Faculty and students from the Zuckerman College of Public Health at the UArizona POD, left to right: Beth Jacobs, Caitlyn McFadded, Colin Catalfamo, Kristen Pogreba-Brown, Erika Austhof, Alexandra Shilen

To date, more than 260 students, staff, and faculty from the Zuckerman College of Public Health have signed up as volunteers to support the UArizona vaccination POD. On any given day, many of them are out there helping to vaccinate our community and bring the pandemic to an end.

UArizona State POD

Dr. Beth Jacobs supports the UArizona POD

March 10, 2021

The UArizona vaccine Point of Distribution (POD) delivers hundreds of vaccine shots every day, and now operates 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. More than 50,000 people have already been vaccinated at the POD!

To run smoothly, the operation requires over 200 volunteers, every day. That’s a lot of volunteers, and a coordination challenge. Epidemiologist Dr. Kristen Pogreba-Brown from the Zuckerman College of Public Health, leads the team that set up and coordinates the volunteer program, and she’s very pleased that the university community has responded passionately to the call. More than 4,700 people have signed up as volunteers so far!

Above all, Pogreba-Brown is proud that the students, staff, and faculty from the College of Public Health (COPH) have stepped-up in a big way. More than 260 of them have signed up as volunteers. They fill many roles, and in particular several of them work as “scribes” for the vaccination operation, an important job that requires extra training.

“Our public health students have been amazing. They have jumped in to help from the start of the pandemic, in so many ways, and now at the Arizona POD they are there every day. They help to get shots in people’s arms, they make sure it all runs smoothly,” says Pogreba-Brown. Indeed, every day, seven days a week, dozens of COPH students and faculty and staff show up to support the UArizona POD.

“Our students have stepped-up to the challenge and they serve our community members at the POD every day,” says Dr. Mona Arora, COPH researcher and public health crisis management expert. Arora leads the overall coordination of the UArizona POD, and she expressed her appreciation, “Vaccine distribution is a team effort and our student volunteers are key players. I have seen these future public health professionals dedicate themselves to the task at hand. They serve everyone with respect, kindness, and always a smile!”

Public Health graduate student Mario Trejo volunteers his time at the POD

Another COPH faculty member, Dr. Beth Jacobs, offered praise for Mario Trejo, a public health graduate student who has gone above-and-beyond in his effort to serve the community as a POD volunteer. “Mario is always at the forefront of any effort to support the community, including the POD. He's a brilliant scholar and an amazing human being,” says Jacobs.

“Here in the College, we are all very proud of our students, our staff, and our faculty volunteers for the work they do to respond to the pandemic. They support our diverse communities, and they keep us all safe,” says COPH Dean Iman Hakim, “We send a big THANK YOU to all the vaccination volunteers from the Zuckerman College of Public Health!”

Names of Our Volunteers from the Zuckerman College of Public Health

From all of us, to all of you, thank you for the work you do!

