Today’s NPHW daily theme is “Healthy Neighborhoods.” From Ethiopia to New York City to Washington State, AEF fellow Hannah Gorman is always focused on the health of the neighborhood she’s currently in.

It’s easy to draw a connection between Hannah Gorman’s favorite childhood book series, “Harriet the Spy,” and her eventual career in epidemiology. In those stories, Harriet observes her neighborhood, writes down what she sees and takes action based on the data she collects.

Sound familiar, fellow epis?

Gorman uses these same techniques daily as a CSTE Applied Epidemiology Fellow (AEF) at the Washington State Department of Health.

Her journey to public health and epidemiology is an interesting one. It started when Gorman took a “gap year” after high school and worked for a program for children in Ethiopia whose parents had either passed away or were unable to care for them, mostly due to HIV/AIDS.

It was this experience that led her to have a different view of what the word “health” means.

“[In Ethiopia] the kids themselves did not have HIV,” she said. “But they needed to go to a good school, they needed a house, they needed a place to live, they needed a parent that could care for them -- things that are very much a part of health, but we don't always think of as health. That opened my eyes.”

This “eye opening” kicked off Gorman’s mission to improve health within communities through a focus on the social determinants of health. Work that resonates strongly with today’s National Public Health Week theme, “Healthy Neighborhoods.”

Gorman studied Anthropology as an undergrad, but when choosing her next steps, she wanted something more on-the-ground and practical than purely academic.

“[Anthropology] helped give me a scholarly way to look at it, but I didn't feel like I had very concrete tools to practice it,” she said.

This realization led to her pursuing first teaching, and then a master’s in public health degree, where she was soon bitten by the epi bug.

“I was studying social and behavioral sciences, but I took one epidemiology class my first year and said, ‘I'm done. This is it. This is what I want to do.’”

While working a summer internship at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene during graduate school, Gorman connected with a former AEF fellow through her mentor. After learning about the program, she immediately applied.

“It just sounded like exactly what I wanted.”

As an official AEF fellow at the Washington State Department of Health, Gorman focused on two important areas of work: maternal and child health evaluation work and a Healthy Youth Survey designed to gather data on trends in youth health.

“That data we collect is used by our state to inform us about risk and protective factors for youth health behavior,” she said.

Gorman lists multiple highlights of her time as an AEF fellow, including presenting at the 2023 CSTE Annual Conference on her work studying multiple different ways of categorizing transgender youth. She is also helping to create guidance on how best to deal with sexual orientation and gender identity data.

“Essentially we're trying to create a best practice guide for the whole agency, to standardize how we deal with SOGI (Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity) data,” Gorman said. “So, for any data relating to sexual orientation, gender identity, or any other concepts, we're literally writing a guide for how people should handle that data.”

Gorman’s AEF journey has recently ended, but she looks forward to a full and productive career in public health. She recently began a new position as Healthy Youth Survey Epidemiologist & Coordinator. She credits AEF for the professional experience and something even more important: confidence.

“I just accepted a full-time position [as Healthy Youth Survey Epidemiologist & Coordinator at Washington State Health Department] and I feel much more assured going into that,” she said. “Because I've had this time to make mistakes and learn from them in a protected environment.”

Harriet would be proud.

Get involved! Learn more about CSTE’s Maternal and Child Health subcommittee and how to join. Interested in the CSTE AEF fellowship? Start here.