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Scholarships, fellowships and internships offer donors the opportunity to provide a university education for deserving students and to recruit the very best students for the academic and research programs within the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health. Donations can also provide travel experiences for students to attend and present their research at professional conferences.

General Scholarships

Global Scholarships

Named Scholarships

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Support for Student Activities, Internships and/or Service Learning

An important part of a public health student's education is involvement in extracurricular organizations. Students in the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health are recognized for their leadership in national organizations, earning honors for their service projects and excelling in regional and national competitions.

Gifts to the Student Activities’ fund:

• help pay some of the costs of internship projects
• help pay some of the costs of service learning courses
• help pay some of the costs of the annual Social Justice Conference organized by the students
• supplement travel budgets so that students can attend national meetings
• underwrite recognition of outstanding student achievements, and
• support other activities that foster professionalism.

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Meet Our Scholarship Students

Every year, our students and their benefactors gather together to share a meal and connect a face to the name to complete the circle of giving at the annual Scholarship Luncheon.

It is a day when we express our deep gratitude to those who generously open doors for our students in need. We celebrate the students, many of whom have risen above great odds to pursue their college degree. We acknowledge that without the help of donor support, the dreams of a higher education and a better future may not have been possible.

“This event is truly the highlight of our year and represents what we are all about,” said Iman Hakim, dean and professor of the UA Zuckerman College of Public Health. “Matching the passion of our donors with our students that have a dream to earn a degree and make an impact on the world through public health.”

2019-2020 Scholarship Recipients

Thanks to the generosity of our donors, the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health was able to award 88 scholarships for the 2019-2020 academic year. 

Armando Romero-Garma

Degree: BS – Public Health, BA - Global Studies, Spanish Minor
Awards: Chicanos Por La Causa/Zuckerman Family Foundation Scholarship
Armando is from Nogales, Arizona, which is where he first got to experience medicine and helping people who needed it most while volunteering at St. Andrew’s Children’s Clinic as a translator. He is a public health major with an emphasis in global health, as well as a global studies major with concentration in global health and a Spanish Minor. He has a desire to go into the medical field and pursue a career in orthopedics, with a concentration in either pediatrics or sports medicine. His ultimate goal is to either participate in an international medical group that provides medical assistance to people in countries where the help is needed or develop his own NGO that would work in rural areas within the United States or aid Border towns.

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Rowena Davis

Degree/Concentration: MPH – Family and Child Health– Global Healthstrong>
Award: Kent and Liz Campbell International Public Health Internship Endowment Award
Over the summer, Rowena completed an internship in partnership with Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania forged by Dr. Aminata Kilungo. She traveled with a recent MUHAS graduate to neighborhoods in and around Dar es Salaam to gain knowledge of the on–the–ground water and sanitation situation in primary schools, resources that have been provided to the schools, and resources the teachers would deem helpful to address the critical need for students to have adequate handwashing stations and sufficient toilet facilities. Rowena would like to work with local governments, agencies and entities to coordinate needs, resources, and delivery of resources with national and international non–profit and government agencies to ensure uptake and usability of aid. As a result, her future career goals involve looking internationally at the intersection of research, large aid agencies, and local people and organizations.

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Tanner Mihesuah

Degree/Concentration: MPH – Health Service Administration
Award: Zuckerman Native American Scholarship
Tanner hopes to tackle and alleviate health disparities affecting Native populations in the southwest.

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Namoonga Mantina

Degree/Concentration: MS/PhD – Health Behavior Health Promotion
Award: College of Public Health Community Advisory Board Scholarship
Namoonga’s research interests are in racial/ethnic health equity, cross–cultural health, organizational justice and sleep. While at MEZCOPH, she hopes to gain expertise in the utilization of behavioral change models to impact long term health outcomes. At the culmination of her academic pursuits, Namoonga hopes to work in public health at the community level using community mobilization and participation to foster the development effective normative cultures of health and wellbeing within the respective social/cultural contexts.

2018-2019 Scholarship Recipients

Thanks to the generosity of our donors, the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health was able to award 60 scholarships for the 2018-19 academic year.

