Meet the Team
Maria Tjilos, Co-Coordinator
Pronouns: she/her
School: Boston University School of Public Health
Area of Study: Community Health and Infectious Disease
Maria is a second-year MPH student at Boston University School of Public health concentrating in community health and infectious diseases. She hopes to use her studies to improve the health of communities through advancing existing community strengths and further integrate the practice of public health into medicine. Prior to attending BUSPH, Maria graduated from the University of Michigan in 2020 with majors in Neuroscience and International Studies (Global Health). There, she co-founded a service organization dedicated to elevating the benefits of art therapy in the greater Ann Arbor community and worked as a peer-facilitator at the Science Learning Center. As the Community Engagement Director for BUSPH Student Senate, she is eager to engage both the student body and the surrounding community in collaboration to effect positive and equitable change.
Maria Garcia, Co-Coordinator
Pronouns: she/her
School: Boston University School of Public Health
Area of Study: Healthcare Management
Maria graduated from Saint Louis University in 2019 with her Bachelors of Science in Health Management and Sociology. She is currently pursuing a Master’s in Public Health, with a concentration in Healthcare Management, at Boston University School of Public Health. Maria has previously worked at Boston Medical Center, as a Quality Improvement Intern where she assisted on projects with the Family Medicine and Gastroenterology departments to improve patient interventions and health maintenance. Maria is passionate about quality improvement, access to healthcare, and public health equity.
Caroline Helsen, Mental Health Track Coordinator
Pronouns: she/her
School: Yale School of Public Health
Area of Study: Social and Behavioral Sciences
Caroline is a native New Yorker and first-generation college student currently pursuing a Master of Public Health at Yale within the Social and Behavioral Sciences department. Right before joining the program at Yale, Caroline spent seven years working in marketing and program development for a national education and workforce development non-profit. She is a dedicated volunteer at the National Alliance on Mental Illness where she is a certified educational programming leader. Select public health interests include: behavioral health workforce development, the impact of climate change on health, and social determinants of health. Caroline earned a BA in Political Science from the University of Miami.
Julia D’Ambrosio, Mental Health Track Coordinator
Pronouns: she/her
School: Boston University School of Public Health
Area of Study: Community Assessment, Program Design, Implementation and Evaluation (CAPDIE)
Julia is a second year student at Boston University School of Public Health. She is concentrating in community health, and hopes to use her degree to strengthen public health infrastructure to better serve marginalized populations. Specifically, she is passionate about creating community programming to serve mothers and children, youth with special health needs, and the elderly. Before coming to BU, Julia graduated from the College of the Holy Cross with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English. During her time at Holy Cross, she spent a year working for an organization that provides health care and shelter services to those experiencing homelessness in New York City, and she also spent time volunteering at a long-term care facility in Worcester, MA.
Mia Touma, Health Policy and Law Track Coordinator
Pronouns: she/her/hers
School: Boston University School of Public Health
Area of Study: Health Policy and Law, Human Rights and Social Justice
Mia is finishing up her last semester at BUSPH and received her Bachelor of Arts in Psychological and Brain Sciences from Boston University in 2021. She hopes to work at the intergovernmental level on global health policy that reduces the harms and presence of gender based violence and all forms of interpersonal violence. She has experience: working as a paralegal at a domestic violence firm, researching the effectiveness of sexual violence policy at the Every Voice Coalition, and researching the global gendered impacts of food insecurity at the Consortium on Gender, Security and Human Rights. She loves the power that policy can have on achieving justice for communities, and will forever want to empower the most vulnerable populations.
Nicole Herrera, Healthcare Management Track Coordinator
Pronouns: she/her
School: Boston University School of Public Health
Area of Study: Healthcare Management
Nicole Herrera is a first-generation student at Boston University’s School of Public Health. Her commitment to health equity and high-quality care is rooted in her personal history, grounded in serving in underrepresented communities and schools in Miami-Dade through Teach for America, and propelled by empowering leadership opportunities during her undergraduate career at the University of Florida. In pursuing a functional degree in healthcare management, Nicole is working towards implementing a long-term, multi-sectoral approach based on data and research to develop successful interventions. Nicole hopes to use her MPH to reinforce adaptability and enable public health practitioners to care for populations by understanding how decisions are made for individuals that shape the entire community. She strives to close the gaps between theories and realities, ensure accountability and transparency, and honor every commitment to the community.
Erik Schaefer, Global Health and Infectious Disease Track Coordinator
Pronouns: he/him
School: Yale School of Public Health / Yale School of Medicine
Area of Study: Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases / Physician Associate
Erik was an active-duty US Navy Hospital Corpsman from 1998-2019, spending most of his career stationed and deployed overseas. In addition to deep clinical experience, he has experience in both humanitarian operations and combat operations, including the care of civilian combat casualties in Afghanistan. After completing postbacc studies at San Francisco State University, he was accepted as a dual MPH/PA candidate at Yale School of Public Health and Yale School of Medicine. Erik is broadly interested in the intersections of armed conflict, climate change, forced migration, and infectious disease. His current research areas include behavioral adaptations to extreme heat, health threats related to informal housing, and antimicrobial resistance. He is passionate about community-led sustainable development and improving organic medical capability in low-income countries.
