W&M Students Moving On in Health Policy!

by Schroeder Center for Health Policy | May 23, 2023

Graduates 2023 Over the past year, the Schroeder Center for Health Policy has welcomed the opportunity to work with some outstanding W&M students who are entering professional careers and internships in the health policy field, completing honors projects, or are pursuing advanced degree programs. We are particularly proud of our 2023 graduates and wish them great success in their future endeavors. Below are some of our exceptional students, and we congratulate them as they embark on their new opportunities:

Catherine Brady (B.S., Public Health and Public Policy, ‘22) – Catherine is a December 2022 grad who began work in March 2023 as an Associate with Palladium, providing support to U.S. Agency for International Development’s MOMENTUM Tiyeni and Uganda health system strengthening activities.

	Caleb Fulford (B.A., Government and American Studies, ’24) – will begin work this summer, with Schroeder Center support, on an honors thesis in Government, which will focus on the interaction between the Commerce Clause and its ability to expand or restrict access to abortion in the United States.
	Hannah Garfinkel (B.A., English and Public Policy, ‘22; MPP, 2023) – will begin her professional career as an Assistant Legislative Analyst at the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission (JLARC), where she will work on various policy studies. Hannah previously held a policy internship at the health policy consulting firm, Healthsperien.
	Nicole Larsen (B.A., Public Policy with a Public Health minor, ‘23) – will attend the University of Washington in Fall 2023 to receive a Masters in Public Health (MPH). She will be in the Health Systems and Population Health program on the generalist track, which will allow her to take classes in both the health systems and policy and the social and behavioral sciences concentrations. Nicole previously interned with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, among others.
	Lilly Pope (B.A., Public Policy and Kinesiology and Health Sciences with a concentration in Public Health, ‘23) – will attend Emory University in Fall 2023 to pursue a Masters in Public Health (MPH) in the Health Policy and Management concentration. Lilly received Honors for her year-long senior honors thesis project, “Policies to Improve Quality in Virginia’s Nursing Homes: The Role of Local Labor Markets,” which she also presented at W&M’s Spring 2023 Graduate and Honors Research Symposium in March 2023. While at W&M, Lilly also helped write a report to the Williamsburg Health Foundation on “Older Adults: Where We Are and Where We’re Going.”
	Kiran Rachamallu (B.A., Public Policy and Biology, ‘23) – will begin his professional career as a Research Assistant with the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities where he will work on a mix of health, federal fiscal, and immigration policy. He previously held health policy internships at the American Institutes for Research and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Kiran was recently selected into Phi Beta Kappa.
	Meghan Salaga (BA, Public Policy and Economics, ’24) -- will work this summer at the Peter G. Peterson Foundation’s Fiscal Internship Program with the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF). KFF is a leading “independent source for health policy research, polling, and news.”
	Martina Tvrdik (B.S., Biology and Public Policy, ‘23) – will relocate following graduation to Utah where she will take next year to apply to medical school and return to her favorite hobbies of skiing and hiking. Martina received the Megan Owen Award at graduation which recognizes an outstanding female graduate in Public Policy. She also served as this past year’s co-president of the Health Policy Club.

The Schroeder Center also wants to congratulate two former W&M students who will be entering doctoral programs in economics in Fall 2023:

Renee Garrow (BA, Economics with a minor in math, '20) – will attend Columbia University
Brittany Young (BA, Economics and Latin American Studies, '20) – will attend University of Virginia

While students at W&M, both Renee and Brittany were among 28 undergraduate students from universities around the country who were selected to present their health policy research at the Women in Economic Research (WiER) conference at Williams College.

And finally, the Schroeder Center welcomes three undergraduate students into W&M’s accelerated BA/Master’s of Public Policy (MPP) program. All three students took part in this Fall’s offering of Health Policy Research Lab. We look forward to our continued work with these students as they complete their graduate studies:

Peyton Bernstein (B.A., Public Policy, ’24) – will intern, with the support of a Schroeder Center summer internship fellowship award, at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Medicine’s Department of Health Behavior and Policy in Richmond, Virginia.
Thomas Cronin (BA, Economics and Philosophy, ‘24)
Anna Marie Flatt (BA, Public Policy, ‘24)