YSPH Commencement 2020
Welcome graduates, families and loved ones to the YSPH virtual celebration of our 2020 graduates. While we await our return to campus, we continue to applaud your achievements and congratulate you all on your graduation.
On this page you will find:
- The School of Public Health celebration video, including:
- Introduction and congratulations from Dean Vermund
- Acknowledgement of Student Marshal, Faculty Marshal, and Banner Bearer
- Student Speaker, Helen Moore, M.P.H., 2020
- Guest Speaker, Elizabeth H. Bradley, Ph.D., 1996, President, Vassar College
- Presentation of Student Awards and Teaching Awards (this excludes the thesis awards, acknowledged in a separate video due to the timing of the decision)
- Presentation of Candidates
- Congratulatory video for the Dean’s Prize for Outstanding MPH Thesis, and the Wilbur G. Downs, M.D., M.P.H. Outstanding Thesis Prize in International Health
- PDF of the program
- Congratulatory videos from the faculty
- Spotlights from your fellow students
Yale School of Public Health Celebrates the Class of 2020
Yale School of Public Health Celebrates the Class of 2020
Thesis Awards: Dean’s Prize and Down’s Prize
00:03:13
Thesis Awards: Dean's Prize and Down's Prize
Dean’s Prize for Outstanding MPH Thesis & the Wilbur G. Downs Outstanding Thesis Prize in International Health
US Surgeon General, Dr. Jerome Adams
US Surgeon General, Dr. Jerome Adams
Congratulations to public health graduates of 2020.
Congratulations from the Faculty
From our Students

Moid Ali
“YSPH taught me the value of balancing public health scholarship and practice. While taking coursework in topics ranging from health disparities to the legal underpinnings of the healthcare safety-net, I also became involved with the HAVEN Free Clinic. Through these parallel experiences in and outside of the classroom, I feel better prepared to make impacts in both domains.”

Lexi Edmundson
“The knowledge I have gained from the classroom is only a fraction of the knowledge with which I’ll be graduating. Taking advantage of all the resources and opportunities that YSPH has to offer has enriched my experience beyond coursework and has given me the tools to succeed in my career.”

Josemari Feliciano
“My fondest memory at YSPH is of my first weekend with my peers working on our first Applied Regression homework, which took us two full days. This might be an odd choice, but this memory highlights my humble beginning in biostatistics, the start of lifelong friendships I’ve cultivated with my peers, and the progress we’ve made in biostatistics. Our time at YSPH has transformed us from fledgling public health students into fully-fledged biostatisticians. ”

Alexandra Grimaldi
“My fondest memories of my time at YSPH are the Saturday mornings volunteering at Haven Free Clinic and afternoons spent at the Justice, Housing and Health Study researching the intersection of mass incarceration, housing instability and policy, and their relationship to sexual health. Haven helped me experience the principles of public health equity. Working at an ethical community-based study allowed me to better understand complex issues impacting health, and supported my growth as a researcher and public health professional.”

Tal Gurevich
“One of the biggest lessons from YSPH has been the power of community. Whether big or small, I have seen how communities can effectively unite people around an idea or explore and implement new opportunities in a way that individuals just cannot do by themselves. I have learnt so much from the diversity of my classmates’ experiences and interests...”

Bethany Sanchez
“I will remember my time at YSPH as a period of great personal growth. I learned about letting go of perfectionism, how to ask for help, how to celebrate progress rather than only the finished product, and how much I am truly capable of. I discovered how to advocate for the issues that are important to me, and a whole new research field that I didn't know existed. I learned how to be brave and take classes that were way out of my area of expertise, knowing that I would struggle, but be better for it. Above all, I learned how to make connections with some incredible people.”

Sylvia Tang
“The greatest lesson I’ve learned at YSPH is to be brave. When I came here, my adviser emphasized not to be influenced by the environment and keep working towards my own goals. He also told me that the most precious gift that I owned is youth so I should not be afraid to make mistakes – just try my best. His words enlightened me and he kept encouraging me throughout these two years.”
More Commencement Features
from Yale University
#ysph2020