Spotlights & Highlights | New York State Public Health Corps

Fellow Spotlights & Shout Outs

In this section of the Training and Resources website, you will find important work of previous and current fellows, from being featured in their local news station to being part of the Regional Fellow Spotlights. As the fellowship program begins, we cannot wait to hear about and highlight your accomplishments on this page!

Shout Out Nominations

NYSPHC In the News

This section will show off media coverage of NYSPHC Fellows.

Adamaah Grayse (Erie County/Western Region)

Fellow Adamaah Grayse was featured by a local news station for her important work in food justice. Ms. Grayse’s work was highlighted to coincide with the one year anniversary of the racist mass shooting on May 14^th, 2022, in Buffalo. The mass shooting took place at the only grocery store on the east side of Buffalo, essentially cutting off the black population of Buffalo from fresh produce for months.

Solutions exist for poor food environments like East Buffalo

NYSPHC would like to thank Ms. Grayse and Grassroots Gardens for providing other means of bringing produce to this food apartheid region of Western New York. We would also like to take this opportunity to remember the lives lost in the senseless racist attack on our community.

Ella James and Nina Sun (Schuyler County/Finger Lakes Region)

Ella and Nina Schuyler County Public Health Fellows Ella James and Nina Sun were featured in The Odessa File for their work on a project about cancer screening paid leave policies among Schuyler County employers.

The Odessa File, January 3, 2024: Public Health Fellows present their work on Cancer Screening Paid Leave policies project

Emani Gonzalez (Onondaga County/Central New York Region)

Fellowships supporting health care in communities statewide

By Krystal Cole Syracuse
PUBLISHED 5:01 PM ET Apr. 12, 2024

Health care workers continue to be in demand in New York state. According to 2021 research, the state needs an 80% increase in health care worker positions to meet minimal services in communities. Fellowships are one solution to support that infrastructure across the state.

The fellowships are through the New York State Public Health Corps. Fellows’ backgrounds can be many areas, like nursing, IT or data science.

“I'm very shy and reserved, so this position has forced me to come outside of my comfort zone and speak in front of people, which I would never normally do,” said Gonzalez.

Gonzalez has been a fellow with the Allyn Foundation for almost a year.

“A typical day includes creating social media content like infographics; I work on a podcast,” said Gonzalez.

She works on a campaign called "Layla’s Got You," which focuses on promoting sexual health and well-being to Black women ages 18-25.

Gonzalez is one of 378 fellows currently working throughout New York, according to the Department of Health.

“The Public Health Fellows really gave us an opportunity to hire at a time when it was difficult to recruit and hire,” said Michelle Mignano, deputy commissioner of the Onondaga County Health Department.

Like many things, the New York State Public Health Corps Fellowship program was born from the COVID-19 pandemic.

“New York State was using the American Recovery, the ARA funds. The goal obviously was to heal our country, our nation, our state to think about locally, how could we employ people? How could we help keep us on track?” said Mignano.

According to the Department of Health, 626 fellows have been hired so far, working in 50 counties. Mignano said the initial money set aside for the fellows is running out in June.

“But the state recognizing how positive it’s been for all of our communities has provided additional funding. And so the expectation is that this first year, we’ll be getting fewer, far fewer, but still some fellows,” said Mignano.

“It gives opportunities for young people to get their foot in the door and to make a difference and use their voice,” said Gonzalez.

Mignano also said they have been hiring fellows into full-time positions. Overall, $127,945,550 was made available to support the fellows program, according to the Health Department.

Regine Ndanga (Erie County/Western Region)

Fellow Regine Ndanga was featured by a local news station for her important work with the Language Access Working Group to bring to fruition the successful passage of the Erie County Language Access Bill. According to Regine, this marks a historic moment as the first County legislator, outside of NYC, to enact a language access law.

