Medical College of Wisconsin Public and Community Health PhD Alumni 2012 - 2017

Alumni - 2018

Amin Bemanian, PhD
Amin is a MSTP student and has return to Medical School to finish his MD. His dissertation is entitled “Investigating the relationship between racial residential segregation and liver cancer”. 

Alumni - 2017

Joseph Byonanebye
Dr. Byonanebye is an Assistant Professor at Marquette University in their College of Health Sciences. His dissertation was titled Characteristics, regional trends and determinants of teenage pregnancy in Uganda.

Alumni - 2016

Allison Ertl, MS, PhD
Dr. Ertl is now an Epidemiologist for the Mortality Surveillance Team in the Division of Violence Prevention at the CDC. Her dissertation was titled Neighborhood Context and Racial Disparities in Pediatric Violence.

Laila Azam, PhD
Clinical Assistant Professor of Public Health Studies. Her dissertation title is "The Impact of Physician Cultural Competency and Access to Diabetes Self-Management Education".

Sandra Bogar, PhD
Dr. Bogar is a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Institute for Health and Equity at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Her dissertation was titled Roots: Growing Environmental Health Literacy through Youth Engagement.

Alumni - 2015

Dina Garcia, MPH, PhD
Dina's dissertation is titled, The Oral Health Status and Dental Care Utilization of Mexican-origin Latinos. Dr. Garcia is completing a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Iowa College of Dentistry to continue her research.

Mina Farazhad, PhD
Mina's dissertation is titled The Impact of Motherhood on the Mental Health & Substance Use of Women Who Trade Sex. Mina is part of the Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) at MCW and returned to MCW's Medical School to finish her medical degree. Dr. Farazhad is now completing her medical residency at Emory in Atlanta. 

Katherine Quinn, MSW, PhD
Dr. Quinn is currently funded by a NIH K01 Mentored Research Scientist Development Award studying “The Effect of Intersecting Stigmas on PrEP Outcomes for Young Black MSM”

Alumni - 2014

Rebekah Angove, PhD
Rebekah now serves as the Community Engagement Manager at LACDRN. She was awarded a 2015 PECORI grant titled Patient Engagement in PCOR: a MedEd Training. Project Summary

Rebekah's dissertation is titled Screening for Childhood Exposure to Violence in Pediatric Primary Care:Provider Practices and Perspectives. Rebekah Angove Abstract (PDF)

Rebekah took a position at the Louisiana Public Health Institute (LPHI). She is the Engagement Lead for the Louisiana Clinical Data Research Network (LACDRN).

Alumni - 2013

Emily Hall Ganos, PhD
Emmy is working at the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation as a Program Officer. She joined RWJF in 2013 as Program Associate. She works on the Foundation's efforts to advance a Culture of Health, where our economy is less burdened by excessive and unwarranted health care spending, and where the health of the population guides public and private decision making.

Her dissertation is entitled Physicians' Cultural Norms and Health Care Intensity.
Emily Hall Ganos Abstract (PDF)

Alumni - 2012

The PhD Program in Public and Community Health graduated its first cohort of students in 2012. They began their journey to a PhD degree in 2008. On May 18, 2012, Kaija Zusevics, Elizabeth Duthie, and Annie Nguyen graduated with a Doctor of Philosophy degree.

Kaija Zusevics, PhD
Dr. Zusevics is now an Adjunct Assistant Professor in Institute for Health and Equity at MCW and teaches in the MPH Program. She is also an Associate Researcher at the Center for Urban Population Health in Milwaukee, WI.

Kaija Zusevics completed her post-doctoral fellowship with the Program in Genomics and Ethics in the Center for Bioethics and Medical Humanities in the summer of 2014. 

Kaija's dissertation was entitled Testing an Intervention to Impact Student Engagement and Hope among Urban Students: A Social Determinants of Health Framework. Kaija Zusevics Abstract (PDF)

Elizabeth Duthie, PhD
Elizabeth Duthie is now an Associate Researcher at the Center for Urban Population Health in Milwaukee, WI.

Elizabeth’s dissertation was entitled The Unbearable Lightness of Being Pregnant: Patient and Provider Perspectives on Pregnancy Weight Gain. Elizabeth Duthie Abstract (PDF)

Elizabeth accepted a postdoctoral fellowship sponsored through the Center for Patient Care and Outcomes Research at the Medical College of Wisconsin. She worked on an NIH-funded project (R21) following couples as they go through treatments for infertility to better understand their decision-making about which treatments to pursue.

Annie Nguyen, PhD
Dr. Annie Ngyen is now an Assistant Professor at the USC Keck School of Medicine and continues to study Gerontology.

Annie’s dissertation was entitled Cultural Perspectives, Lifecourse, and the Social Ecology of Successful Aging: The Views of Chinese and Hmong Elders. Annie Nguyen Abstract (PDF)

2012: She accepted a gerontology Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of California-Irvine School of Medicine in the Department of Family Medicine/Geriatrics.