The Great Give: Strive for 25

Brennan J. Hodge earned an MPH in epidemiology and biostatistics from the USF College of Public Health in 2016. He works in the retail industry identifying behaviors that lead to purchases rather than diseases. In 2021, he joined the USF COPH Alumni Society. Brennan shared, “When I was earning my degree I was lucky enough to have financial support from my family when loans fell short. Likewise, I was equally lucky to have found an amazing support group of friends and faculty from the program who helped me through dark times. With all that I have been given (and now that I am no longer a poor struggling student), I want to pay it forward in whatever small way I can to help future public health heroes.” Brennan is calling on all who can relate to join him in supporting current students via the alumni scholarship fund.

Kristina Harand earned an MSPH degree with a concentration in toxicology and risk assessment from the USF College of Public Health in 2016. Since graduation Kristina has been a very happy Amazonian working to promote safety with Amazon. Her career with Amazon began as a safety specialist working in reverse logistics where she supported many of the company’s business units.
In 2020, Kristina was promoted to workplace health and safety manager II and was able to once again support Amazon’s reverse logistics network. More recently she joined the WHS design, construction and start-up team as a program manager in 2021. During her tenure at Amazon Kristina supported the launch of Women in EHS as the director of communication and recently transitioned to the role of president in 2021. In 2020, Kristina joined the USF COPH Alumni Society after participating in the 7@7 Alumni Career Panel. She hopes alumni “show up and show out for this giving challenge so we can support our current USF COPH students and future alumni in their quest for higher education.” To summarize the importance of public health, one of her favorite quotes is by C. Everett Koop - “Health care is vital to all of us some of the time, but public health is vital to all of us all of the time".

Rich Hartman, Ph.D., holds a doctorate in public health from USF and has held adjunct faculty positions as an associate professor at George Washington University. He joined the board of directors in 2022. Richard has more than 30 years of executive experience within and outside the federal government, beginning as an active-duty officer in the U.S. Air Force and culminating in the highest government non-political position as a career member of the federal government’s Senior Executive Service. He is a recipient of several National Science Foundation Small Business Innovation Research grants and his current research and business interests are in communication, branding and “How the Internet of Things Creates Healthier Lives”.

Dr. Shabnam Mehra is an experienced leader in data analytics and research with a demonstrated history of working in public health. She is a senior director of analytics with ClinIntell, Inc and serves as a chief analytic officer. Always a Bull, Shabnam worked at USF for more than 20 years. Most recently she served as the director of student success research and analytics. She loves to teach and frequently leads analytic workshops for USF libraries and teaches business intelligence at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa. Shabnam is a double alumna from the USF COPH earning a Ph.D. in 2017 and MSPH in 1999. Her passion is health and higher education, and she is skilled in data analytics, statistics, project management, student success and at-risk management. Shabnam joined the USF COPH Alumni Society in 2021 and serves as treasurer.

Juan Pablo Sanchez is a certified public health professional with experience developing, managing and scaling public health interventions nationally and around the globe. Juan Pablo received a BSPH and MPH with a concentration in global disaster management, homeland security and humanitarian assistance from the USF College of Public Health. In his role as associate director of programs and project manager for the Task Force for Global Health’s TEPHINET program, he supports health system strengthening in the Latin American and Indo-Pacific regions. Born in Medellin, Colombia, Juan Pablo is the product of hard-working immigrant parents that paved the path for his family’s pursuit of the American Dream. As a first-generation college graduate, Juan Pablo is proud to be a recipient of the Gates Millennium Scholarship. Juan Pablo is motivated to end the cycle of poverty in his family and the communities he works in by promoting access to health and education. He is actively involved in community service and joined USF COPH Alumni Society Board in 2021.

Aditi Desai (she/her) acquired her master of public health in global health practice from USF in 2013. During her master’s program, Aditi served as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Uganda where she found her passion for working to make healthcare accessible and equitable.

She has since worked primarily in supporting underserved and marginalized communities to access healthcare services. Aditi believes every human being should have equal access to complete healthcare services, including mental health care and preventative medicine.

She began volunteering with the College of Public Health Alumni Society in 2020 and officially joined the board of directors in 2022.