LinkedIn Post

Channel 2 News Story

Allison Robb and Leah Proper (Wyoming County/Western Region)

Fellows from The Wyoming County Health Department brought together a variety of police and fire departments along with multiple community resources out to the Warsaw High School for their first annual Community Night Out on Aug. 1, 2023. Click here to read more.

Shout Outs!

Shout Outs coming soon!

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Fellow Spotlights from Public Health Awareness Week, April 1st through April 7th, 2024

As part of National Public Health Week (NPHW), the NYSPHC wanted to highlight the important work happening across the State by Fellows through a Fellow Spotlight. For each daily theme, we will be spotlighting the work of our amazing NYSPHC Fellows. After taking a moment to learn about your colleagues, be sure to visit the NYSPHC LinkedIn Group to let us know how your work supports the daily theme, tell us why it is meaningful to you, or share information about a resource or organization that supports the topic.

Each spotlight will provide the opportunity to learn more about these Fellows by them answering the following questions:

Where have you been placed and what do you do for your Fellowship?
How does the NYSPHC fit in with your larger career goals?
What excited you most about being selected to be a NYSPHC Fellow?
What do you like to do in your free time?
What is a fun fact about yourself?

Monday’s NPHW Fellow Spotlights: Isa Brackett (New York Statement Department of Health Fellow) and Regine Ndanga (Erie County Fellow)

Monday’s NPHW Theme: Civic Engagement

Thank you to all our Fellows for the work that you do every day to promote public health! Remember to visit the NYSPHC LinkedIn Group to continue the conversation.

Tuesday’s NPHW Fellow Spotlight: Dalton Elser (Cayuga County Fellow) and Taylor Gerber (Livingston County Fellow)

Tuesday’s NPHW Theme: Healthy Neighborhoods

Thank you to all our Fellows for the work that you do every day to promote public health! Remember to visit the NYSPHC LinkedIn Group to continue the conversation.

Wednesday’s NPHW Fellow Spotlight: Kevin Wang (Erie County Fellow)

Wednesday’s NPHW Theme: Climate Change

Thank you to all our Fellows for the work that you do every day to promote public health! Remember to visit the NYSPHC LinkedIn Group to continue the conversation.

Thursday’s NPHW Fellow Spotlight: Elizabeth Arenare (Suffolk County Fellow), Emily Nojeim (Genesee and Orleans Counties Fellow), Samuel Rubin (Orange County Fellow), and Meghan Sheridan (Genesee and Orleans Counties Fellow)

Thursday’s NPHW Theme: New Tools and Innovations

Thank you to all our Fellows for the work that you do every day to promote public health! Remember to visit the NYSPHC LinkedIn Group to continue the conversation.

Friday’s NPHW Fellow Spotlight: Aena Iqbal (Dutchess County Fellow) and Rachael Jagger (Ontario County Fellow)

Friday’s NPHW Theme: Reproductive and Sexual Health

Thank you to all our Fellows for the work that you do every day to promote public health! Remember to visit the NYSPHC LinkedIn Group to continue the conversation.

Saturday’s NPHW Fellow Spotlight; Emily Aponte (Orange County Fellow), Gyladys Foko (Chenango County Fellow) and Ryan Stryker (Steuben County Fellow)

Saturday’s NPHW Theme: Emergency Preparedness

Thank you to all our Fellows for the work that you do every day to promote public health! Remember to visit the NYSPHC LinkedIn Group to continue the conversation.

Sunday’s NPHW Fellow Spotlight

Sunday’s NPHW Theme: The Future of Public Health

Thank you to all our Fellows for the work that you do every day to promote public health! Remember to visit the NYSPHC LinkedIn Group to continue the conversation.

DON'T TOUCH!

NYSPHC Highlights

We want to share some of the wonderful things going on throughout the program over time. Please make sure you check in with us occasionally. If there's anything you'd like us to share please feel free to reach out to your Fellowship Placement Coordinator or email us directly.

Regional Highlights

Check out what some of our regions are up to!

Region 1