iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 6h

Sunshine, coworkers and 20 minutes on our feet. Our SPPH team is walking through UTMB's Walktober challenge this month. Public health spends a lot of time making healthy choices easier. A daily walk with the people you work with is about as easy as they come. 👟

Four smiling colleagues, three in navy UTMB School of Public and Population Health polo shirts, take a selfie on a sunny campus walkway. Behind them, a stream of people wearing UTMB lanyards walks along a brick-paved path beside a low brick wall and landscaped beds.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

A summer in Washington, D.C., with policy coursework and a full-time internship. Explore the Graduate Archer Fellowship in Natalia Zavaleta’s article. Applications for summer 2027 are due November 1, 2026. Eligibility and funding details: utmb.us/grb

Archer Fellowship poster on a UTMB bulletin board inviting students to study and intern in Washington, D.C.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Five medical students from Badya University in Egypt spent four weeks in Galveston this August, studying global health governance and pandemic preparedness and building one study protocol on artificial intelligence in medical education. Second summer running. utmb.us/gqv

Five Badya University medical students pictured above the headline “What five Badya students took home from Galveston,” dated October 8, 2026.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

UTMB’s public health work began with preventive medicine in 1912. Dean Kristen Peek, explains how training for aerospace medicine residents grew into today’s School of Public and Population Health.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

Congratulations to Duy Vo, an MS in Biostatistics and Data Science student, on winning the T1–T4 in 3 Minutes competition at the Texas Regional CTSA Consortium meeting! His talk explains how gut bacteria can recycle a drug kidney transplant patients take daily. youtu.be/UKNOHwtT24Y

Five T1–T4 in 3 Minutes competitors stand in a row in front of a window, each holding a framed certificate. From left, the certificates read People's Choice Award, Third Place Award, Finalist, and Second Place Award. Duy Vo, at far right, holds the First Place Award.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Students, faculty, and staff, together in one room. Our first all-school luncheon on Sept. 22 looked back at four years since the school was approved and ahead to ASPIRE, our strategic plan through 2029. Thank you to everyone who joined us! Read the plan at utmb.edu/spph/aspire

Timeline titled "SPPH enters its next phase," under the label "Where we are now." 2022, school approved. 2023, full CEPH (Council on Education for Public Health) accreditation. 2026, ASPIRE implementation begins. Now, build the culture and impact that define us.

Three candid moments from the SPPH all-school luncheon. Top left, two attendees wearing UTMB lanyards talk across a round table with a blue tablecloth, with a buffet line of chafing dishes behind them. Bottom left, one attendee smiles while another writes on a card at a table with an orange runner. Right, an attendee writes on a card at a crowded table as the person beside them looks down, chin in hand, with more tables of attendees filling the room behind them.

Students, faculty, and staff of the UTMB School of Public and Population Health gather for a group photo at the first all-school luncheon, standing in rows and seated on chairs and the carpet in front of an orange accent wall and a row of tall windows.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 23/09/2026

Three teams of UTMB MD and PhD students spent a day turning electronic health record data into real analyses of Alzheimer's risk, then found the holes in their own work. Asked if they would pick the same research question again, every team said no. utmb.us/gme

Students and mentors talk over laptops between working sessions at the Clinical Informatics Datathon.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

Allie Murphy, MPH, figured she was not what Fulbright wanted. She applied anyway, then spent seven months researching in El Salvador. Now a UTMB doctoral student in Population Health Sciences, she has advice for students who hesitate. aspph.org/what-we-do/i... @aspph.bsky.social

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

The SPPH All School Luncheon is coming up! Tuesday, September 22, 12 to 1 PM in the Levin Hall Dining Room. Stop by for free food, free swag, and a look at what the school accomplished this year and where it's headed next. All students, faculty, and staff welcome.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

John M. Cooks sees community members as partners who can help shape research from the initial idea through implementation and sharing the findings. Meet the Master of Public Health student in our From the Dean Student Excellence Series at utmb.us/gkj

