Cindy Rosales

Behavioral, Social, and Health Education Sciences MPH'21

Regional Women's Health Analyst for Region 2 (Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health- New York)

Why did you choose BSHES as your concentration, and why did you choose to pair it with the MCH Certificate?

I think BSHES just reflected more of my experience. I was already working within the community and doing a lot of health education.  I was working with WIC and before that, when I was an undergrad, I was teaching nutrition. I just wanted to be more in the community, and BSHES  just reflected more of that. I also liked that the curriculum gave you a little bit of everything. You get the research experience, and you get the programming experience.

 I added the MCH certificate because I always found myself working with women and children. When I taught nutrition, I taught it in Spanish in Baltimore, Maryland, and I was always with moms. Then, I went to the health department and found myself working with WIC. I have a connection with women’s health as a woman myself and as a Latina woman who comes from a single mother. So it just was calling me.

What is your current position, and does it relate to maternal and child health?

I’m the Regional Women’s Health Analyst for Region 2. So, I’m within the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Health. But my team specifically works out of New York City, and we really oversee New York, New Jersey, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. The Office of the Assistant Secretary of Health, we call OASH, is an agency within the United States Department of Health and Human Services. Within that office, I’m in the Office of Regional Health Operations. Because of my unique position in the region, I like to say I’m the linkage between what’s happening on the ground or around our region and what’s happening in D.C. on Capitol Hill. So if we hear things from our partners, like, look, this is a concern we’re hearing, we’re seeing like high opioid overdoses, and before it makes the news or anything, then we’ll make sure that we pass it up forward to leadership.  And then vice versa, whatever’s happening in D.C., for example, D.C. is where we have funding opportunities coming out specific to human trafficking or health equity. We make sure our partners are aware of that and then other things that could be helpful to the women in our reach like HRSA just launched the maternal mental health hotline. 

My role specifically is to understand the health needs of women in my region and then coordinate efforts with other agencies,  whether it’s HHS, the Department of Labor,  external partners, community-based organizations, faith-based organizations, or academia, and working with these partners to address these needs that we are identifying are a common concern for women in our region. Supporting our partners can look like various things. It could be like policy programming or educational initiatives. We’ve actually hosted a couple of webinars that are specific to maternal health and equity. I’ve worked with the Department of Labor to really get the message out there about the Pump Act. The work that we’ve been doing lately is connecting with emerging healthy technology to find out how we can use this innovative, innovative technology and shape health care for women in a field where women aren’t usually considered. So, that’s a couple of the projects that we’ve done.

What did your path look like after graduation? How did you end up where you are now?

I took advantage of many opportunities that came my way while I was at Rollins. I’m a Virgo, so I started freaking out early in my second year that I needed to find a job. So, while people were not worried, I remember going to different events that the Career Center hosts just to explore. I took that first year to see what am I really into? What do I want to do? You know, consulting is one of the hot words at Emory, and everyone wants to do consulting because that’s where the money’s at. So, I definitely did attend a few of the consulting workshops.

Going into my second year, I decided I was going to apply to consulting specific tracks. But I also come from a background of working in health departments and at the federal level. As a result, I decided that I would still explore what federal organizations such as the CDC and other government agencies have to offer. I started to update my resume and take advantage of the career development center. I think I went twice a week. I was like, read my resume, read my resume. And then, I started applying for jobs during that winter break. I had an interview around the end of February or early March for the current position I’m in. Then, I also got the same call from Deloitte. I didn’t know at the time that my current position was for women’s health.  It was kind of just like, you’d work with this office to implement programs and work with stakeholders and partners. And then, most importantly, they were very interested in health equity. And I was like, yeah, okay, I have some type of experience with that, and I came to find out they were hiring for two positions, and based on my resume, I was hired in their women’s health positions.

What advice do you have for current and future MCH certificate students?

Take any and every opportunity. You look at my resume now, and I’m like, Oh yeah, I did this. I did that. And I only did all of that because I talked, I researched, I looked around. I wanted to know what opportunities are there. I spoke to professors a lot. None of the positions I ended up with were specific to like handed to me by a professor, but the point is I stepped out of my comfort zone. Identify what skills you need to work on while you’re there for two years. I went in not having any quantitative skills, but in public health, you still need to understand how to read data. And so I made sure that my first internship and REAL position at Rollins was specifically quantitative with FFI, the Food and Fortification Initiative.

Additionally, get to know the professors. You never know what opportunities can come from just l talking to them and staying in touch. Not just being like, okay, I want to have like a one-on-one with you, but like actually following up and being like, Oh, like I’m doing this work. Would you be able to support me in my thesis or things like that? Also, take advantage of those free services that Rollins offers, especially the career development center. Like I said, going into my second year, I lived there. 

Lastly, remember you’re not just there to be a student. Use this time to really think about exploring what do you want to do when you graduate. Yes, you’re going to switch jobs after you graduate, but now is an opportunity to figure out what you want to hone in on. Coming in, I thought I was going to work in nutrition. But then, through my classes, internships, and other experiences, I realized I wanted to do more in sexual reproductive health. Overall, just be flexible, branch out, learn different things, challenge yourself, and please don’t overwhelm yourself either.