May 2020

Christina Crabtree-Ide successfully defended her dissertation in March at the University at Buffalo (State University of New York) and her PhD in Epidemiology will be conferred in June 2020. Follow her on twitter: @Crabtride

Tell us about your professional journey and how you ended up studying Epidemiology.

After studying Public Policy in healthcare as an undergrad, I moved to China with the goal of learning medical Chinese and getting volunteer experience working in diverse healthcare settings. It was the year before the Beijing Olympics, so I ended up helping with some of the community health programming related to preparation for the Olympic Games. My work there introduced me to the potential of large-scale programming, and I began to move toward a population health focus.

When I moved back to the US, I completed my Masters in Public Health while working for a medical device and pharmaceutical company where I developed and implemented clinical and technical training programs. Through that work, I was able to observe healthcare systems all over the world and interact with patients, providers, and administrators facing very different pressures depending on their community and policy environments.

Throughout the MPH program, I gravitated toward the Epidemiology courses. For me, Epidemiology was a natural fit with my career goals because it facilitated identification of areas that impact population health. Epidemiology provides a toolkit of methods to be able to explore a wide range of issues and allows scientists to be able to be flexible in understanding the ever-changing needs of diverse populations.

Read More