John Cooks smiles beside a concrete column outside a campus building.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

Three of our doctoral students presented dissertation work last month in Galveston, on farm labor as a form of identity, whether rural people can use the research they join, and what communities receive when a disaster becomes biological data. Full recap here. utmb.us/gka

Three doctoral student presenters seated side by side in front of a presentation screen during the Student Research Spotlight at Open Gates in Galveston.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 11/09/2026

The School of Public and Population Health at UTMB has a new department. UTMB today established the Department of Aerospace and Exploration Medicine and named Ronak V. Shah, DO, MBA, MPH, inaugural chair. Public health, from the seas to the skies. utmb.us/gk7

Light gray graphic titled "Now five departments" under the header "UTMB School of Public and Population Health." A numbered list shows: 01 Bioethics & Health Humanities, 02 Biostatistics & Data Science, 03 Epidemiology, 04 Population Health & Health Disparities, and 05 Aerospace & Exploration Medicine, highlighted in orange with a "New" tag.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 09/09/2026

Patients forget up to 80 percent of what they hear at a doctor's visit. Meredith Masel, PhD, of UTMB's Oliver Center is testing whether recording the visit and replaying it at home helps older adults manage their care. Read her profile at utmb.us/gj6

Dr. Meredith Masel smiles and holds up a smartphone in front of a wall of vintage cassette decks, mixers, and speakers, a portable tape recorder in her other hand.

A smartphone recording a voice memo labeled Dr. Visit, three minutes into the appointment, with a red audio waveform on screen.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 08/09/2026

Brian Downer has been attending the Gerontological Society of America's annual meeting since his first year of doctoral study 16 years ago. Its members just elected him to the Board of Directors, and he starts January 1. utmb.us/gj3 @geronsociety.bsky.social

Brian Downer, wearing a light blue striped shirt, beside the white UTMB shield on a navy panel, with an orange vertical line dividing the navy and white background.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 03/09/2026

Public health shapes the air we breathe, the water we drink and the places where we live and work. In the first excerpt from our conversation with Dr. Kristen Peek, she explains why the need to keep people safe and healthy continues.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Maternal health. Mental health. Prevention. Health education. Access to care. Our newest SPPH students arrived with a wide range of public health interests—and described this new chapter as exciting, motivating and a little nerve-racking.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

Community partners can tell you what a study is missing before you run it. Tomorrow, three UTMB researchers spend an hour on building those partnerships, running a Community Advisory Board, and turning findings into tools people use. 1 to 2 p.m. on Teams. events.utmb.edu/event/commun...

Illustration of four people pushing large puzzle pieces together to form a complete circle.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 25/08/2026

Day two of orientation for our newest students. Human bingo, program director breakouts, a welcome from the student association, staff and faculty introductions, and trivia at the faculty and student mixer. Master's and doctoral students, one cohort.

Orientation participants pose for a group photo outside the UTMB Health Education Center on a sunny day.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 21/08/2026

Orientation starts Monday, and a new class arrives with it! We asked faculty, staff, and a current student what they would tell someone in their first week. And if you've already been through a first week here, leave the one thing you wish someone had told you.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 19/08/2026

Neil K. Mehta, PhD, MSc, MA, has received UTMB’s Sheridan Lorenz Distinguished Professorship in Aging and Health. He plans to use the five-year appointment to build collaborative teams studying adverse population health trends among older Americans. Explore his work at utmb.us/geb

Neil Mehta, wearing a light blue shirt, beside the white UTMB shield on a navy-and-white background with an orange dividing line.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 17/08/2026

Monique R. Pappadis, PhD, MEd, FACRM, is the inaugural holder of UTMB’s Edgar Gnitzinger Distinguished Professorship in Aging. She plans to use the five-year endowment to support future aging scholars and expand community-engaged aging research. Explore the full story at utmb.us/ge7

Dr. Monique Pappadis smiles in a light blazer beside the orange UTMB shield, with a navy and orange graphic band across the lower background.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

A new science of aging is focused on healthspan, the years people stay healthy and independent. UTMB bioethicist Dr. Alberto Aparicio and geriatrics researcher Dr. Alan Landay explore the shift from treating the diseases of aging to understanding aging itself. www.utmb.edu/spph/about-u...

