100: Catching Up with The Creator of The Public Health Millennial with Omari Richins, MPH

Interview with Omari Richins, MPH

Episode 100 of The Public Health Millennial Career Stories Podcast:

Omari Richins, MPH is the Founder and Creator of The Public Health Millennial Platform. Additionally, Omari works as a Health Improvement Program Officer at the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust. Omari is originally from Trinidad and Tobago where he lived for 16 years before his family immigrated to the Sultanate of Oman where he finished off his high school career.

Omari left Oman to pursue a Bachelors in Biology at the University of Tampa where he began as a pre-veterinary major, however shifted to pre-medicine before graduating as he knew he wanted to impact people’s lives. During his time here, he volunteered in Patient Care & Pre/Post-Op at Memorial Hospital of Tampa. He graduated in December 2016 after taking 4.5 years to finish his undergraduate.

After graduating, Omari was was studying for his MCAT , volunteering at the Malcolm Randall Veterans Hospital of North Florida, while applying to Master of Medical Sciences Programs. After getting rejections from 3 of the 4 schools, he was nervous about his future prospects and looked for what else he could pursue with a biology degree. This is when Omari came across the Master of Public Health and the public health field in general.

Omari made the hard choice to pursue his Master of Public Health degree at the University of Florida. During his time here, he held leadership positions as the President of the Public Health Student Association and was the sole student Committee Member for Public Health Policy Committee at the University of Florida.

He got an internship as a Community Initiatives Assistant Planner at WellFlorida Council. Omari was also able to secure a second internship as a Rural Health Advocacy and Policy Intern at Suwannee River AHEC/Florida Rural Health Association.

Omari was able to secure a Community Health Fellowship position at the Mat-Su Health Foundation in Alaska in March before graduating in May. This is where Omari began to create The Public Health Millennial firstly as a blog and instagram page. In May of 2020, Omari decided to also create The Public Health Millennial Career Stories Podcast which this it the 100th episode.

After working in Alaska for 14 months, Omari was able to secure a position as a Health Improvement Program Officer at the Kate B. Reynolds Charitable Trust in North Carolina where he continues to work today.