April 1-7 is National Public Health Week, and Georgia State Online is celebrating by sharing the success stories of two graduates of Georgia State University’s Master of Public Health (MPH) program. Offered both on-campus and online, the program prepares students to become leading scholars and professionals in the field.
Two program graduates, Kyra Parks and Nick Johnson, demonstrate how the MPH program prepares students for professional success.
Kyra Parks, MPH
Kyra Parks graduated from Georgia State with her MPH in environmental epidemiology in 2022. While she was earning her master’s degree, Parks worked as a program associate for the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE). She worked across emergency preparedness, chronic disease and environmental health, and once she graduated with her MPH, Parks was promoted to become an environmental health program analyst.
Though Parks attended the on-campus program, she found the flexibility offered by the program’s online modalities to be beneficial while balancing the demands of full-time work. She chose to pursue the degree to strengthen her skills and broaden her professional options.
“I had some work experience after undergrad, and I got to the point where I recognized that the MPH would really help me improve my skills and advance in my career,” Parks said.
Parks is currently a resource management consultant supporting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC’s) Global Health Center. In this role, she helps allocate funding across the global health work there.
“The role really allows me to draw upon my experiences from the MPH and my previous work experience, too,” Parks said.
Parks cited the technical skills she gained in the MPH program, including data analysis and group work, as some of the most relevant in her current role.
“In the MPH, we did a lot of group work, which I thought was very effective and emulates the workplace,” Parks said. “You have to work with a lot of different people who have different skill sets and different personalities.”
Parks’ advice for future students of the MPH program is to make the most of the program’s resources and connect with program faculty.
“Connect with the professors because they are always willing to share their experiences, and a lot of them are doing research that students are interested in,” Parks said.
Nick Johnson, MPH, PhD
For Nick Johnson, who graduated with his MPH from Georgia State in 2016, earning his master’s degree was a pathway to his doctoral degree program. For the practicum experience he was required to complete as part of his program, Johnson conducted research alongside Karen Conneely, PhD, of the Emory University School of Medicine.
“I was thinking about doing a PhD program while I was doing my masters, so it was nice to get some experience with a professor who was doing research in the area that I was interested in,” Johnson said.
Johnson enrolled in his PhD program at Emory University immediately after completing his master’s degree. There, he continued to work with Conneely.
“It was a pretty smooth transition for me,” Johnson said. “I was lucky because I had already found the person that I liked working with.”
After finishing his PhD, Johnson began a fellowship at the CDC, where he worked on a pilot study of a randomized control trial comparing two types of vaccines. At the end of the fellowship, Johnson remained with the CDC, transitioning to his current role with the Division of Foodborne, Waterborne, and Environmental Diseases (DFWED). He serves as a member of the statistics team and reviews the statistical elements of research manuscripts before they are submitted for publication.
Though Johnson’s practicum experience was the highlight of his time in Georgia State’s MPH program, he also found the coursework – especially statistics and linear regression courses – to be beneficial for his career.
“When you take the statistics courses, it’s very interpretation-heavy,” Johnson said. “It’s a good thing to understand how to interpret things correctly and the right way to say things in terms of how you interpret your results. I think they taught that part really well.”
Johnson encourages students who are interested in Georgia State’s MPH program not to hesitate in reaching out to faculty whose research interests them.
“Being proactive about networking is really going to help you out,” Johnson said. “Take the opportunity to understand how you can join the program and hit the ground running.”
Ready to learn more about how you can earn your MPH online? Reach out to an enrollment coach today.