Dr. Alberto Aparicio stands at a classroom podium with computer monitors, speaking to students during a bioethics lecture, with a chalkboard behind him.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

Correctional health is public health. At UTMB’s inaugural Center for Correctional Healthcare Excellence Symposium, speakers connected care inside facilities with the health of families and communities. Read the SPPH story: utmb.us/gdn

From left, Kristen Peek, Patricia Blair, Jacques Baillargeon, Olugbenga Ojo, Lannette Linthicum, Owen Murray, Jeff Farroni and Joseph Penn pose together at the CCHE Symposium.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

About 95% of people in prison are eventually released. Olugbenga Ojo leads UTMB's Center for Correctional Healthcare Excellence, and he treats correctional health care as public health care. www.utmb.edu/news/article...

Olugbenga Ojo stands with his arms crossed in an open barred gate, with a corridor and a second run of bars behind him.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 31/07/2026

Dr. Patrice Buckner Jackson brought a four-hour workshop on team capacity to Open Gates this week. Groups wrote their own mission statements before tackling a single problem, then used them to decide between competing demands that all arrived labeled urgent.

SPPH faculty and sfaff stand together with Dr. PBJ in front of a screen displaying the session title, Building Team Capacity, in the Open Gates parlor.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 30/07/2026

More than 3,500 people attended Galveston ISD’s Back to School Fair. Amber Anthony and Jackie Riggs packed donated supplies, and Amber later volunteered at the fair. Krista Bohn and Claire Hallmark also supported the effort. Special shoutout to Claire, one of our MPH alumni! 📚

Amber Anthony speaks with an attendee at a St. Vincent’s House distribution table while other attendees move through the Back to School Fair inside the Central Middle School gym.

Claire Hallmark, Jacqueline Riggs, Krista Bohn and Amber Anthony gather around two large bins filled with notebooks, index cards and other donated school supplies before the event.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Who controls genetic data after a consumer submits a DNA sample? Dr. Alberto Aparicio examines privacy, consent, family implications and biological-age testing while previewing UTMB’s Fall 2026 genomics ethics course. Explore the story at utmb.us/gak

Dr. Alberto Aparicio gestures while delivering a seminar from a classroom lectern.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

Dr. Soham Al Snih’s new five-year professorship recognizes nearly three decades of aging research and mentorship. She plans to use much of its support to help students attend scientific meetings and publish their work. Read the story at utmb.us/gae

Dr. Soham Al Snih stands beneath flowering trees outdoors, wearing a dark blazer and looking toward the camera.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 28/07/2026

Reaching a seminar means trusting building engineers, elevator inspectors and crosswalk signals you never think about. Dr. Jacob Moses used that to introduce Science and Technology Studies, and to preview BHH 6312 this fall. Full recap — utmb.us/gac

Dr. Jacob Moses delivers a seminar from a lectern in a UTMB classroom.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 24/07/2026

Seventeen undergraduates spent seven weeks in Galveston turning real biomedical data into eight research posters, from kidney transplant rejection to the bloodwork of research macaques. Meet the 2026 cohort at UTMB's Summer Institute in Biostatistics and Data Science. utmb.us/g9k

The 2026 SIBDS cohort and mentors pose together on the steps of a UTMB building.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 23/07/2026

Artificial intelligence is making diagnosis faster, but UTMB bioethicist Dr. Jacob Moses says the human side of medicine still matters. He explains why AI should strengthen trust, ethics, and privacy rather than replace physicians. utmb.us/g9c

Dr. Jacob Moses sits at his office desk, typing at a keyboard in front of two monitors, with a bookshelf of research volumes and stacked books surrounding his workspace.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 22/07/2026

