A World of Good

Master of Public Health
Fulbright Scholars
work to improve lives
in their home countries

By Amy Wagner

Imagine how hard it would be to choose to live far from your spouse and young children for two years in order to further your education and improve lives in your country. Yet that is precisely what Dr. Ahmad Rashed Wassif, a physician in general practice in his native Afghanistan, did in order to earn his Master of Public Health (MPH) in Community Health Education from Montclair State.

"Montclair State provided us with an opportunity to discover our passion, to acquire knowledge and skills that will enable us to make a difference by addressing inequalities related to health and basic human needs."

- Sivuyisiwe Wonci

“It was a difficult decision. I was given a single entry visa and could not go home for two years – or until the end of my program,” he recalls. Fortunately, the program’s strengths, including its friendly students, a supportive learning environment and a welcoming faculty, would inspire him to keep pushing forward and earn his degree.

In 2013, after becoming the program’s first Fulbright Scholar graduate, Wassif returned to Kabul, Afghanistan, where he is currently making a difference as an Innovations Team Leader with Johns Hopkins Program for International Education on Gynecology and Obstetrics (JHPIEGO), an affiliate of the Johns Hopkins University, in a USAID-funded Family Planning/Maternal, Newborn and Child Health Care Project. “My qualification as a trained public health professional was required for this position,” he notes.

“I lead the implementation of the program’s Innovation Fund, a main project component aiming to increase the access, use and demand for health services in Afghanistan,” he says. “We provide technical support to Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Health to help improve health awareness and change negative, threatening lifestyles into positive, healthy ones.”

Other Fulbright Scholars from Indonesia, South Africa, Mozambique, Papua New Guinea and Afghanistan have since enrolled in – and in some cases, already graduated from – Montclair State’s Master of Public Health program. Like Wassif, they are committed to bettering the lives and health of people in their home countries.

The little program that could

The Master of Public Health program enrolled its first 14 students in September 2009. This fall it has 49 students, including six international students, according to Health and Nutrition Sciences Associate Professor Lisa Lieberman, who coordinates the program. Five of them are Fulbright Scholars – one each from Afghanistan, Mozambique and Papua New Guinea and two from Indonesia.

This past July, after a three-year process, the Council on Education for Public Health officially accredited the program. “We thus anticipate an increased enrollment in the coming years for ‘our little program that could,’” says Lieberman.

A number of factors have contributed to the program’s growth and success, according to Director Amanda Birnbaum, chair of the Department of Health and Nutrition Sciences and the 2015 recipient of the National Academic Advising Association’s Outstanding Advising Award for Faculty Academic Advising.

“Public health is by its nature interdisciplinary and requires extensive collaboration between academics and practitioners, across disciplines, sectors and settings. This spirit has been present from the outset,” she explains. A strong fieldwork component also plays a large part in fostering student success, by allowing students to specialize in everything from public health planning and promotion to global health.

Birnbaum notes that the program’s keen focus on social justice and the elimination of health disparities has encouraged students, faculty and staff to unite around a common vision and purpose.

It is this mission that attracts American, international and Fulbright students who are passionate about doing a world of good by working to help everyone realize good health, say both Birnbaum and Lieberman.

Fernanda Andre was a dentist in Mozambique before pursuing her MPH.

A global perspective

“The Fulbright Scholars’ presence in our program is a tremendous blessing,” says Birnbaum, adding that the international students enhance the experience for students and faculty alike by sharing their perspectives on public health realities in their countries as well as their observations about public health in New Jersey and other parts of the United States.

Rose Andrew, a dentist from Papua New Guinea, has just begun the MPH program.

Fulbright Scholar Sivuyisiwe Wonci was Commencement 2015’s graduate student speaker. “Montclair State provided us with an opportunity to discover our passion, to acquire knowledge and skills that will enable us to make a difference by addressing inequalities related to health and basic human needs,” said Wonci, who has returned to her native South Africa to pursue a doctorate.

Specific to Indonesia, a program called PRESTASI is equivalent to the Fulbright program and is also administered by the Institute of International Education. PRESTASI Scholar Irma Hidayana, who received her MPH in May 2015, is a staunch proponent of breastfeeding and is working to increase the practice in Indonesia.

Returning home after graduation, she spent the summer documenting UNICEF’s best practices on Maternal and Young Child Nutrition Security in Asia. “I examined policy and intervention changes that contributed to the increase of breastfeeding by as much as 20 percent between 2011 and 2014,” she says.

