March 2025

Simmons MPH Monthly

Welcome to the March 2025

Simmons MPH Monthly

In the Simmons MPH Monthly we share news, media, and other highlights important for public health and equity. We also share voices from the Simmons community and beyond.

This month we speak in depth with Edima Ottoho, Associate Professor of Practice in the Simmons Department of Public Health. We were thrilled to hear from Peggy Montlouis, '23 MPH about what she has accomplished since her time in the program. And during this Women's History Month we invite you to learn more about the contributions of women in public health.

In The News

"In The News" is our opportunity to share with you a few things from the health equity world we want to be sure you don't miss.

A survey conducted by Gallup and West Health found that health care is so expensive that 31 million U.S. adults, or 12%, had to borrow a total of $74 billion last year to obtain medical care, including those who had health insurance.
Elizabeth Cooney, reporter for Stat, reports on new research indicating that cervical cancer incidence and mortality rates have been climbing in rural counties in the United States since 2012, with higher trends in rural counties compared to urban counties.
Due to the extensive funding cuts the Trump Administration made to USAID, the WHO is now warning of surging tuberculosis case numbers, both abroad and domestically. TB cases hit an all time high in 2023 at 8.2 million globally.
For the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public health, Karestan Koenen, professor of psychiatric epidemiology, discusses the impact of stress and trauma on public health professionals and offers tips on coping.

MPH Media Corner

Some of our favorite recent articles, podcasts, videos, and more.

For those interested in ideas like mindful consumption, stress reduction and the planet's health, Real Stories has a 45 minute look at what they call the hidden costs of too many choices, exploring the way mass marketing is impacting our lives in subtle yet significant ways.
Recently released, Jonathan Blitzer's new book, Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here, takes a thorough look at the history of humanitarian crises at the US-Mexico border across the past five decades.
According to a 2021 survey by the Pew Research Center, 80% of American Jews say caring about Israel is an important or essential part of what being Jewish means to them, and Rabbi Brant Rosen, founding rabbi of Tzedek Chicago, highlights that basic equality and human rights are fundamentally Jewish.
In conversation with Planet Critical, Silicon Valley critic Ed Zitron details how "Big Tech" seems to have run out of ideas and is instead much more oriented around what he calls "vague promises."

Alumni Spotlight
Peggy Montlouis, MPH/MBA

Each month we profile one of our Simmons MPH alumni.

Peggy Montlouis, MBA, MPH graduated from the Simmons MPH program in 2023 and has since dedicated herself to making a difference for public health in her community of Randolph MA. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Peggy was deeply involved in efforts to safely implement quarantine protocols, and she cites this experience as reinforcing her personal commitment to public health and impactful community service.

Since graduating, Peggy has joined a number of public health oriented boards, advocating on behalf of the diverse communities that make up her region here in Massachusetts. Most recently she began new role as Hub Program Manager for the Metro South Public Health Alliance Training Hub.

Reflecting on her time in the Simmons MPH program, Peggy shares that “as a Haitian-American, [the program] deepened my understanding of the history of immigration in the U.S. and the systemic challenges that impact immigrant communities. This knowledge has been invaluable in my work, allowing me to approach public health with greater cultural awareness and sensitivity.”

We were excited to hear about Peggy's work since leaving the program and wish her the best in her career and service to the community.

Feature Interview

By Nat Thomson, Simmons MSW Candidate

Edima Ottoho, MPH, MBA

Associate Professor of Practice, Simmons Department of Public Health

Read some highlights from our interview with Edima Ottoho below or find the complete interview conversation here.

For those less familiar with the concepts or point of view of global health, what might you recommend as ways to grow this perspective and/or pursue careers with a global POV?

Starting locally is a great first step. Starting with a local organization can really help get an understanding of what public health is all about. Participation in advocacy campaigns is another important one; These initiatives can really help one to understand the context that public health tends to exist in (e.g. economic, social, or political contexts). It also helps you to build your network of people and organizations and is a great way to find mentorship as well. Looking out for fellowship opportunities where you can work in other countries is another great way to expand a public health POV towards being more globally-informed. Another would be to work for organizations and projects that are multi-country oriented.

You started your career in Nigeria and came to the states to continue; could you speak a bit about this transition?

I got to a point in my career where I had sort of reached a saturation point and was not moving up, I was just circling around different projects and roles that didn’t feel challenging. I’ve always aspired to be a public health leader. Organizations I worked for in Nigeria were funded by the US, so I had seen that investment in public health and also knew that the US was where I would have the best public health education and resources. So that’s what led me to being at BU, in order to become the person I wanted to be, a public health leader.

How might you characterize public health leadership, for those more oriented around the academic side of things?

Well, being a professor is one of them. Another type of public health leadership would be the industry route, like being an organizational head, where you are involved in high-level decision making such as being involved in policy development and reviews. For example, working on committees developing policy at the global level, where guidelines for countries, broadly, are put together and dispersed for activation at the national level. As an Associate Professor of “Practice”, these are the types of things I am expected to be involved in to remain relevant and up-to-date with real-world public health efforts that I can apply in my teaching. I’m looking forward to more of these kinds of opportunities.

Read the full conversation

On Our Radar

Events focused on health, wellness, equity and education.

March 27 (Online) - Building Trust in the H5N1 Response: Perspectives from the Field

The National Academies Forum on Microbial Threats will host a webinar in which agriculture producers and workforce health specialists will discuss their perspectives on steps that would build greater trust between producers and health officials to enable a more coordinated One Health response.

April 16-18 (Long Beach, CA) - 2025 Annual SOPHE Conference

Join the Society for Public Health Education for their 75th Annual Conference themed Waves of Change: Embracing Diversity and Technology for Equity and Wellness. The conference has multiple tracks to suit individual interests: Leadership, mentoring and training the next workforce; Social justice and health equity; Technology and communications; and Program planning and evaluation.

April 18 (Online) - Perspectives on Plastic Lifecycle: Plastic Pollution and Fate

This session will focus on the global problem of plastic pollution and its downstream effects. It will include an overview of the sources, fate, and transformation of plastic in the environment and discussions of the ecological, economic, and human health impacts of plastic pollution.

April 23-24 (Washington, DC) - Affordability of Health Professional Education: A Workshop

This National Academies workshop will consider global evidence to understand the value of HPE, and determine whether a shift in the value proposition may be desired to ensure sustainability of the health professions workforce.

June 16 - 17 (Washington DC & Online) - 2025 APHA Policy Action Institute

The Policy Action Institute brings together public health leaders, students and professionals for a collaborative event to discuss proven and proposed policy solutions to tackle today’s most pressing health threats at the local, state and federal levels.