Aashna Gheewalla

Public Health, Class of 2022

Piscataway, NJ
Interests/Hobbies: cooking, baking, reading, writing

Aashna Gheewalla transferred to Rutgers University in her freshman year of college, calling it “the best decision I had made.” She knew that there were not many other schools that offered as many research opportunities to undergraduates as Rutgers did. Through programs like Aresty or simply reaching out to professors, she has discovered the many opportunities to be a part of research at Rutgers and Bloustein.

Originally planning on going into nursing, she knew she wanted a career in which she would be constantly helping people. On the advice of an advisor, she took a class in public health. Excited about the idea of being able to work towards improving the health of communities and populations, she changed her major to public health after taking a few public health classes.

After completing an Occupational Health and Safety internship with Rutgers OTEC COVID-19 Systems of Safety Compliance Program, Aashna knew that community health was going to be her focus. As part of her internship, she helped implement COVID-19 testing and vaccines for small business employers and planned training sessions for small businesses on occupational health and safety, which helped businesses and customers feel more comfortable visiting these locations. Seeing her work make a real difference in the community was an extremely rewarding experience, and she knew that this was a path she wanted to pursue.

Advice to prospective students: Public health is such a diverse major, and there are many different possible careers. To find the best fit and help you figure out which path is best for you take classes in various areas such as public health law and ethics, public health writing and marketing, and epidemiology. Also, by joining public health organizations on campus such as the NJ Public Health Association you get to network with professionals and learn more about potential career options.