Ananyaa Mohan, Mental Health Track
Pronouns: she/her
School: Tufts University School of Medicine
Area of Study: Population Health Promotion
Ananyaa is an international student from India currently pursuing a Master of Public Health at Tufts university within the Public Health and Community Medicine department. Before joining Tufts, Ananyaa worked as a nutrition and behavior change consultant in India and volunteered at Teach for India where she mentored five Government school children. She is an author for a Narrative review on the effect of psycho-social risk factors on cancer. Select public health interests include: effect of nutrition and culture on health, behavioral health, global health, and social determinants of health. Ananyaa earned a M.Sc in Human Nutrition with Clinical specialization from the University of Glasgow.
Derek Duong, Mental Health Track
Pronouns: he/him
School: Boston University School of Public Health
Area of Study: Community Assessment, Program Design, Implementation and Evaluation (CAPDIE), Mental Health and Substance Use
Derek is a 2nd year student at the Boston University School of Public Health. His concentrations are in program development and mental health. He is interested in everything related to mental health and recognizes the importance of destigmatizing it. Before attending Boston University, he was a behavior interventionist working with neurodivergent adolescents. He was also a health education coordinator, helping present the most serious health topics in Los Angeles during the start of the COVID pandemic.
Cameron Hoffpauir, Health Policy and Law Track
Pronouns: he/his
School: Boston University School of Public Health
Area of Study: HPL + CAPDIE
Cameron is a second-year MPH student at Boston University School of Public Health concentrating in health policy and law along with community assessment and program design. He aspires to work within the non-profit sector focusing on community health needs assessment and resource allocation for marginalized communities. He also serves as the Philanthropy & Community Outreach Chairman for the BUSPH Health Policy and Law Student Organization. Prior to attending BUSPH, Cameron graduated from Louisiana State University in 2017 with a B.S. in Kinesiology – Human Health and was awarded the Distinguished Communicator Medal for exemplifying outstanding communication skills inside and out of the classroom.
Katie Chun, Health Policy and Law Track
Pronouns: she/her
School: Boston University School of Public Health
Area of Study: Health Policy and Law, Human Rights and Social Justice
Katie is in her last semester of BU 4+1 B.A./MPH program and is from Cambridge, MA. Katie completed her undergraduate degree in 2021 in biological anthropology and Spanish. She aspires to work in community health and justice for the next couple of years, probably at a local public health department. In the future she hopes to attend law school, work as a public defender, and advocate for equitable health policies for incarcerated populations.
Sadie Cowan, Health Policy and Law Track
Pronouns: she/her
School: Boston University School of Public Health
Area of Study: Health Policy and Law
Sadie is a first-year MPH student at BU SPH through the BA/MPH 4 + 1 program and is also the 4 + 1 representative on the BU SPH Health Policy and Law Student Organization’s executive board. In her undergraduate coursework at BU, Sadie is majoring in sociology and concentrating in women’s, gender, and sexuality studies; at BU SPH, she is certifying in health policy and law with concentrations in sex, sexuality, and gender as well as maternal and child health. Her passions lie in reproductive justice, LGBTQ+ health, and sexual healthcare access, and is currently writing an honors thesis on the topic of university-sponsored healthcare programs. In the future, Sadie hopes to work in the public sector after graduating from BU SPH and obtaining a JD degree.
Zihan Yu, Infectious Disease Track
Pronouns: she/her
School: Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition / Tufts School of Medicine
Area of Study: Nutrition Communications / Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Zihan is a first-year graduate student in the MS/MPH program at Tufts. She is also a double Jumbo, majoring in Cognitive Brain Sciences and minoring in Nutrition and Studio Art. Zihan is interested in improving population health through research and nutrition. She is especially interested in obesity prevention in children and the elderly. She is passionate about equitable access to nutrition information and resources especially for underrepresented minority populations.
Alexandria Whitted, Outreach Team
Pronouns: she/ella
School: Boston University School of Public Health
Area of Study: Program Management and Sex, Sexuality, & GenderI am passionate about women’s health and wellness, I’ve spent the majority of my professional career educating young people on prioritizing their health. I strongly believe that my why is to fight against racism, sexism, homophobia, and other forms of oppression to help build movements for health, social and economic justice for communities of color.
Elif Coskun, Outreach Team
Pronouns: she/her
School: Boston University School of Public Health
Area of Study: Biostatistics and Epidemiology and GHPDME
Elif is a second-year MPH candidate at BUSPH, pursuing double certificates in Biostatistics and Epidemiology and Global Health, Program Design, Monitoring and Evaluation. Prior to her MPH, she graduated with a BS in Political Science and Economics with a minor in Global Health from Northeastern University. She is interested in using epidemiology modeling to address public health problems that burden the world on a global scale. She has previous work experience in HIV vertical transmission modeling and currently works in COVID-19-associated mortality.
Vicki Lee, Outreach Coordinator
Pronouns: she/her
School: Boston University School of Public Health
Area of Study: Health Communication & Promotion + CAPDIE
Vicki is a first-year MPH candidate at Boston University School of Public Health, pursuing certificates in Health Communication & Promotion and Community Assessment, Program Design, Implementation and Evaluation. Before coming to BUSPH, she graduated from Pacific University with a BA in Public Health and Spanish, using those skills she learned to join the Peace Corps as a Healthy Schools Coordinator in Guatemala. Her public health interests include developing programs designed to eliminate barriers and promote intergenerational equity, particularly among youth, through education, empowerment, and capacity-building.