What attracted you to the health metrics field?
Through health metrics, I can tie together two interests that I pursued in isolation in high school and college. While in the classroom, I found myself caring less and less for abstract math classes and more for the ones where I could apply math to another subject. Derivatives became so much more interesting once I started studying economics, and the functions represented something tangible in the world and could explain why we behave the way we do.
Outside of the classroom, I became increasingly aware of the injustices that were occurring around me and across the world. During a trip to Ghana and through my experiences as part of the GlobeMed team in college, I began to focus more specifically on the disparities of global health.
What work are you doing at IHME?
I work on the US County Performance research team at IHME. Even though many health policy decisions are made at the local level, through city and county health departments, most surveys are able to provide information on health indicators only at the state level, due to the high cost of sampling large numbers of people.
Our team is working to create estimates for health indicators at the county level by combining the information provided by the state surveys with data that are available at the county level. This work will provide much needed data to the county health department policymakers.
How do you think your experience at IHME will contribute to your future work?
I plan to apply to the Masters in Public Health program at the University of Washington and hope to continue working in public health in some form after I finish here. This fellowship will give me insights into development of and skills for interpreting academic public health research that will help me whether I choose to stay in academia or work in a policymaking position.
