Student Profiles

Cristy St. John, '12
Community & International Health

Cristy St. John is a native New Yorker, born to two immigrants. As an undergraduate at Goucher College, Cristy studied Psychology and Fine Arts, focusing on service and understanding health disparities, the role of community partnerships and political institutions in promoting health, particularly in developing countries. She has lived, worked and studied in several countries; India, Ghana, the U.K., and Zambia, among others. Cristy attended Columbia University’s School of Social Work, graduating in 2010 with a concentration in Social Enterprise Administration, with a minor in International Social Welfare, focused on Public Health. Cristy is in her second year of the NYU MPH program's Community & International Health concentration. Cristy hopes to work after graduation for an international NGO or non-profit that focuses on public health concerns in developing countries on a macro-level and disadvantaged populations on a micro-level.

While attending NYU, Cristy has pursued volunteer and internship opportunities with multi-national NGOs to enhance the knowledge she gained in the classroom. Cristy is currently an intern at Clinton Health Access Initiative, founded by the William J. Clinton Foundation, providing HIV data analysis. Of her experience so far in the program, Cristy says that "the specialized courses in international health and economic development, international health and family planning, and study abroad courses are  engaging and bring greater clarity to the type of work I hope to pursue in the field. The opportunity to interact with professors and students from several different schools and programs enriches my ability to specialize within public health, and to pursue through electives a more individualized course of study."

Katie-Sue Derejko, '12
Global Health Leadership

Katie-Sue Derejko spent three years before beginning university overseas seeing the world and, for the first time, really seeing the disparities that existed. It was this experience that guided her through the choices she made in her academic career. Katie-Sue began her studies in Medical Anthropology at the University of Victoria in British Columbia Canada, and received her MA in the Anthropology of Health at McMaster University in Ontario where she focused on Indigenous Health Policy in Canada. Before beginning the MPH, she worked as a Senior Policy Analyst for the Métis Nation of Ontario, advocating for the rights of the Indigenous peoples in Canada. Prior to that, Katie-Sue spent time working in Uganda and India in the areas of health and social justice and would like to continue working in an international context after finishing her MPH.

Katie-Sue’s public health interests lie in the areas of health as a human right, the social determinants of health and health policy, with a current interest in the health of women and children in post-conflict countries or countries with situations of ongoing violence. After obtaining her MPH, Katie-Sue would like to continue working directly with communities experiencing inequities, working in the areas of research and policy development.