Kelsey Chandran, MPH
Kelsey Chandran helped mitigate lead exposure in vulnerable populations and identify barriers to breast cancer screening as she worked toward her Master of Public Health (MPH) degree in Epidemiology from Mount Sinai’s Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences.
Ms. Chandran discusses the highlights of the program and the many insights she gained in the following Q&A.
Why this area of study?
I have always had this passion for helping people and I wanted to pursue medicine for the longest time. In college, when I switched my major from Chemistry to Global Studies with a double minor in Asian Studies and Public Health, I found a field where I could integrate my need for helping people within a medical context.
I also learned more about diversity, equity, and inclusion through various extracurricular programs or in the classroom. These experiences really attracted me toward learning more about public health, and I knew it could connect me further to underserved communities that would truly feel the impact that I am trying to make.
How did you excel at Mount Sinai?
I believe the primary way I excelled was making friends with my peers in the classroom. Graduate school brings in a diverse group of people from all over the world and all walks of life—from recent graduates to work professionals to parents returning to higher education. Being able to interact with these people multiple times a week in classes or just chatting in the library or working on projects and assignments allows you to learn from their perspectives and expands your relationship with them in and out of the classroom.
I think if it weren’t for some of the people I met at Mount Sinai, I would not have learned and grown so much in my own thinking and ways to pursue passions, interests, and future professional goals.
I was one of the students seeking Council on Education for Public Health accreditation and a teaching assistant for the Introduction to Socio-behavioral Health course with Maya Rom Korin, PhD, MS, Assistant Professor of Environmental Medicine and Climate Science at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
I was also a graduate researcher in two projects.
My first role was to create informational materials for families based on an analysis on their child’s teeth to see how much lead they were exposed to before and after birth. Working with my preceptor Sarah F. Evans, PhD, MPH, Assistant Professor of Environmental Medicine and Climate Science at Icahn Mount Sinai, these materials are teaching these families about lead exposure, providing them with ways and resources to mitigate further exposure.
My second role was to identify barriers for breast cancer screening in African American/Black women in New York City through a culturally tailored health navigation program created by my advisor, Lina Jandorf, MA, Director of Cancer Community Outreach in the Department of Oncological Sciences at The Tisch Cancer Institute. This research has really been an eye-opening experience in understanding health disparities among this group and being able to intimately interact and empower these women to take autonomy of their own health in reducing their risk of breast cancer.
These hands-on experiences have taught me more about New York City and its diverse populations than I would gained had I not been in the MPH program at Mount Sinai. Because of these projects, I have deepened my love and passion for patient education and community engagement and hope to continue similar work as a physician in the future.
Why Mount Sinai—and what, specifically, are the strong points of the program?
My first introduction to Mount Sinai was from my cousin, Sangeetha Chandramohan, who graduated from Icahn Mount Sinai’s MPH program in 2016. She became so successful after graduating and inspired me to pursue my MPH here as well. After doing my own research on Mount Sinai’s program and attending the institution, I think Mount Sinai does a great job on cultivating community. The diverse group of students within a class, combined with the emphasized focus on collaboration, allows for a range of thoughts, perspectives, and vulnerable discussions that really touch on the main pillars of public health to enact change.
What’s next?
I will be returning to my home state of Florida and be attending Burrell College of Osteopathic Medicine in Melbourne. I could not have achieved this lifelong goal without the professors, mentors, or friends I met at Mount Sinai who have championed me along the way from day one.