Neha B. Pannuri, MPH, one of 147 candidates receiving a degree from Mount Sinai

The Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai conferred 147 master’s degrees in eight programs during a recent ceremony, an interactive virtual event that recapped a year of great challenges and extraordinary achievement. In 2020, the Graduate School added a ninth master’s program, in epidemiology, which will graduate its first cohort in 2022.

Pediatrician, scientist, and activist Mona Hanna-Attisha, MD, MPH, Founder and Director of the Michigan State University-Hurley Children’s Hospital Pediatric Public Health Initiative, received an honorary Doctor of Science degree for playing a pivotal role in helping to uncover the Flint, Michigan, water crisis. Dr. Hanna-Attisha also delivered the commencement address.

Marta Filizola, PhD

Graduate School Dean Marta Filizola, PhD, greeted the graduates and guests, saying, “This pandemic is the latest we have seen, but it is not the first,” and recounting “some of the things that really are unprecedented about our times.” Dr. Filizola is also the Sharon & Frederick A. Klingenstein/Nathan G. Kase, MD Professor of Pharmacological Sciences, and Professor of Neuroscience.

“The world is undeniably more complex today than ever before—interactions of people and nature with sophisticated technologies and human-made systems, taking place in a world of unprecedented population size and unprecedented levels of interdependence,” she said. “This is the reality that presents us with immense challenges.”

Yet, she continued, “What is also unprecedented is the extent of the cooperation, compassion, and teamwork we must bring to bear on these challenges. The breadth of professional training and expertise the world calls for is the reason our graduates today represent such a diversity of degree programs, training areas, and specialty tracks.”

Eric J. Nestler, MD, PhD

Presiding over the ceremony was Eric J. Nestler, MD, PhD, Director of The Friedman Brain Institute, Dean for Academic and Scientific Affairs, and Nash Family Professor of Neuroscience. “The fact that you are all here today is testimony to your fortitude and impressive resilience. Today’s master’s graduates exemplify the full range of expertise that our society has needed to combat and overcome the COVID-19 pandemic,” he said. “We are very proud of your inspiring accomplishments at Mount Sinai, and look forward to all the good that you will do as you embark on your exciting careers.”

Dr. Hanna-Attisha gave a heartfelt speech that drew on her own experience in public health, and she exhorted the graduates to be fearless leaders.

“We need tough graduates like you,” she told them. “Fueled by the power of this place, the engine of knowledge and innovation, you are the light that will illuminate some of our hardest and greatest challenges. You, and especially the field of science, will be on the front lines of some of the most important battlegrounds of society today.”

Mona Hanna-Attisha, MD, MPH

“My story, the Flint, Michigan, story, is a story not unlike our current crisis, about failing to respect science and public health, and failing to protect the most vulnerable among us,” she said. “Remember—somewhere, somehow, sometime in your life—you will have to make a choice. The issue may not be as momentous as a poisoning of a town, but there are Flints everywhere, there are injustices everywhere, there are places and people that will need you to open your eyes and take action and to do the hard things. I urge you to keep your eyes open, to stay vigilant, to remain curious, to take action, to keep doing the hard things for the right reasons.”

Student speaker Meghan Smith, who received a Master of Public Health, spoke of the perseverance and compassion of this unique graduating class, and the hope that they represent.

“At the onset of the pandemic, and this very dark period of time, many people were at a paralyzing low. Incredibly, the students channeled all of these emotions and possessed the strength to step up,” she said, citing the medical- and graduate-student COVID-19 workforce, and other efforts around New York City to support clinical and research efforts. “At one point, it seemed like every student I knew, across all programs, was doing something to help the devastation this nation had witnessed.”

Meghan Smith, MPH

And, as the “country began to recognize the racism and oppression that has existed as part of our society for hundreds of years,” she continued, “powerful social justice movements inspired all of us to make our voices heard.”

With robust optimism, Ms. Smith concluded: “As we embark on our journeys, not knowing what challenges we may face, I know we will all continue to be the people who are willing to step up.”

Tina Aswani Omprakash

When Crohn’s disease forced Tina Aswani Omprakash to leave a career on Wall Street, she began looking for a way to rebuild her life. Having navigated the surgeries, the health disparities, and the South Asian cultural stigmas—shame and taboo—associated with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) for more than a decade, Ms. Aswani Omprakash knew she had insights on IBD that could be beneficial for people of color facing the same challenges.

That revelation led her to the Master of Public Health (MPH) degree program at the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

“I chose the program in part because I had heard Mount Sinai was accommodating of students with disabilities, and that was important to me in rebuilding my career and self-worth,” she explains.

“I gained a knowledge base that expanded my understanding of the disease and gave me insights to approach public health not just from my own personal experience, but from a broader health care perspective.”

A long-time patient advocate and public speaker who has presented at many domestic and international gastroenterology conferences, Ms. Aswani Omprakash is pursuing the General Public Health track to better understand the needs of different patient populations and develop her research skills. In 2020, she conducted a qualitative study, sponsored by the biotechnology company Genentech, on the unmet needs among diverse patients living with IBD. Her abstract was published in Inflammatory Bowel Diseases and presented at the 2021 Crohn’s and Colitis Congress.

“This was a groundbreaking study in that it was the first patient advocate-led study in the IBD space. I hand-picked and recruited patients of various races, ethnicities, genders, age groups, sexual orientations, and geographical locations via my social media presence,” Ms. Aswani Omprakash says. “Although the conclusions we came to were expected, the study helped to legitimize the needs and concerns of patients—such as more access to mental health care, improved access to specialists who understand the complexities of the disease, and better medications that target the disease in different communities.”

For her MPH Applied Practice Experience, Ms. Aswani Omprakash worked with the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust on two projects: a guidebook for caregivers of children and adolescents with Crohn’s disease, created with the National Alliance of Caregiving, and a series of web pages detailing surgical treatment options, which she developed with the United Ostomy Associations of America. “These resources are designed to fill an information gap among health care providers and patients living with IBD, and to change perceptions of surgery as a last resort,” Ms. Aswani Omprakash says. “The fact that they are written by a patient who is earning an MPH further enhances the content.”

Nils Hennig, MD, PhD, MPH, Director of Mount Sinai’s Graduate Program in Public Health says: “Tina Aswani Omprakash is a great example of our patient-focused approach to public health. Proximity to the populations we serve is fundamental. The study of Public Health at Mount Sinai goes beyond mere analysis and repair: it offers choices, it provides a human touch, and it may ultimately help reestablish human dignity.”

Ms. Aswani Omprakash has been completing the program one course at a time and will graduate in December 2022. “This has been an incredible experience,” she says. “I gained a knowledge base that expanded my understanding of the disease and gave me insights to approach public health not just from my own personal experience, but from a broader health care perspective.”

To learn more about Ms. Aswani Omprakash’s patient advocacy journey, go to her blog at ownyourcrohns.com.