Klarisa Lopez studied how medical interpretation shapes patient care, a question she had lived as an ER scribe and as the family member who interpreted for her grandmother. Her MPH capstone reviewed the research and surveyed Spanish-speaking patients across two Texas counties. utmb.us/g8s

Klarisa Lopez smiles in graduation regalia and a medal while standing on a dark wooden staircase.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 16/07/2026

The Principles of Aviation and Space Medicine course paused mid-session at Space Center Houston this week to watch a graduate of the UTMB Residency in Aerospace Medicine launch to the space station — then heard from medical leaders at six commercial spaceflight companies. utmb.us/g7z

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 15/07/2026

Dr. Cara Pennel helped build the UTMB School of Public and Population Health, led it through accreditation, and joined the UT System's Shine Academy in 2025. She's the latest honoree in our From the Dean faculty excellence series. More on her work in Galveston and beyond at utmb.us/g7v

Dr. Cara Pennel smiles outdoors beside palm plants.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 08/07/2026

When U.S. life expectancy stalled, many blamed opioids. Dr. Neil Mehta's research pointed to slowing progress against heart disease. He now chairs Epidemiology at SPPH and is this year's Excellence in Research winner. www.utmb.edu/spph/about-u...

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 07/07/2026

Many of Dr. Soham Al Snih's former trainees now publish as her co-authors. Over two decades at UTMB she's mentored fellows, doctoral and medical students, and international scholars. She's this year's Excellence in Mentoring Award winner. www.utmb.edu/spph/about-u...

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 06/07/2026

Dr. Kyriakos Markides built the Hispanic EPESE study and founded the Journal of Aging and Health. Cyprus elected him to its national academy last fall. He's this year's Lifetime Achievement in Research winner. www.utmb.edu/spph/about-u...

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 02/07/2026

Monserrat Hinojosa, MPH, studied more than 3 million patient records and found higher rates of heart disease, diabetes, pneumonia and malnutrition among people with chronic kidney disease and latent tuberculosis infection. She also asks who never reaches the dataset. utmb.us/g5x

Monserrat smiles with her arms crossed in a university building while wearing a purple blouse.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 24/06/2026

The new issue of UTMB Magazine is here! A PhD student connects moderate leisure-time activity to lower stroke odds, a master's student helps track flu that jumps between animals and people, and a professor's new book revisits 19th-century medical history. Read it at www.utmb.edu/magazine

Three open spreads from UTMB Magazine arranged on a tan background. The top spread, titled Monstrous Conception, shows a dark-haired woman seated at a table surrounded by antique books. The middle spread, titled Bitten by the Science Bug, shows a researcher in a teal gown and blue gloves using a pipette in a lab, next to a close-up photo of a grasshopper. The bottom spread, titled Lean Into Leisure, with the line "Researcher's rehabilitation experience informs stroke prevention study," shows a person walking on an outdoor track and another seated on exercise equipment.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 18/06/2026

Our team spent this week in Bonita Springs with public health schools from across the U.S. at the 2026 ASPPH Sections Retreat. We talked through using AI responsibly in the classroom, the future of the MPH, and what public health practice means today. A full roster, every section represented.

Members of the UTMB School of Public and Population Health team together at the 2026 ASPPH Sections Retreat in Bonita Springs, Florida.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 15/06/2026

Griffin Baillargeon completed his Master's in Biostatistics and Data Science at UTMB. For his capstone, he and mentor Dr. Jeong Hoon Jang built a method to responsibly bring external data into clinical trials. He now works as a data analyst at UTMB Correctional Managed Care. utmb.us/g1q

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 10/06/2026

Dr. Vibhuti Gupta received the UT System Rising STARs award, funding his new DIVA-AI Laboratory at UTMB. The lab is building multimodal AI models to unify patient data across imaging, genomics, wearables, and clinical records. utmb.us/g0z

Abstract poster featuring transparent glass cubes floating against a black background, with a large hollow glass cube in the center and white text near the bottom reading “DIVA-AI Lab,” separated by a thin copper line.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 08/06/2026

