Born and raised in San Francisco, Virginia Chan spent the last few years managing the daily operations of clinical trials and health services research projects as a research coordinator. But she wanted to have more impact as a public health practitioner, spurred by what she saw and experienced growing up in a low-income community.
When Chan found UC Berkeley’s Online MPH program, she knew it was the ideal way to launch her dream career. “I love that I can balance my full-time job while pursuing a master’s degree,” she says. “It also enables me to apply what I learned in class to the real world in real-time.”
Growing up, Chan saw first-hand how social determinants greatly affected her health and her community’s. She sought answers for this – and found them in the Epidemiology and Biostatistics concentration, which has unlocked courses in epidemiological methods, outbreak investigations, and biostatistics.
And her work in health and social behavior has been especially enlightening. “I now understand why our health behavior is a product of the environment around us,” she says.
Through the practicum, students like Chan get to fuse classroom learning and practice in a public health work environment as well. As they contribute to a community’s resources and to the solution of public health priorities, they build practice-based skills, personal confidence, and leadership as a public health professional.
Chan has also advanced her skills in quantitative epidemiologic methods, program planning, health policy analysis, and behavioral change theories — all of which she is sure will serve her well in the future role as an epidemiologist or project manager focused on designing effective public health programs.
