The Master of Public Health Program in the Midwestern University College of Graduate Studies will honor its first cohort of graduates this spring in Glendale.

The program was established in 2020. It’s been operated as an online dual-degree program since its inception, providing Midwestern’s osteopathic medicine, dental medicine, optometry, and veterinary students the opportunity to obtain public health knowledge and skills to join global healthcare teams that link human, animal, and ecosystems health management.

Midwestern’s Glendale campus is located at 19555 N. 59th Ave.

Four students from Midwestern’s College of Veterinary Medicine – Natalie Kieffer, Nisha Parasher, Melia Pitney, and Lela Remington – will be the first graduates to earn an M.P.H. degree from Midwestern along with their Doctor of Veterinary Medicine (D.V.M.) degrees.

“I wanted to more deeply understand these connections while also widening my knowledge about the problems facing us as humans, including climate change and food insecurity,” said Nisha Parasher, who earned the Public Health degree a way to understand the connections between people, animals, and the environment. “As veterinarians, we promote the emotional health of people through fostering the human-animal bond and physical health through the prevention of zoonotic disease.”

Parasher intends to use her public health knowledge to augment her planned small animal practice by reaching out to homeless and other underserved populations.

“There is inequity experienced by these populations, and that includes the lack of animal care, exposure to zoonotic disease, and limited access to medical resources,” she explains.

The Master of Public Health Program at Midwestern empowers students with public health knowledge and skills that will expand their career opportunities in traditional clinical and public health practice, global health, and government service.