Allenie Andrea Arnedo, MPH

As an international student, Allenie Andrea Arnedo had become familiar with many health systems around the world, including those in Thailand, the Philippines, and the United States. This led to an interest in pharmaceutical manufacturing, and she decided to get an undergraduate degree in Biochemistry and Data Analytics. Several years later, she would enroll in the Master of Public Health (MPH) program at the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, where, for her applied practicum experience, she had the opportunity to become a Global Health Fellow.

In June 2024, Ms. Arnedo received an MPH degree in Global Health. In the following Q&A, she reveals how her experience at Mount Sinai is helping to shape her career.

Why an MPH? 

When the COVID-19 pandemic occurred, it shed light on systemic barriers for equitable vaccine access. As I saw family and friends had difficulty obtaining vaccines across Asia, I felt a strong desire to understand and uncover the underlying reasons why. My interests in universal health coverage and access to medicines drew me to the field of public health.

Being named a Global Health Fellow sounds exciting. What did that involve?

This was an opportunity provided to us through the Global Health Summer program at Icahn Mount Sinai. For my placement, I assisted with a grant proposal at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst, which is part of the nation’s largest municipal health care delivery system. With my mentor, Carlos Salama, MD, Professor of Medicine, and the Immigrant Health Working Group, the grant was successfully awarded. This experience exposed me to stakeholder engagement with community-based organizations and advocacy groups.

What were some of your other accomplishments?

I had the honor of being inducted into the Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health and receiving a commencement award for Excellence in Public Health Leadership and Service. I am so grateful to Public Health leadership, and look forward to growing more as a global health professional.

Why Mount Sinai?
When I was initially searching for public health programs, I felt drawn to the Mount Sinai’s world-class researchers, personalized mentorship, and welcoming students. The variety of tracks offered for my program was valuable for me because I was just embarking on my career path in public health.

The diversity of the student body is also one of the greatest assets of Icahn Mount Sinai as they represent a variety of interests, cultures, issues, and more. During my time at Mount Sinai, I was able to serve as a member of an E-board for the New York State Science Technology and Policy group and shadow the Mount Sinai Human Rights Program.

What’s next?

I am looking for roles in community capacity building, community health research, health policy, and health care financing. My next steps are to embrace the realm of possibilities that a public health degree has to offer across interdisciplinary sectors and fields.

I am grateful to have had my perspective on the role of policy in health systems, barriers to care, and equitable health access broadened by so many amazing faculty and mentors. They include: Dr Salama, who is also Director of Global Health at NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst; Elizabeth K. Singer, MD, MPH, Director of the Mount Sinai Human Rights Program; Arthur A. Gianelli, FACHE, Chief Transformation Officer for the Mount Sinai Health System; Alexander Preker, MD, PhD, Executive Scholar at Icahn Mount Sinai; and Nils Hennig, MD, PhD, MPH, Director of the MPH program.

What are your career goals?

I want to contribute to inclusive and accessible research and facilitate community partnerships by working as a researcher or program assistant at a think tank, research institute, or human rights organization. As I progress in my career, I hope to continue to be guided by the values I hold closely to help with the expansion of health care access.

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.

Angie V Ramirez Jimenez, MSBDS

When Angie V Ramirez Jimenez entered the Master of Science in Biomedical Data Science (MSBDS) program at Mount Sinai’s Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, she had a long-time fascination with the potential of data science to unlock insights into complex biological systems. Now, as a new graduate, she discusses how working with top neurologists and data scientists has inspired her to further her career.

How did you become interested in biomedical data science?

The intersection of biology and technology—and its potential to revolutionize scientific research—always fascinated me, and this sparked my interest in this field. Fundamentally, I was inspired by the ability of data science to unlock insights from various biological datasets, leading to a deeper understanding of complex biological systems. The prospect of using data to drive advances in precision medicine to ultimately improve patient outcomes motivated me to pursue a career in Biomedical Data Science.

Why Mount Sinai?

After completing my undergraduate degree, I came here to work as a research associate in the lab of two outstanding neurologists, Michelle E. Ehrlich, MD, and Samuel E. Gandy, MD, PhD. There, I had the opportunity to work on various projects that investigate the mechanisms of neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease, dystonia, and Huntington’s disease, and learn about all of the research opportunities that were available at Mount Sinai.

The chance to learn from professors at the forefront of biomedical research made it the ideal place for me to expand my knowledge and skills. Through our collaboration with the Shen lab, I met Li Shen, PhD, the co-director of the Master of Science in Biomedical Data Science program at the time. My contributions to projects during my time in the lab led to co-authorship on several publications (PMID(s): 38459557, 37424750, 36448627).

What were some of your achievements as a master’s student? 

I trained and worked in the Bioinformatics for Next Generation Sequencing (BiNGS) core at The Tisch Cancer Institute at Mount Sinai, where I was able to contribute to various projects, which included assessing the effectiveness of a novel keratinocyte differentiation protocol on induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) and embryonic stem cells (ESCs), as well as investigating the impact of different extracellular matrix (ECM) environments on cancer cell dormancy. For my capstone project, I analyzed RNA-seq, ATAC-seq, and CUT&RUN data to dissect the epigenetic and transcriptional landscapes of hepatocellular carcinoma models—it’s novel work that will be part of a future paper.

What other activities contributed to your success? 

My involvement in research projects outside the classroom have been pivotal to my success. As an undergrad, I went on a research trip to Costa Rica to investigate the resilience of microbial communities in Costa Rica’s rainforests post-hurricane. This was the first time I was part of real-world scientific research, and I was immersed in a side of research that I had not seen in the classroom—large-scale data analysis and how powerful it can be in understanding complex biological interactions.

That experience helped me realize this was what I wanted to pursue. Once I started working in the Ehrlich/Gandy lab, I was able to further explore my interest in bioinformatics and learn alongside great postdocs who mentored me on how to do various types of analysis. I’ve also worked at Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, NJ, where I taught children how to do different lab experiences. I think working with these young students really taught me how to not make assumptions about how much people may know about a topic, which really helps me when trying to teach others.

I also learned that everyone has the power to make an impact on others, even when we may not realize it. I think that just being open minded and not closing yourself off to opportunities, even when they seem very daunting or even insignificant, is really what helps you learn and grow. Sometimes opportunities arise from the most unexpected places, but you will never find them if you don’t put yourself out there.

What’s next?

I plan to continue in the field of Biomedical Data Science. I would like to help make a positive impact in the biomedical field, and to be a part of the discoveries that will have the potential to prevent the loss of our loved ones to diseases such as cancer. That is my ultimate goal.