Hanna Shephard

Hanna Shephard is a doctoral student in the Epidemiology department at the University of Washington. Hanna completed a five-year integrated MPH/BA in Public Health at Brown University in 2020, where she focused primarily on refugee health and health equity. She joined the START Center with a background in public health practice; after completing an Applied Epidemiology Fellowship through the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE), she worked as a Maternal and Child Health (MCH) Epidemiologist with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Through these roles, Hanna developed a passion for centering MCH populations within emergency preparedness and response efforts as well as within infectious disease epidemiology.

Hanna worked at START for 12 months, working on 6 different client projects in that time, and attending the 13th annual International Society of Pneumonia and Pneumococcal Diseases (ISPPD) conference in Cape Town, South Africa, as part of her work on one of her projects.

“START provided me with a fantastic opportunity to grow both personally and professionally. Through strong mentorship and teamwork, I developed valuable leadership skills while collaborating with diverse groups. The experience of working closely with others not only enhanced my ability to contribute to a team but also helped me build connections I know will last a lifetime. START is an incredibly supportive program, and I highly recommend it to anyone considering joining.”