During both A and B lunch, the STEM Certificate Program hosted a meeting with Alejandra Ramirez-Cardenas, an epidemiologist from the CDC. During her presentation, Ramirez-Cardenas went over a variety of topics all relating to her current job, how she got there, an overall public health.
An epidemiologist studies diseases, the prevention of diseases and overall factors relating to disease. Epidemiology is one of the 5 pillars of public health. The rest include: Community Health, Environmental Health, Biostatistics and Policy. Unrelated to the sciences, there is a communications section of public health, which is vital for the community.
A common question asked within the medical field is where do you start in Alejandra’s case, she started off with interest in becoming a doctor. She went to college and got her undergrad in biology, thinking it was necessary to continue her work in the medical field. However, as time went on she learned as long as you complete pre-med before medical school, you can pretty much get any degree during undergrad, although it is common to have a degree in sciences or psychology. After completing your premed and undergrad, the next step would depend on your major.
Ramirez- Cardenas completed her premed and undergrad before later going back to obtain her Master’s degree. She got a job on campus to prevent further student debt, which she highly recommended as she left without any student debt.
After holding a few jobs similar to public health, Ramirez- Cardenas finally landed as an Epidemiologist for the CDC. Originally, after her family’s relocation to Denver, she did not want to hold a government position. However, “be careful what you wish for,” says Alejandra Ramirez-Cardenas as that is exactly what job she got.
As an epidemiology for the CDC, Ramirez-Cardenas mainly works from home with the occasional time spent in person with the field she is working with. Right she is researching the impact of gas and oil workers and the pain their jobs bring them.
If you are interested in the public health field, or the CDC as a whole, there is a summer public health camp hosted in Atlanta. This is a summer long camp called, the CDC Museum Public Health Academy and also has a virtual option as well. You would attend this the summer before you junior year or senior year to get “introduced into public health,” says Ramirez-Cardenas.
