Heydy Herbert

Global Health '26

December 4, 2025

Why did you choose Rollins? And why did you decide to study Global Health with an MCH Certificate?  

I am originally from Baltimore and chose Rollins because the Atlanta area is something I’m used to in terms of environment. I really wanted to see how Southern cities operate with health and engage in different communities. I also knew that there were a lot of community-based health organizations in Atlanta that are very involved in the efforts to improve health outcomes.  

I chose Global health, because as someone who grew up predominantly undocumented in the United States, there are challenges and barriers to our health. There is often confusion between international students and undocumented students, and I wanted to focus on improving the health experiences for people from this background with my newly gained knowledge. For me, global health doesn’t mean only outside of the US – but globally as people come from all over the world to the US. Their access to health and health outcomes are going to look a lot different and should be addressed with inclusivity. 

I chose the MCH certificate, because as an undergraduate student, I conducted research that evaluated how to improve adolescent health through repurposing vacant spaces. I had the opportunity to interview Baltimore City Public School graduates, and I wanted to continue that during my time at Rollins. The Foundations of MCH course gave me more of the foundational theories of working with the youth population, and I had the opportunity to connect with people who could serve on my thesis committee. 

What are you doing for your thesis?  

I am interviewing current Baltimore City Public School High School students to evaluate how repurposing vacant spaces can improve health outcomes. Currently, there are over 15,000 vacancies in the area.  

For my first set of interviews that I did with Baltimore City Public School graduates during my undergrad, they showed that a lot of these vacant spaces created feelings of despair and hopelessness. Some graduates spoke about recreational spaces, and how they do not always cater to older youth. The goal is to create spaces for youth to grow. 

A distinction I want to explore is students who experienced Coronavirus lockdowns during high school versus those that did not. Many of the students were a bit older and did not experience the full impacts of lockdowns. When they speak about their experiences, they are slightly different.  

What did you do for your APE? How did you find it? 

I absolutely loved the work that I did for my APE at Title V with the Washington State Department. In public health, especially in maternal and child health, there is not much ongoing research on housing. The Washington State Department recognized housing as a need for their maternal and child health population. The goal of the summer was to conduct a literature review on how public health systems can assist with housing needs for families and children. We explored current housing systems and their approaches and found that there were not any existing initiatives with the Departments of Health.   

From the literature, we learned that Washington state is leading the forefront in housing. I learned so much about unhoused populations, including the definition and who comprises them. People are living on the streets, and there is also the concept of invisible homelessness- people who are housed but are doubling up with other families. The project informed how Washington state can get involved, and identified Seattle, Kings County as having the highest prevalence of child homelessness. I’m definitely exploring further personal research with housing after this summer opportunity.  

I found out about the Title V APE through a webinar that the MCH CoE sent out. I joined the webinar and learned about all of the other Title V projects. Washington state was the only department to focus on housing, and it was their first time taking interns, so it was very cool to be involved in that effort.  

What do you hope to do after graduating from Rollins? 

I’m still trying to figure that out! I definitely want to continue doing community engagement work, particularly working with youth in inner cities. I plan to go back to Baltimore and get involved in ongoing research with community organizations that work with youth populations.   

What advice do you have for current first years and future MCH Certificate students? 

I think it would be to not doubt yourself. You got accepted into Rollins, so do not underestimate your abilities and skillsets. I was stressed out looking for APEs because of budget cuts. I had a list of 20 internships and only 5 were looking for students, so I remember looking for other opportunities. I came straight here right after undergrad and did not have as much experience as other people, especially in terms of professionalism which I notice is what these internships wanted, so I never had to deal with that much rejection. That made me question if I was meant to be here. Even though I started to doubt myself, I was able to secure an internship and do work that I really loved. You are here for a reason, so do not forget that, especially students of color — we face a lot of imposter syndrome, so please keep your head up high because your experiences, personality, and skills are so valuable and insightful to the field.