Checking up on Gallaudet's public health program

A staff member makes a presentation about workplace safety. An educator works with middle schoolers on healthy food choices. A researcher analyzes data to understand disease patterns. The common thread? Public Health. 

“Public health is a practical degree, and can be applied to many settings. Good public health requires many people with different areas of expertise to come together: from teaching health education to students in middle school to providing data to administrators on how to improve the mental health of the employees in their organization,” says Dr. Christine Gannon, Associate Professor. 

Recently relaunched to expand its offerings, Gallaudet’s public health program offers practical knowledge and multidisciplinary experiences to continue on to graduate school or to gain one of the many in-demand jobs out there in the field.

An alum of the Public Health program, Kaela Luttrell ’21 has worked at the Adams County Health Department in Colorado as an Environmental Health Specialist for over two years. She conducts inspections for health code compliance and works closely with people across the county, both in and out of local government. “Growing up, I observed that there has always been a gap in access to public health information for Deaf individuals, and I wanted to help bridge that divide. Public health aligned closely with my future career aspirations, making it the right path for me,” she says.

On the right track: tailoring the public health program

Gallaudet undergraduates majoring in public health can expect a flexible program accommodating their wide interests. Led by Dr. Kathleen Arnos, Gallaudet’s Public Health program was established in 2017, and was modeled after the University of Maryland’s Public Health Science program.

Over time, faculty noticed students had overlapping and complementary interests that were very much about public health but less science-focused. Then-Dean of Faculty, Dr. Caroline Solomon, STAMP faculty Abbi Simons Khanoyan, and Gannon started to meet to analyze in-demand public health jobs. Their findings informed the program’s new offerings with the creation of two additional program tracks in fall 2024:

• Public Health Education prepares students to work as educators in school systems or community and non-profit organizations. With an emphasis on education, psychology, communication, and social work, students are prepared for frontline roles and health education graduate programs.

• Public Health Policy and Administration prepares students for work overseeing grants or running programs at government agencies like the NIH, or a range of public or nonprofit offices. Students in this track take courses in policy, health management, business, psychology, and government.

• The original Public Health Science track continues its focus on biology, chemistry, math, data science, and technology. “This is a great choice for students interested in research, medical fields in the future, or who might want to go into epidemiology and pursue graduate studies,” says Gannon.

Many public health majors have double majors or minors in biology, psychology, or social work, and vice versa. Junior Andrew Crawford explains: “It worked out really well because most of the electives overlapped with my biology major, which allowed me to pursue both degrees. What really motivated me, though, was realising that while I love biology, I wanted my work to connect more directly with communities. Public health gave me that connection.”

Training the next generation of public health experts

The Public Health core faculty members are deeply rooted in public health experience. Gannon worked for fifteen years in sexuality education and training in a variety of settings before working for eleven years in Gallaudet’s Health and Wellness Programs. Simons Khanoyan has worked in epidemiology since 2013 and has worked at Gallaudet for over a decade, bringing a wealth of academic knowledge to her evidence-based teaching approach. 

“My professors are amazing, they have their experiences and bring them to the classroom, where I learn a lot through discussion and case studies,” says Senior Kimberly MacLeod.  Similarly, Luttrell feels fortunate to have learned from Gallaudet’s public health experts during her undergraduate years. “Their dedication to our success and commitment to providing the highest quality education made a lasting impact on me. Through the program, I was also able to form meaningful connections with professors, which led to numerous job and internship opportunities both on and off campus,” she says. 

Luttrell draws on the strong foundation the public health program gave her in environmental health, epidemiology, and health promotion in her current job, adding, “The support and mentorship I received from professors throughout my education built my confidence and opened opportunities that shaped my career path to be successful in this field.” Of the many aspects she values about the program, access to education in American Sign Language was one of the most important.

Getting their bearings early on 

Internships are a program requirement, but also one-of-a-kind experiences. Crawford (below right) interned at Northeastern University, where he used health informatics to identify disparities in rehabilitative services for people with Parkinson’s disease. MacLeod (below left) interned with the Global Deaf Research Institute and with Gallaudet’s Cognitive and Educational Neuroscience Training and Research Experiences (CENTRE) program. “These experiences helped me build confidence in myself and made me realize I want to research people’s behavior,” says MacLeod.

“The kinds of internships we’re getting for students are fabulous. I don’t think there is a better place on the planet than DC for internship opportunities,” says Gannon, who coordinates student internships and manages a list of over 150 possible placements. 

Interns have worked on Deaf-centered projects, like adapting online diabetes information for deaf people or providing people with addiction and trauma resources. Others work in labs, conducting disease screenings and testing. Students have worked on campus at Gallaudet in research centers like the Center for Deaf Health Excellence (CDHE) and at other universities, like the University of Pittsburgh. Although one internship is required, students are encouraged to do two or three internships, and many of them choose to do so. 

Taking their next step with confidence

Gannon explains that students who graduate from the Public Health program will be prepared to join a public health-specific field, but that the degree is also a powerful generalist foundation to apply in a variety of workplaces that draw on fields such as psychology, social work, education, or business, for example.

Luttrell is graduating in the Spring with a Master of Public Health (MPH) in Public Health Practice from the University of South Florida. She says with her MPH, “I hope to continue my learning in public health one way or another! I would love nothing more than to be able to contribute back my learning to the deaf community in the future.” 

MacLeod plans to attend graduate school after Gallaudet. “I would love to be a public health researcher, health equity researcher, public health analyst, public health educator, or policy advisor,” she says. Similarly, Crawford plans include a graduate degree in bioinformatics or epidemiology, saying, “I want to keep building my skills in research and communication so I can continue bridging the gap between science and the public.”

Gannon has no doubt her students are prepared for their futures, saying, “They leave Gallaudet with experience that is related to what they want to do.”

Explore Gallaudet’s Public Health program offerings.