Managing in Turbulent Times: Emerging Leaders in Public Health

Alumni

Claudia M. OrtizClaudia M. Ortiz, DDS, MPH

ORISE fellow
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

 

Area of work: Public Health

After graduating in 1996 from the Autonoma school of Dentistry in her home country of Colombia, Claudia had the opportunity to work during three years for my city's Department of Health not only as a dentist but also as an educator creating, supervising and evaluating prevention programs in dental health for the rural community where she was practicing. This experience sparked her interest on pursuing a career in public health. With this in mind Claudia decided to travel to this country to learn English and continue my education. After being awarded her Master in Public Health from Mercer University in summer in 2004 Claudia accepted a Research Fellowship with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. During her fellowship year Claudia was responsible for developing ways to educate minority populations and expand a public health initiative within hard-to-reach populations though the construction of educational materials in Spanish, dissemination of critical information and creation of partnerships at both state and national level.

Personal Information:

I'm going to get married this October in Colombia with a wonderful English man. He also works for CDC. We love to spend time together dining out, watching movies and traveling.

What I would like to get out of this program:

Apart from developing and enhancing analytical and managerial skills essential to contribute scientifically in today's rapidly changing health care field, I wish to strengthen my knowledge by deeply probing into the issues of Public health and health care administration. I am also looking forward to interacting and learning from other public health leaders.