“Mount Sinai has given me opportunities to grow professionally, serve people throughout New York City, and develop the skills I need to continue working toward my long-term goal of preventing diabetes, obesity, and other chronic diseases,” says Ayannah Riley, MPH.
Ayannah Riley, MPH, earned her Master of Public Health degree from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in 2026, with a concentration in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention. With a background in nutrition, exercise science, fitness, and community health, Ms. Riley is passionate about using public health education and research to prevent chronic diseases and improve health outcomes in underserved communities.
Ms. Riley was inspired to study public health because she has lost family members to chronic diseases and related health complications, including diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and conditions related to obesity.
These experiences showed her how chronic diseases can lead to life-changing and sometimes life-ending outcomes for individuals and their families. She wants to make meaningful contributions to the lives of those in her family and in underserved communities. Ms. Riley believes that nutrition, physical activity, wellness education, and access to preventive resources can play an important role in reducing the risk of chronic disease. Her vision is to see people live healthy, fulfilling lives without disruptions caused by preventable chronic diseases and their related complications.
“Being in the Department of Public Health has taught me so much about research, community health, and disease prevention,” she says. “I have learned how to use data to understand health challenges and how to translate research into practical programs and resources that can support communities. Mount Sinai has given me opportunities to grow professionally, serve people throughout New York City, and develop the skills I need to continue working toward my long-term goal of preventing diabetes, obesity, and other chronic diseases.”
Ms. Riley first became familiar with the Icahn School of Medicine while working as a nutrition and physical education instructor with FAN4Kids in Upper Manhattan. At the time, she was creating a morning wellness curriculum that taught children how to promote health among their peers and within their communities through projects such as exploring school lunch choices and developing a wellness newspaper.
One evening after leaving work, she needed a quiet place that stayed open late to continue developing her lesson plans and came across the Levy Library. Curious about how she could gain access, Ms. Riley began researching the Icahn School of Medicine and discovered its Master of Public Health program.
As she learned more about the Master of Public Health program, Ms. Riley became interested in how the program combined research, disease prevention, health education, and community health. She recognized that earning an MPH could help her build upon her background in nutrition and exercise science while developing the skills needed to address chronic disease at the community and population levels. Inspired by the program’s potential, she applied and began the next stage of her public health journey at Mount Sinai.
During her time in the program, Ms. Riley found several of her courses to be useful in preparing her for a career in public health. Classes such as Epidemiology, Biostatistics, Research Methods, and Global Health contributed to her academic and professional growth. Epidemiology introduced Ms. Riley to a new area of study and quickly became a strong interest. Learning how to examine patterns of disease and identify factors that influence health reinforced that she had made the right choice to study public health.
Her interest led her to take additional courses, including Nutritional Epidemiology, which allowed her to connect her background in nutrition with population health research. Ms. Riley also enjoyed Research Methods because it strengthened her ability to ask meaningful research questions, analyze data, interpret findings, and develop new insights. She later applied these concepts, along with her data-analysis skills, across several research and independent study projects.
Mentorship also played an important role during Ms. Riley’s time as a student. Geoffrey “Cappy” Collins, MD, Assistant Professor, Population Health Science and Policy, and Graduate Education, served as her capstone project advisor and helped her strengthen her research, develop her capstone, and prepare her poster for Public Health Research Day in May 2026. His guidance and support contributed greatly to her growth as a public health professional.
Ms. Riley also received support and encouragement from Maya Korin, PhD, Assistant Professor of Environmental Medicine, and Public Health. Dr. Korin provided helpful feedback on her poster and later supported her independent study focused on caregiver nutrition education and childhood undernutrition in Uganda.
All MPH students at the Icahn School of Medicine engage in practical skill-building opportunities throughout their coursework. They further develop these skills through an Applied Practice Experience and a Culminating Experience, which may be a master’s thesis, manuscript, or capstone project.
Ms. Riley completed her Applied Practice Experience with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene’s Healthy Eating Unit. During this experience, she supported community-based nutrition and health-promotion initiatives and saw how nutrition education could help individuals and families feel more confident in making healthy choices. Her experience also helped shape her interest in developing resources that community organizations can use when formal nutrition education programs and funding are limited.
Ms. Riley’s capstone project was titled “Development of a Culturally Tailored Nutrition Education Manual to Support Community-Based Organizations Following SNAP-Ed Elimination in New York City.”
For the project, she developed a practical manual with nutrition education lessons, culturally responsive resources, facilitator guidance, and tools that community-based organizations can use to assess and address the needs of the communities they serve. The manual covers topics such as food-label literacy, balanced meals, food safety, and navigating supermarkets and community food resources.
Ms. Riley hopes to further develop and pilot the manual with community organizations, schools, churches, and other programs serving families with limited access to nutrition education. She hopes to use the resource to help organizations continue providing practical and accessible nutrition education, even when funding and formal programs are limited.
Ms. Riley plans to measure the success of the pilot through pre- and post-program surveys that assess changes in participants’ nutrition knowledge, confidence in making healthy choices, and awareness of available community food resources. She also hopes to collect feedback from participants and facilitators to determine which parts of the manual are most useful and what should be improved before expanding the program to additional communities.
Ms. Riley’s Global Health independent study was a separate project. She was originally scheduled to travel to Uganda through the Global Health Summer Program, but the in-person experience was canceled because of an Ebola outbreak. She completed the work remotely by using data bases to analyze three years of malnutrition data from the Soft Power Health Community Clinic in Jinja, Uganda. She examined the data across years and quarters to better understand trends, patient characteristics, treatment patterns, and other factors related to malnutrition.
Her vision for the future is for people to be able to avoid preventable chronic diseases while having greater food security, confidence in making informed food choices, and continued access to reliable nutrition and wellness information.
In recognition of her commitment to serving communities and advancing public health, she received the 2026 Master’s Commencement Award for Community Service and Engagement in Public Health.
Ms. Riley plans to continue building a career in chronic-disease prevention, research, nutrition education, and community health. Ultimately, she hopes to develop and lead programs that help underserved communities reduce their risk of diabetes, obesity, and related chronic diseases while gaining the knowledge and resources needed to live healthier lives.