{"id":10871,"date":"2025-09-03T13:30:27","date_gmt":"2025-09-03T17:30:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/phs\/?p=10871"},"modified":"2026-03-24T09:56:38","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T13:56:38","slug":"2025-incoming-student-highlights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/phs\/2025\/09\/03\/2025-incoming-student-highlights\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 Incoming Student Highlights"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We\u2019re so excited to welcome our new MPH students that already have a passion for public health! Below are highlights of some of our students starting this semester.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Austen Day<\/strong> has a background in Neuroscience and Global Public Health. While he originally thought he would pursue medical school, his studies led him on a different path. Austen notes, \u201cAs I learned more about the medical field, I came to understand that through policy and outreach, public health offers a powerful way to create a lasting impact.\u201d Austen is excited to enter the MPH program to gain tools to prevent disease through systematic change.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Kimberly Mugaisi<\/strong> has long held a passion for public health. She earned her B.A. in Sociology with a concentration in Health and Medicine from the University of Virginia, where she conducted qualitative research on chronic illness and resilience among middle-aged African American women. She is continuing her studies through the MPH 4+1 program with a concentration in Research and Practice. She\u2019s most excited to deepen her skills in community-based research. Her eventual goal is to work in public health consulting and help develop meaningful, accessible healthcare strategies. A fun fact about Kimberly: \u201cI traveled to rural Panama to learn more about public health abroad, which was one of the most rewarding experiences I\u2019ve ever had!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Claire Moody<\/strong> recently graduated from Denison University with a Bachelor of Arts in Global Health and Psychology. She participated in research during undergrad by conducting a longitudinal study focused on the overprescribing of medications to older adults and women. She also completed a semester-long capstone project on maternal health. Claire notes, \u201cDuring my undergraduate studies, I was drawn to public health because of its unique blend of the sciences and humanities, both of which play a critical role in shaping population health.\u201d She is particularly excited about the MPH program\u2019s interdisciplinary approach and wants to hone her research skills to advise health policy reform.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Ace Rogers<\/strong> is continuing her studies through the MPH 4+1 program (with a concentration Health Policy, Law and Ethics) after graduating this past May from UVA with a bachelor\u2019s in Global Studies (concentration in Global Public Health) and a minor in English. Ace\u2019s interest in keeping people healthy was inspired by her parents\u2019 work in the healthcare field. Through her Global Public Health studies, Ace became interested in promoting positive health outcomes at a population level. Ace outlines her undergraduate experiences: \u201cI have three years of experience in college health promotion as a Peer Health Educator during undergrad, have studied comparative healthcare systems and public health policy abroad in Scandinavia, and have volunteered in rural dental clinics in Honduras.\u201d Ace is most excited to learn more about the entire process of health policy research. Her career goal is to lead or assist with this process on a local, state, or national level. A few fun facts about Ace: she has taken voice and piano lessons and is now trying to teach herself guitar, she loves running and is planning to train for the Charlottesville Ten Miler, and she has a golden retriever named Brie back home in Richmond.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Alex Culver<\/strong> is very excited to return to Charlottesville as a double Hoo, having graduated with a B.A. in History and Biology in 2021. He is looking forward to adding to his medical training in Norfolk with our MPH program. Alex notes, \u201cI hope to combine my passion and research in psychiatry with the data analytical skills, research design practices, and eye for health policy that I could not learn anywhere else!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Welcome to all of our new students!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>We\u2019re so excited to welcome our new MPH students that already have a passion for public health! Below are highlights of some of our students starting this semester. &nbsp; &nbsp; Austen Day has a background in Neuroscience and Global Public Health. While he originally thought he would pursue medical school, his studies led him on [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2276,"featured_media":9404,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[47],"class_list":["post-10871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-highlights","tag-intranet"],"acf":false,"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>2025 Incoming Student Highlights - Public Health Sciences<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/med.virginia.edu\/phs\/2025\/09\/03\/2025-incoming-student-highlights\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"2025 Incoming Student Highlights - Public Health Sciences\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"We\u2019re so excited to welcome our new MPH students that already have a passion for public health! 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