Andrea Contreras and Sheila Soto won the Joel S. Meister Award for outstanding Community Health Worker in 2019. As a student, Ms. Soto was awarded the Gates Millennium scholarship to complete her degree at MEZCOPH. Watch her video testimonial below.
Twenty Years of Public Health Excellence
For twenty years, the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health (MEZCOPH) has been training public health professionals to deliver the best research-based health practices to communities both locally and globally. This is the education we need to tackle the public health challenges we face today. As the world struggles through this historic pandemic, our students, faculty, and alumnus are leading the fight against COVID-19 in Arizona and around the country. Now, more than ever, we make a difference.
Matching Funds for Scholarship Support
We are asking for your support for our students, students that will become the public health leaders of tomorrow. Your gift to support student scholarships in 2020 will be matched up to $2 million by the Zuckerman Family Foundation. These funds will enable the next generation of public health professionals to complete their education and use their expertise to build healthier communities around the world. Will you join us? Make A Gift
Students and Alumnus Lead COVID-19 Response
Right now during the COVID-19 outbreak, MEZCOPH students are working closely with faculty and community partners. They are investigating positive test cases in Pima County, reviewing COVID-19 research reports from around the world, and supporting vital service providers from first responders to food bank workers. This is real-world experience during a pandemic, and it shows how our dedicated students respond in a time of need – providing public health services that preserve health and save lives.
From Research to Action
At the Zuckerman College of Public Health, we make the connection between public health research and community engagement. We translate research findings into community health programs, and we transform community needs into basic and applied public health research. This educational approach provides our future leaders with a powerful understanding of how public health policy and practice improves the lives and health of people locally, nationally and globally.
Students Become Changemakers
For most of her career, Sheila Soto has worked to bring health services directly to low-income and immigrant communities. Ms. Soto works with our Mobile Health Units program to bridge the language and cultural barriers in health services. Reaching residents in underserved communities during a global pandemic is particularly challenging. Public health workers like Soto have been building trust through in-person visits. Due to COVID they have to reach out by phone and through social media, and the information they provide is more urgent than ever. Misinformation about coronavirus cures proliferates on social media and needs to be corrected. And factual information about how the virus spreads is vital in communities where multigenerational families are common. Soto and the MHU teams work tirelessly to ensure information is available in Spanish and to educate communities about telehealth options.
