5(ish) Questions for a Recent Grad

We sat down with Amy Kaplan , MPH ‘17, to find out about her experiences in the Tufts MPH Program. Here are five (or so) excerpts from the conversation.

Are you currently working in Public Health?
I finished my Master’s in May of 2017. My first job was in pharmaceutical consulting at Precision Xract, but I’m about to start a new job as Program Planning and Implementation Manager for the Massachusetts Executive Office of Health and Human Services. I’ll be reporting to the Secretary of Health and Human Services and her Chief of Staff, overseeing projects at twelve state agencies—working on things like Veterans Affairs. It’ll cover everything they do, and I’ll be dispatched to work with those agencies directly.
 
What led you to the MPH Program at Tufts?
I was excited to get into Tufts because I had really taken a liking to Boston. When I visited for my on-campus tour, I felt at home and comfortable here. I could tell it was a very progressive and open-minded—and diverse—student body that I wanted to be a part of. I didn’t apply to the MPH program directly though. I was at Tufts as an undergrad and I really enjoyed some entry-level community health courses I took as a freshman. As my interest grew, I learned about the five-year Master’s from a professor and was accepted my sophomore year.
 
Did the medical community in Boston factor into your decision at all?
Definitely! I knew my professors would be an important resource for getting connected to jobs. And the Tufts faculty work with the top people in the field—at the highest levels of state government and the cutting edge of healthcare reform. That was a big draw for me.
 
I’m actually friends with many of my professors—I mean, we hang out. Amy Lischko, for instance, who was my advisor, she’s been incredibly hands-on and helpful in my job search that just concluded. That’s so incredible, and so appreciated, especially since she hasn’t been my advisor in years. The program is relatively small, so you benefit from individual attention.
 
What was your Applied Learning Experience like?
During my studies, I was focused on maternal health and reproductive health. But it was hard to find an applied learning experience, since it’s such an underserviced area of healthcare. My professor, Fernando Ona, could see I was struggling and invited me to intern at the Boston Center for Refugee Health and Human Rights, where he worked with perinatal refugee moms. That was a great experience. I got to conduct one-on-one interviews with moms who had been through very intense experiences—and then was able to translate those conversations into recommendations for the Center about how they could customize care for that population.
 
When it came to finding a job, how did that go?
I’m not a good example of that…<laughing>…I was probably the most irresponsible—and the most lucky. Because I had done the five-year Master’s program, and took classes every summer, I was planning to relax after graduation. But there was an adjunct instructor at Tufts, Naomi Sacks, and we had developed a wonderful rapport. She worked full time at a company and saw there was an opening. She knew me well and thought I would be a good fit, so she asked for my resume. Three interviews later I had a job offer.
 
Any advice for prospective students?
Be as friendly, and as much of a real person, as you can be with your professors. Tufts is not a ‘formal academia’ kind of place—you should just show up at your professors’ doors and treat them like people. It just behooves you to be on personal terms with your professors.