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Lauren Cruz, MPH 2020

"I really think that the curriculum here promotes a well rounded student. You have classes about qualitative research. You have serious classes about quantitative research and that can really be applicable not just in my track, population health but also all the other tracks in the MPH program."

Learn more about Lauren’s educational journey through these questions below:

What motivated you to pursue a PhD in Biostatistics and Epidemiology at �ǿմ�ý and when you started the MPH program was your goal to pursue a PhD? When I started the MPH program, my goal was to pursue an MD, actually. However, as I worked through the MPH curriculum, I discovered that I quite enjoyed the epidemiology and data analysis side of public health. I also learned that - with the right mentors and guidance- statistics doesn’t have to be intimidating! The MPH program is housed within the same department (PQHS) as the Epi and Biostats program, which means there is a lot of overlap of faculty and staff. The program support and personal growth I experienced during my MPH indicated that �ǿմ�ý is a great fit for me. Therefore, I decided to continue my training here as a PhD student.

What are some unique insights or perspectives you gained from studying public health that now translate to your current studies? Disparities in healthcare is the reason I chose to pursue an MPH degree. After volunteering for a medical mission trip in the Dominican Republic and Haiti, I decided that I want to dedicate my career to bringing equitable healthcare to underrepresented groups. I felt that training in public health would afford me the skills and opportunities to accomplish this. Any prospective student considering an MPH who is also interested in health disparities would thrive in �ǿմ�ý’s MPH program. Many of the program’s faculty share this interest as well. The global health and population health tracks were particularly appealing as the coursework within these tracks prepares students to leverage large datasets to address healthcare inequities. Continuing this training in my PhD program, I am learning how to work with population-level genomic data to draw conclusions about aging-related neurodegeneration and to inform clinical care. As an undergraduate, I studied Biological Anthropology, and did not have a computational background. �ǿմ�ý’s MPH program afforded me the subjective knowledge and confidence to use statistical methods to draw conclusions about complex chronic disease.

Are there any specific research areas or projects that you are particularly interested in, and why? I have always been interested in the role of genetics in disease etiology, especially in chronic complex disorders. The factors that make humans so similar and yet so different are fascinating to me. I also have a strong desire to champion inclusion of historically underrepresented populations in research to better understand disease outcomes and strive for health care equity. My PhD dissertation will use data from NIH’s All of Us Research Program, the most diverse large, national US cohort study to date, to understand the role of genetic ancestry in development of glaucoma. This work is really interesting to me because the incidence and prevalence of glaucoma (and blindness due to glaucoma) is alarmingly higher in those of African ancestry compared to those of European ancestry - but we don’t understand why. To better characterize the role of genetic ancestry in disease, we need to develop large, well-powered research studies. This allows us to more confidently identify the signal from the noise. The ability to achieve sufficient sample sizes and access (and share) large-scale genomic data is a luxury only recently afforded to us in the last couple decades. Surprising to no one, the earliest large epidemiological studies consisted of mainly European-descent individuals. Encouraging racial and ethnic minorities in the United States to participate in biomedical research has been difficult given the blatant abusive and devious treatment by those in power in the past (i.e. the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, Eugenics-inspired forced sterilizations/institutionalization). In order to do better to serve these communities’ health needs, we must build back trust and make a seat at the table for diversity. This is why working with data from the All of Us Research Program is so exciting - because it’s the first time we have been able to aggregate health data to this scale on such a diverse cohort of participants across the United States. I look forward to learning how this representation will change our understanding of complex diseases like glaucoma. 

Are there any  professors or courses that have had a significant impact on your studies, and why? I have met so many interesting, intelligent, and passionate professors in the �ǿմ�ý PQHS department.We really do have a diverse set of interests here. Of course, my PhD co-mentors (Drs. Dana Crawford and Jessica Cooke Bailey) have really influenced me academically and professionally. They have shown a lot of support and patience as I learn how to become a scientist. Arguably more important than subjective knowledge, I am learning from my mentors how to balance the daily stresses and demands of life with a full workload. It doesn’t get easier, you just get better at it!  The course that sticks out in my mind as one of the most impactful courses is Tom Love’s Statistical Methods series. Not only is Dr. Love an approachable and considerate professor, but he makes the subject material relevant to a wide audience of students, at varying levels of comfort around statistical software and data. To be honest, this class was intimidating to me early on. There are a lot of pieces to keep up with, but it is so worth it. Successfully completing that class was a major confidence booster, plus I gained some new skills in a subject that was originally perplexing to me. I took this course as an MPH student and had the opportunity to TA the course as a PhD student. Take the course. Take good notes. Attend the lectures. You won’t regret it.  

What long-term career goals do you have? I don’t know what I want to be when I grow up, but I am keeping an open mind. In debating whether to stay in academia or go to industry, I am currently leaning towards academia. The ability to develop and pursue my own research questions as well as the opportunity to mentor young scientists are two components of academia that are particularly appealing to me. I have TA’d a handful of courses, and I really enjoy interacting with students. Explaining a complex topic to someone new to the field is a great way to solidify my own understanding and to learn something from a new perspective. A career in academia comes with its own challenges, but for me, the prospect of being able to lead my own research team to pursue areas of interest is one of the biggest draws for staying in academia.

What challenges have you faced while pursuing your PhD and what advice would you give to current MPH students who are also interested in furthering their education? Imposter syndrome has been a big challenge for me. Scientific research is complicated and oftentimes not straightforward. It’s easy to be self-critical when trying to understand a complex topic. When the imposter syndrome sets in, I find it helpful to talk to my PhD mentors and other students to reinforce that my feelings are not unique. One of the most valuable lessons I am learning throughout my graduate education is how to be comfortable with not knowing. If I were to give a piece of advice to current MPH students who are interested in furthering their education, I would say this: get out of your own way. Graduate school is hard. No matter what field you’re going into, there is going to be a topic, concept, or class (maybe a few…) that just doesn’t click. I failed my qualifying exam once before passing it. I’ve had to withdraw from a graduate level course. It’s humiliating when you come up against these kinds of roadblocks. However, at the risk of sounding cliche, I really have learned a lot more about myself from failure than I have from success. At a point in my PhD training where I was really struggling to find a good work life balance, one of my mentors told me to “get out of my own way”. It was just the thing I needed to hear at that time. Follow your passion, nurture your healthy coping skills, and stay out of your own way.