Undergraduate Public Health Students

Rayanah Almuallim, Keiara Alsaggaf, Edda Anderson, Katerina Anderson, Ally Baker, Keelah Barger, Mayda Barrera, Genesis Barron, Lauren Barry, Erika Barton, Anusha Basak, Brandon Benally, Alison Berlowe, Sharia Betsoi, Rhianna Brard, Erin Broas, Zoe Bronakowski, Kitty Brooks, Britney Brower, Morgan Buckman, Taylor Caffo, Katelyn Calvillo, Alexis Camacho, Brianne Cartagena, Vianca Chaira, Anthony Cisneros, Katelyn Cole, Rafael Cancino, Emily Cranston, Josue Cruz, Claire Devaney, Gina Dimare, Baylee Dorsey, Lauren Dwyer, Emma Faith, Hana Fankhouser, Ava Fisher, Alexia Flores, Kayla Flores, Gretchen Gaebler, Addison Gherardini, Victoria Gifford, Olivia Giola, Natalie Giroux, Fernanda Giron, Zoe Fox, Sydnee Goetz, Mariana Gonzalez, Annika Gordon, Nicole Granados, Brittany Granthan, Lainey Griffith, Olivia Greve, Haley Gurian, Kaleigh Hanley, Zamzam Hirsi, Jenna Homsi, Theresa Hopkins, Nadia Flores Hoyos, Claudette Jimenez, Cassidy Johnson, Tasha Johnson, Chalon Jones, Hannah Juarez, Caroline Karlinsey, Austin Katrynuik, Sophia Kent, Lauren Konigsberg, Zoe Korban, Karlie Kronewitter, Kristina Le, Sara Lee, Linh Luu, Lisa Ly, Grace MacLeod, Taylor Maldonado, Emma Mangen, Teagan Martinovich, Elizabeth McLandress, Rayah Mdanat, Joe Medawar, Lydia Menne, Grace Meyer, Neha Mishra, Andrea Monazzami, Bianca Montelongo, Leah Morales, Lauren Morris, Allyson Munoz, Sarah Murray, Zoie Naylor, Leigh Nilsen, Precise Niyinkeje, Devin O'Brien, Molly O'Connor, Alexis Ortega, Francesca Pacheco, Alena Pappas, Anjali Patel, Skylar Persio, Nathan Pine, Lauren Pizzino, Max Ralston, Elena Ramirez, Allison Rascon, Elizabeth Rawnsley, Victoria Ray, Ashley Reed, Maryam Reyad, Luis Rodriguez, Jessica Rooney, Braden Rowe, Monica Ruffalo, Gabrielle Russell, Mia Sadler, Allison Sarko, Khadija Sawayz, Jennifer Scott, Myka Seger, Zoe Sharp, Hailey Shugrue, Michael Shulla, Charlotte Smilow, Rachel Sodhi, Poulami Soni, Mary Spitzer, Kimberly Springer, Ilyssa Stein, Isabel Stone, Kailee Sullivan, Samantha Sullivan, Lily Sychtysz, Sienna Terrazas, Lucie Thenhaus, Sierra Tooke, Miranda Trinidad, Nataniel Tsai, Caroline Tuskai, Dora Valencia, Allyson Varcoe, Belen Ledezma Vega, Dulce Velarde, Jordan Viernes, Yecenia Villarreal, McKenna Wangen, KynBreanna Washington, Danielle Weissert, Roma White, Ali Wilkinson, Julia Wu, Marcela Yubeta, Caitlyn Zang, Jada Zuniga

Graduate Public Health Students

Oluwayemisi Ayoade, Zoe Baccam, Megan Baker, Rachelle Begay, Janice Baldwin-Rowe, Maiya Block, Jordyn Bommarito, Collin Catalfamo, Timothy Chan, Robert Clark, Kiera Coulter, Rachel Cummings, Teresa Curry, Violeta Dominguez, Sidney Donzella, Maureen Dykinga, Caroline Elmer, Mariana Felix, Jocelyn Fimbres, Dexter Gulick, Brenna Hall, Brooke Hawkes, Jenna Honan, Providence Ishimwe, Lauren Jaeger, Khaadim Jan, Kerry Johnson, Connor Kelley, Heather Kenning, Sana Khan, Hannah Launius, Sarita Layton, Donna Lewandowski, Amy Lind, Joy Luzingu, Valerie Madera-Garcia, Namoonga Mantina, Hannah Martin, Andrea Martinez, Maegan Matter, Candice Montano, Sabrina Nguyen, Alyssa Rankin, Celia Ritter, Cody Rocha, James Romine, Alexa Roy, Emma Rutin, Nmesomachi Sampson, Iva Skobic, Elizabeth Sorensen, Xin Tang, Mario Trejo, Alexis Wait, Alantra Wright, Aaron Yoder, Yang Zhan

Public Health Faculty

Leila Barraza, Stephanie Carroll, Zhao Chen, Christina Cutshaw, Katherine Ellingson, Kacey Ernst, Leslie Farland, Lynn Gerald, Elizabeth Jacobs, Lindsay Kohler, Sydney Pettygrove, Kristen Pogreba-Brown.

Current and Former Staff

Jessica Acuna, Roxanna Apaez, Jill Bullock, Joy Caron, Kelly Heslin, Annette Hillman, Htay Hla, Joyce Hospodar, Maia Ingram, Donna Knight, Jennifer Peters, Rachel Ramos, Shipherd Reed, Chris Tisch, Emily Waldron.