Interview with Dr. Melissa Kemberling, PhD, MPH
Listen Here:
Highlights from this episode:
1. Working at the intersection of health philanthropy, sociology, and public health
2. Using actionable data to support the work you are doing
3. Insights into working with Alaska Native populations
4. Working for USAID for a project in Central America
5. Starting a consulting company to support various projects
Episode 18 of Public Health Careers
In this episode, I get to chat with my former supervisor, Dr. Melissa Kemberling about her public health, sociology and philanthropic journey.
Melissa got her Bachelors in Allied Health from University of Connecticut with a major in Physical Therapy. After she experience working in Boston City Hospital Neonatal Clinic she realized she wanted wanted to have a bigger impact that one on one interactions as she realized many of the social issues that many of these new mothers faced.
From then Melissa went on to get her Master of Public Health from Columbia University in the concentration of Maternal and Child Health. During this time she had several international experiences including going to my home of Trinidad and Tobago.
Melissa then went on to pursue her PhD in Sociology from Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine. She wanted to get a sociology degree to better understand the context of the social issues in order to use her public health tools. She went on to do a USAID project in Central America.
After this Melissa moved to Alaska and became a Term Professor at University of Alaska Anchorage she then took on some consulting which didn’t go as she had planned.
Melissa then went on to work as a Lead Epidemiologist at the Alaskan Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC) where she admitted she had a learning curve when it came to working with Alaska Natives. A change in pace and culture that she now reflects as enjoying more than the typical western way of working.
Melissa then secured a job at the Mat-Su Health Foundation as the Director of Planning and Evaluation. She went on to become the Director of Program Planning and Evaluation and then into the role that I know her as, the Vice President of Programs.
Wanting a little more flexibility in life, in February Melissa decided to start the process of launching her own consulting company – Actionable Data Consulting. She has now gone full time into this as of July 2020. Her company offers foundation support, community change and coalition support, grant and technical writing, & evaluation and research.
Links from show
Deep Work – Cal Newport [Amazon]
Michael Quinn Patten (Evaluation “Guru”)
Connect with Guest
Melissa Kemberling on LinkedIn
Melissa’s Consulting Website (ActionableDataConsulting)