Come spring, Hidayana will pursue her health education doctorate at Columbia University’s Teachers College, where she hopes to develop recommendations to shape Infant and Young Child Feeding (IYCF) practices in rural Indonesia. “After earning my doctorate, I will definitely return to Indonesia, where the greatest challenge to breastfeeding is the aggressive promotion of baby formula,” she says. “I want my fellow Indonesians to understand the advantages of breastfeeding and the risks of not breastfeeding for both mothers and babies.”

After earning her MPH, Irma Hidayana of Indonesia (left) returned there to help new mothers and promote the benefits of breastfeeding.

A healthy choice

PRESTASI Scholar and tobacco control advocate Kadek Ridoi “Doi” Rahayu is currently enrolled in Montclair State’s MPH program in order to meet professional goals. “My main interest is in making a better and healthier environment for children through smoke-free activities,” she says. “I need to build my skills culturally and professionally to be a leader in community health education.”

For her the MPH program’s focus on interdisciplinary academic and experiential learning and social justice is doing just that. “My professors are so helpful and they are all experts in their areas,” says Rahayu, a 2015 recipient of the Indonesian Ambassador’s Award for Academic Excellence. “‘It’s all here’ is not just a welcome sign, but a highly concise mission statement as well.”

Rahayu, who is currently completing fieldwork with New Jersey Global Advisors on Smokefree Policy, plans to return to Indonesia after graduation to work in public health at the Child Protection Agency in Bali, promoting choices that lead to a healthy lifestyle, particularly around tobacco.

Kadek Rahayo

A helping hand

Current Fulbright Scholar Fernanda Andre, a dentist from Mozambique, was one of three Fulbright Scholars from the tri-state area who was honored at the 2015 One To World annual Fulbright awards dinner.

“All of our Fulbrights are passionately  committed to improving the lives and  health of people in their nations.”

– Lisa Lieberman

Andre hopes to return to her homeland to build a healthier community and improve the country’s existing Maternal and Child Health Program after she graduates. “Unfortunately, oral health is considered a cosmetic issue rather than a general health issue in my home country,” she explains. “My goal after graduating is to help design and implement health promotion strategies for the people who need it most.”

Andre is passionate about educating children and pregnant women, believing that pregnant women who want healthy babies and children are eager to adopt positive health-related behavior changes. “I worked for almost eight years in rural areas where patterns of oral disease have carried on for generations,” she recalls, adding that she worked with local school systems and hospitals to create a viable health education network.

Montclair State’s MPH program is all she’d hoped for. “The experience and knowledge I am gaining here will help me meet my long-term goals,” she says. 

Enriching the lives of others

The World Health Organization defines health as the state of complete physical, mental and social well-being – not merely the absence of disease. “As a public health professional with a clinical background, I’ll be more successful in providing well-being for my patients,” says Dr. Abdul Hamid Elmyar, an Afghani pediatrician and second-year student in the MPH program.

Dr. Ahmad Rashed Wassif of Afghanistan was the first Fulbright Scholar of the MPH program.

Sivuyisiwe Wonci spoke at Commencement 2015.

Elmyar, a Fulbright Scholar, is particularly pleased he can concentrate on community health education at Montclair State. “Many Master of Public Health programs don’t have this concentration,” he says.

Elmyar plans to return to Afghanistan after he receives his degree next May. “I am determined to empower communities and enable individuals to improve their health by changing their behavior, enhancing health literacy and establishing effective communication between the communities and health sectors,” he says.

In September, according to Lieberman, two new Fulbright Scholars joined the ranks: Rose Andrew, a dentist from Papua New Guinea, and Inraini F. Syah, another Indonesian PRESTASI Scholar.

“I chose Montclair State because the program here is in line to my job back in my country,” Syah explains. While the semester is young, she is enjoying her professors’ focus on in-depth study and practical applications.

Once she receives her degree, Andrew plans to return to Papua New Guinea, to continue her work at the Papua New Guinea Health Ministry, coordinating the country’s oral health prevention program.

“I believe what I will learn here will equip me to take on public health challenges in my country.”

Syah learned about the University’s program from former students, who praised its professors as well as the support system for international students and its writing center. So far, Syah says, “the program has met all my expectations. The material in classes, discussions and readings are so interesting, and my professors and new friends are helpful and nice.”

“All of our Fulbrights are passionately committed to improving the lives and health of people in their nations,” says Lieberman. “Here they gain a very specific lens with which to view the health of their home populations. But what they bring here enriches our program, as well. They have shared their lives, their passions and their countries’ approaches and philosophies with all of us.”