At points in my career, I’ve heard that you can either do data or policy, but not both. You can do clinical medicine, or you can do community engagement. While these ideas may have been relevant at some point, my lived experience has taught me that multiple intersecting identities can add up to something greater than the sum of its parts. I believe that that ‘something greater’ is necessary both to understand the complexity of the systems public health must tackle and to invent the new systems that must be built to replace them.
Three words to describe me:
dynamic, collaborative, innovative
The best part of my job:
NYC is in many ways a microcosm of the world – both in the diversity of its communities and also in the landscape of the public health threats it faces.
Something that would surprise others about me:
I’ve traveled and lived all around the former Soviet Union, and I was part of the Orange Revolution in Ukraine! Also, I was on “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire."