Dean Stuart Shapiro and the EJB Talks podcast have returned for season 13 with assistant teaching professor Katie Pincura. Connecting her own experiences navigating health systems in Canada and the U.S. with her work fueled her interest in health policy and ultimately led her to pursue an MPH and DrPH. Since arriving at Rutgers’ Bloustein School last year, Katie has sought to integrate her students’ lived experiences into public health policy by encouraging them to critically examine the trade-offs between individual freedoms and collective well-being.
Topic
Posts
Public Health with Purpose: An Athlete-to-Advocate Journey
“I always wanted to be in a career where I felt like I was genuinely helping others. After my sophomore year, I realized that I wanted to be involved in the healthcare sphere but I didn’t necessarily want to practice medicine. I switched my major to public health, picked up a minor in business administration, and learned about the seemingly hundreds of career paths outside of medicine that I had never considered before. Eventually I hope to combine my background in public health with a law degree and work in healthcare administration.”
Rooted in Resilience, Building a Path to Health Equity
“I want to use my education to help humanize healthcare and advocate for communities that are often overlooked or underserved. As a first-generation Latino student, my journey has been guided by my family’s strength, my community’s resilience, and a deep desire to create change. I realized that Bloustein wasn’t just a school—it was a community full of students and faculty who cared deeply about making real, lasting change. My goal is to become a healthcare consultant, working with hospitals and health systems to improve operations, increase access, and ensure quality care for all—especially for underrepresented communities.”
Advocacy and Action Through Public Health
“There is so much you can do with Public Health. The major opens so many doors to different opportunities to find out what you are passionate about. I realized how overall health and wellbeing connects so many aspects of the world around us that we often overlook. I wanted to understand the environment through a health lens, and how its effects differ across communities. Learning how global and local access to healthcare is inconsistent across certain communities showed me the importance of advocacy and action through a public health lens.”
From Public Health Research to Real-World Impact
This week on EJB Talks we talk to Melinda Rushing, a new faculty member in the school’s health administration program, and her winding journey from social work to public health and how her passion for research, particularly around sickle cell disease and healthcare access, shaped her academic journey.
NJSPL Blog: Who Attends Virtual Schwartz Rounds?
Irina Grafova and colleagues launched two surveys about Virtual Schwartz Rounds, a program offered by the New Jersey Nursing Well-Being Institute to connect with their peers for emotional support.
Flat, falling soda tax revenues have both positive and negative impact
In large cities like Philadelphia, soda tax revenues may stabilize over time and serve as consistent funding sources, as residents who continue to buy soda are unlikely to leave the city limits to stock up, said Michael Lahr, co-author of the 2021 Rutgers University study.
Cannabis Policy Impacts Public Health and Health Equity
A new report from the NASEM Health and Medicine Division explores the public health implications of changes in cannabis policy. The report calls for leadership at the federal level, makes specific recommendations for needed research, and more
Covid’s enduring lesson: The U.S. has no federal system to protect public health
When disease prevention is done right, we don’t notice. When it isn’t, disease spreads, people get sick, and they die. Then, we pay close attention. After the threat passes, stock is taken, and, oddly enough, investment in public health declines.
Rutgers Today Spotlight: Lisa Harrison-Gulla
“I have a great privilege from my mom’s experiences with Rutgers and her years in public health because I can come home from class to talk about what I’ve learned and brainstorm ideas for changes I’d like to make in my career,” Gulla said.