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After completing her bachelor’s degree, Tenzin Yangchen, born in Nepal to Tibetan parents, won the Grollman-Gombo scholarship to pursue her Master of Public Health (MPH) at Stony Brook University. She chose the Health Analytics specialisation for its marketability and alignment with her interest in biostatistics and epidemiology.
Environmental and Occupational Health became her favourite class, captivating her with its real-world relevance and extensive, up-to-date readings. Faculty members like Dr. Dylan Smith left a lasting impression. Her patience and flexibility, evident in her willingness to hold weekend Zoom sessions, motivated Yangchen to conquer even the most challenging biostatistics concepts. Dr. Smith would go on to become a constant source of support, recommending Yangchen for opportunities like Centers for Disease Control and Prevention fellowships, PhD applications, and research programmes, all of which she secured.
Yangchen's choice to pursue a health analytics concentration, now called the Epidemiology and Biostatistics concentration, proved instrumental. The robust analytical skills she honed landed her a coveted spot in her current PhD programme in Epidemiology, where her advisor sought students with such expertise.
After graduating, Yangchen landed an ORISE Fellowship with the CDC, where she tackled programme evaluation and data analysis for national and regional COVID response efforts. Today, she thrives as a predoctoral epidemiology student at the University of Minnesota, focusing on childhood cancer, supported by an NIH T-32 training grant.
Master’s in Public Health