Graciela (Zonnie) Olivas
Degree/Concentration: BS – Public Health, Pre-Health Thematic Minor
Awards: Chicanos Por La Causa/Zuckerman Family Foundation Scholarship; Dr. Erlinda Tejada Rodriquez Scholarship: The Victoria Foundation, Mel and Enid Zuckerman Scholarship
Zonnie’s academic interests include participating in minority health research serving Latino and Native American populations. Zonnie plans to pursue an MPH in Epidemiology and possibly further her education with a doctorate or professional degree. Her career goals include using her education to give back to underserved Arizona communities and address the health disparities these populations face. She believes that continuing her education will help her acquire both the knowledge and expertise needed to view health on a wider scope of practice and achieve improvements in overall community health.

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Nicolas Lopez-Galvez
Degree/Concentration: PhD – Environmental Health Sciences
Award: College of Public Health Community Advisory Board Scholarship
Nicolas is grateful to the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health for giving him the opportunity to develop his research skills in different environmental health projects in order for him to reach his final objective of serving the marginalized communities along the U.S.-Mexico border region. His current research project and dissertation focuses on migrant farmworkers’ exposure to heat and pesticides and the association of these occupational risk factors to health outcomes such as chronic kidney disease. After completing his PhD, Nicolas plans to stay in academia to research methods to improve the working and living conditions of migrant farmworkers.

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Priscila Ruedas
Degree: BS – Public Health
Awards: Hispanic Women’s Corporation/Zuckerman Family Foundation/The Victoria Foundation Student Scholarship; Lorriane H. Lee Chicanos Por La Causa Scholarship
Priscila plans to pursue a dual JD/MPH degree and work in immigration law. Her career goals are to serve the Hispanic community by focusing on border health disparities and bridge the gaps in Latinx population’s health outcomes in the U.S. by bringing awareness, resources and policy change in favor of the Latinx community.

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Dora Valencia
Degree: MPH – Family and Child Health
Award: SueBob Scholars Endowment
Dora’s academic interests include global health, French and Francophone Studies, and breast cancer epidemiology research. She hopes to work for the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) in order to expand cancer prevention strategies across Latin America.

2017-2018 Scholarship Recipients

Thanks to the generosity of our donors, the Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health was able to award 47 scholarships for the 2017-2018 academic year.

During this year's event, Mel and Enid Zuckerman were honored in a video tribute for their continued financial support to the College that bares their names and commitment to the University of Arizona.

Mr. Zuckerman also spoke at the event expressing his pride in the accomplishments of the college and particularly in the students who upon graduation will go out into the world and make a difference to improve the health of underserved minority populations.

Christina Harris
Degree: BS, Public Health
Award: George H. Dean – The Victoria Foundation Scholarship

“This scholarship has made it possible for me to take my focus off of the financial stresses and to open myself up to experiences that will ultimately help me continue to grow as a future public health professional.”

Christina she spent the summer as an Undergraduate Research Opportunities Consortium Minority Health Disparities Scholar researching roles of education and competency in the public health workforce. She is also very involved with the UA Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, where she serves as a student ambassador and the social chair of the Public Health Undergraduate Network while working as the student assistant in the Office of the Associate Dean of Academics. Christina plans to pursue an MPH in Health Behavior Health Promotion and an MBA with an emphasis in health care. She aspires to work in hospital administration after completing her education.

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Hershel Clark, Diné
Degree/Concentration: MPH, Family and Child Health
Award: Zuckerman Native American Scholarship

“I am passionate and committed to the field of public health to help develop best practice methods to improve the health care system and address problems of health inequalities that American Indians face today.”

Hershel’s passion is to raise awareness and foster solutions for the adverse social determinants of health that tribal communities face. He also has a passion for expanding the disciplinary study of American India Studies within the world of public health. After completing his MPH, Hershel plans to work in tribal, state or federal governments to help develop best practice methods to improve the health care systems and health disparities challenges that American India communities face.