A nineteenth-century medical manual had a section on what to do at the birth of "monsters." That passage launched a decade of research. Dr. Miriam Rich's first book, Monstrous Conceptions, traces that history. Columbia University Press, July 2026. utmb.us/g0n @columbiaup.bsky.social

Dr. Miriam Rich smiles while holding several copies of Monstrous Conceptions beside a table stacked with additional copies of the book.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 05/06/2026

Dr. Muhammad Amith won the Analytics Track Best Paper Award at IEEE ICHI 2026 in Minneapolis this week. His paper on Ontokeeper-Desktop, a biomedical ontology evaluation tool, was co-authored with researchers at UT Health and Mayo Clinic. zhang-informatics.github.io/ICHI2026/awa...

Four people stand together in a hotel conference room before floor-length curtains, wearing conference lanyards. Two hold framed award certificates. Dr. Muhammad Amith, second from right in a gray blazer and white shirt, holds his Best Paper Award certificate at IEEE ICHI 2026 in Minneapolis.

Conference award announcement slide for IEEE ICHI 2026, June 1–3, 2026, Minneapolis, MN. Slide reads: Analytics Track Best Paper Award. Paper title: Ontokeeper-Desktop: A Semiotic Driven Ontology Evaluation Tool for Biomedical Ontologies. Authors: Muhammad Amith, Zubing Hao, Yang Gong, Licong Cui, Cui Tao. Institutions: University of Texas Medical Branch, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Mayo Clinic.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 04/06/2026

Recent UTMB MD/MPH graduate Helen-Margaret Onuorah used federal data to compare rural and urban nursing home ratings across Texas. Her Daily Yonder article grew out of her practicum, with mentorship from Dr. Brian Downer. dailyyonder.com/in-texas-rur...

Interactive map of Texas titled “Nursing Home Health Inspection and Staffing Ratings,” showing rural counties in orange and urban counties in purple, with green markers across the state representing nursing home rating locations. Layer controls are visible for urban and rural counties, nursing homes, health inspection ratings, and staffing ratings.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 03/06/2026

SPPH administrative team members held their first staff development activity yesterday with an afternoon of bowling. Thank you to our admins for the work you do every day!

Ten SPPH administrative team members stand together at a bowling alley, with bowling lanes, score screens, tables, and blue and purple lane lighting in the background.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 01/06/2026

Congratulations to our MD/MPH graduates, who celebrated commencement with the JSSOM Class of 2026 on May 30! A special congratulations to Shilpa Rajagopal, MD, MPH, class speaker and recipient of the Gold-Headed Cane Award, UTMB’s highest recognition for a medical student.

Shilpa Rajagopal speaks at the commencement podium in black and green academic regalia. The UTMB seal is visible on the front of the podium.

Gold-Headed Cane Award finalists sit together in academic regalia, holding the ceremonial cane across the group. A commencement audience fills the background.

Cody Luong and Ogechukwu Anwaegbu stand together in academic regalia after commencement. Both wear green hoods and orange stoles with honor cords and medallions.

Yves Balikosa smiles and gives a thumbs-up while walking with fellow graduates after commencement. He wears black and green academic regalia and carries his diploma.

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 29/05/2026

Monserrat Hinojosa, MPH (Epidemiology) with a Certificate in Global Health, spent four weeks in Lima, Peru, working with the Peruvian CDC on dengue and tuberculosis research. She talks about how that experience deepened her interest in global health!

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 28/05/2026

Utpol Das, MPH (Epidemiology) and 2026 SPPH Excellence in Research and Scholarship Award recipient, came to UTMB SPPH from Bangladesh with eight years of field experience. He talks about finding his niche in aging research and the support he found!

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UTMB School of Public & Population Health @utmbspph.bsky.social · 27/05/2026

Sinaan Momin, MPH (Public Health Practice), reflects on how his time at UTMB SPPH broadened his view of public health to include policy and population-level dimensions. Sinaan is applying to dental school, and his MPH research focused on oral health access in Texas.

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