As an undergraduate biochemistry major Eduardo Encina was first exposed to public health on a service trip to Nicaragua. There, he accompanied a community health nurse to remote villages to collect data for an epidemiological study of young children’s BMI and nutrition. The realization that healthcare could be delivered outside of the clinic was a revelation to him.
Now a first-year student in the Master of Public Health program at Yale, Eduardo is excited about combining hard science, quantitative skills and population health through his work in the Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases with a secondary concentration in modeling.
The relevance of infectious disease epidemiology and modeling has never been more relevant than it has been through the COVID-19 pandemic. Indeed, even in the fall semester, months before the virus emerged on this continent, Eduardo and his classmates were exploring this coronavirus in homework assignments and case studies. “It has been scary but interesting,” says Eduardo whose favorite class so far in his study at Yale has been Professor Ted Cohen’s class in disease transmission and modeling.
One of the things Eduardo appreciates most about the Yale School of Public Health is the freedom to explore and develop an interdisciplinary set of skills. To that end, he works with Professor Andrew Dewan, a genetic epidemiologist, where he is developing quantitative skills necessary to analyze the vast amount of data generated by genetic samples.
Eduardo also volunteers with classmates for community initiatives, such as PAWS (Poverty Alleviation through Washing Soles) and the Public Health Coalition Mentorship Program for undergraduates and is an incoming board member for the Student Association for Yale Public Health.