strategies among non-profit organizations in Appalachia, with a particular interest in social media. Prior to graduate school, McKenzie worked as an AmeriCorps VISTA in Grundy County, Tennessee. As a member of the South Cumberland Plateau VISTA Project for two years, she worked with both the Chattanooga Area Food Bank and the Grundy County Health council on a variety of projects; her time was spent coordinating mobile food pantries, school garden clubs, and after school physical activity programs. Those experiences in rural Tennessee, along with her experience as a Wisconsin AHEC Community Health Intern at Juneau/Adams County WIC, have deepened McKenzie’s interest in rural health and passion for being an advocate for rural communities. McKenzie completed her fellowship dual-placed at both Chippewa County Department of Public Health and Eau Claire City-County Health Department. She spent her fellowship exploring health equity, community engagement, the opioid epidemic, and communications around the COVID-19 pandemic. Following her time in the fellowship, McKenzie took a position as an Outreach Specialist with the Wisconsin Department of Health Services.

Gerardo completed his fellowship at Data You Can Use, a non-profit organization in Milwaukee, WI.

Gerardo Mares A. received his bachelor’s degree from Indiana University in Social and Behavioral Sciences, and his Master’s in Criminology from Loyola University Chicago. He worked as a crime analyst for a large police department where he focused on strategic and spatial analysis to better understand the relationship between crime and geography. Gerardo has presented and instructed national police departments on crime analysis in El Salvador, Mexico and Panama. In his previous roles, Gerardo has worked on several research initiatives including a psychology study on disruptive behaviors of children exposed to trauma. His passion for psychology and criminology led to his interest in public health. Gerardo became part of the 2018-2020 cohort of Wisconsin Population Health Service Fellows where he focused on the intersection of violence and Social Determinants of Health using a Health Equity lens. In the fellowship, Gerardo continues to build his analytic background by working closely across sectors to serve communities most impacted by inequities and begin to use a data framework around the context of structural, environmental and social conditions to tell a more complete narrative. Following his fellowship, Gerardo accepted a position with Milwaukee Public Schools as a Supervisory Data Analyst.

Kara received her Bachelor's degree in Microbiology from UW-Madison and her MPH in Global Health from Emory University's Rollins School of Public Health. Her professional interests include young adult and adolescent health, preventive care initiatives including immunization programs and policies, and program evaluation. Kara’s fellowship placement was in the Family Health Section (FHS) at the Wisconsin Division of Public Health (DPH). During her time as a fellow, she worked across many programs including the Adolescent Health Program, the Maternal and Child Health Title V Block Grant, and Wisconsin PRAMS, and supported numerous projects including co-leading a statewide needs assessment and coordinating several federal grant applications. Quickly into the fellowship, Kara discovered her knack for project management and program coordination and spent the final year of the fellowship coordinating the Sexual Violence Prevention Program. In addition to her work at DPH, she also worked on a project with UW-Madison’s University Health Services around a cross-campus partnership to support students experiencing disordered eating. Kara is excited to continue to work at the Division of Public Health as a Sexual Violence Prevention Coordinator following her fellowship.