Clara Barajas

Clara Barajas grew up working in farm fields and picking crops with her siblings. As a child, she recalls serving as a translator and helping loved ones get needed health care services. As a public health professional, she advocates for the health interests of the Latino community.

Emily Williams

Emily Williams is working to improve population health in the Greater Detroit area. With a focus on the social determinants of health, she is addressing food insecurity, housing, transportation, and employment needs.

MSU MPH Student Megan Mulvaney

Recently earning honorable mention as a Student Who Rocked Public Health by the Journal of Public Health Management and Practice, Megan Mulvaney is an emerging leader in public health. Learn more about what motivates her in this Q&A.

Mohamed Satti

Mohamed Z. Satti is one of the professors teaching HM101—An Introduction to Public Health. He is an expert in infectious diseases caused by parasites, infections transmitted from animals to humans, and also studies the connection between climate change and vector-borne diseases.

Olivia Holden reading Flint Kids Book

Five years into the Flint water crisis and literacy is one way to help mediate some of the negative effects children are experiencing due to lead exposure. The Flint Kids Book is one-way high school author and public health advocate Olivia Holden is making a difference. Donate online. 

Opioid abuse

The U.S. opioid epidemic is pronounced in low-income areas and where people lack health care services, which includes cities in Michigan and across the Rust Belt. Public health researchers set out to determine if opioid overdose deaths occur in patterns in Flint. 

Darline El Reda

Darline K. El Reda teaches in the Master of Public Health program at the College of Human Medicine’s Division of Public Health Flint campus. She writes about the need for public health practitioners in our broken health care system.

Maji Debena

Most seriously mentally ill inmates face daunting barriers to getting the medical and mental health care they need after they are released, which can lead to relapses, suicide attempts, and further arrests. Maji Debena believes peer navigators can help.

Flint Kids Cooking Class

PBS News Hour reports on a number of programs that are working to encourage good nutrition for the children of Flint, Michigan. Triggered by high levels of lead in the drinking water and a public health crisis, how is Michigan State University making a difference?

Renee Canady

Meet Renee Canady, CEO of the Michigan Public Health Institute and assistant professor at MSU’s College of Human Medicine Division of Public Health. Canady talks about what motivates her, why health equity matters, and the power of community.

Volunteers in yellow vests doing a survey for Flint ReCAST

The Flint Resiliency in Communities After Stress and Trauma (ReCAST) team will conduct a citywide survey to learn about the personal needs of Flint residents, Friday, October 25th through Sunday, October 27th from 1:30 pm – 7 pm daily.

Rodlescia Sneed

Rodlescia Sneed is making a two-year commitment to engage in National Institutes of Health health disparities research in exchange for loan repayment for her graduate education. In her public health work, Sneed assesses how stress and social relationships impact health.