19: Intentional Path in Public Health to PhD in Health Behavior and Promotion with Robert Fairman, MPH, CHES

Interview with Robert Fairman, MPH, CHES

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Highlights from this episode:

1. Pursuing a PhD in Health Behavior and Promotion
2. Being a Health Subcommittee member for the City of Atlanta Mayor LGBT Advisory Board
3. Importance of representation in public health and health education work

Episode 19 of Public Health Careers

In this episode, I get to chat with my Robert Fairman, MPH, CHES. He is currently pursuing his PhD in Health Promotion and Behavior at Georgia State School of Public Health.

Robert started his undergraduate career as a Nursing Major at University of North Carolina at Wilmington, however he didn’t really think it was cutting it since he was only helping the 6 patients he served at one given time. He was able to achieve a Certificate Nurse Aide 1 from Carolinas College of Health Sciences.

Additionally during undergraduate, Robert was able to work as a Contributing Writer at The Odyssey Online and worked as an Infection Prevention Student Associate at Carolinas Healthcare System which is now Atrium Health. He also worked as a Health Educator at University of North Carolina – Wilmington. He got Certified Health Education Specialist during this time as well, and lastly was a HIV/STI Outreach Coordinator/Health Educator.

Robert then went on to pursue his Master of Public Health at Rollins School of Public Health at Emory University. During his MPH, he was a Consultant for the Barker Bi-Coastal Health Consultants as well as a Research Assistant for the CDC.

He is currently a PhD student and works as a Second Century Initiative Fellow. Additionally, he works as the Deputy Team Lead Contact Tracing, Data Quality and Case Interviews with the state and he sits on the Health Subcommittee for the City of Atlanta Mayor LGBT Advisory Board.