Interview with Kene Orakwue, MPH
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Highlights from this episode:
- Kene’s journey into public health being influenced by person experiences
- Reproductive justice as a framework that addresses systemic barriers
- How a 4 + 1 Master of Public Health was so helpful in their focus
- How their research experiences have developed and evolved through academic experiences
- Why they are getting formal training in qualitative research and how it enhances research rigor
Episode 220 of Public Health Careers
Kene Orakwue, MPH is a Graduate Research Assistant at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, They have worked on a range of projects related to health equity and structural racism.
Kene is a reproductive justice and health equity scholar and practitioner dedicated to the dismantling of oppressive systems. She is fascinated by the ways in which our social structures and policies deny or grant access to, and quality of, health for certain populations. She plans to apply her findings to real-world initiatives to improve the outcomes for Black birthing people.
She conferred a Bachelor of Science in Public Health Services from University of Massachusetts Amherst where she served as an Advocacy Intern at the March of Dimes in Massachusetts, a Research Assistant for the university, a Court Intern at Holyoke District Court in Massachusetts, and a Peer Advisor for the School of Public Health & Health Sciences at UMass Amherst.
Master of Public Health in Health Policy and Management also from University of Massachusetts Amherst and worked as a Health Equity Summer Associate at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts.
She is currently working towards her PhD in Health Services Research with an area of emphasis in Sociology of Health and Illness from University of Minnesota School of Public Health where she is currently a Graduate Research Assistant.
Links from show
The Combahee River Collective Statement