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Teresa Sosa
Degree/Concentration: MPH, Health Behavior Health Promotion
Award: Hispanic Women’s Corp., Zuckerman Family Foundation and The Victoria Foundation Student Scholarship

“This scholarship literally allows me to finish my degree, as I will have exhausted federal student loans next semester. Aside from the academic rigors of graduate school, financial stressors can prevent student retention and completion – and this scholarship helps alleviate those stressors.”

As the first member of her family to graduate from college and attend graduate school, Teresa attributes her public health calling to personal experiences, political activism and volunteering for the nation’s first AIDS service organization, facilitating HIV prevention and education workshops which led to a full-time job. Teresa’s primary public health interests include sexuality and reproductive health, focusing on harm reduction, STI/HIV prevention and college populations. She would also like to work with LGBTQIA communities to create population-centered health education and promotion interventions by eliminating stigma and shame, particularly in the Latino/a/x community. Her future plan is to teach at a Hispanic-serving community college in the areas of sexual and reproductive health by improving culturally relevant educational interventions for better outcomes.

2015-2016 Scholarship Recipients

Meet the four outstanding students who spoke at the Annual Scholarship Luncheon at Tucson's historic Arizona Inn on Oct 30, 2015. Listen to their amazing personal stories and find out what inspired them to choose public health.

Cesia Barrales

Degree: Bachelor of Science
Scholarship:  Chicanos Por La Causa/Zuckerman Family Foundation

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Christiana Owusu-Ankomah

Degree: MPH / Family & Child Health
Scholarship:  Joel Valdez Scholarship

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Robert Clark

Degree: MPH / Family & Child Health
Scholarship: Zuckerman Family Foundation

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Tracey Cayatineto

Degree: MPH / Public Health Practice
Scholarship: Helen and Raymond Sarocco

2014-2015 Scholarship Recipients

Four students spoke at the Annual Scholarship Luncheon held at the historic Arizona Inn in Tucson. Listen to their amazing personal stories and see what inspired their path to public health.

Abel Kebede

Degree: MPH / Public Health Practice

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Carmella Kahn-Thornbrugh

Degree: DrPH / Maternal & Child Health

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Marica Martinic

Degree: MPH / Public Health Practice

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Stephanie Morales

Degree: MPH / Health Behavior & Health Promotion

2013-2014 Scholarship Recipients

Five students spoke at the Annual Scholarship Luncheon held at the historic Arizona Inn in Tucson. Listen to these amazing personal stories of triumph over hardship and how they developed a passion for public health.

Justine Pangilian

Degree: BS/Major in Public Health

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Cornel Popescu

Degree: MPH/Public Health Practice

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Diana Perez-Ramirez

Degree: MPH/Public Health Practice

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Chinagozi Ugwu

Degree: MPH/Epidemiology

2012-2013 Scholarship Recipients

Five students spoke at the Annual Scholarship Luncheon held at the historic Arizona Inn in Tucson on November 2, 2012. Listen to these amazing personal stories of triumph over hardship and how they developed a passion for public health.

Cherisse Holiday

Degree: MPH/Public Health Practice

Charisse grew up on the Navajo reservation in North Eastern Arizona. She plans to return home after graduation to assist her community with issues such as diabetes program management and development and obesity prevention and management.

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Christina Ore de Boehm

Degree:DrPH/Public Health Policy and Management

Christina has worked for more than sixteen years with American Indian/Alaska Native tribes and tribal organizations on a range of public health projects. Her aspiration is to continue working in support of tribal self-determination, supporting both indigenous ways of knowing and practices and western evidence based public health.

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Gabrielle Price

Degree: BS in Public Health

Gabrielle was diagnosed with periodontal disease last year and had to spend her savings on treatment. Her career goal is to become a community dietitian, helping members of the Black community and individuals with eating disorders improve their health.

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Yoshira Ornelas

Degree: MS/Environmental Health Sciences

Yoshira is the first person in her family to attend college. She hopes to one day earn her PhD in environmental health and make an impact in her community by focusing on infectious diseases and exposure to hazardous chemicals.

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Luis Valdez

Degree: MPH/Health Behavior and Health Promotion

Luis is a first-generation immigrant from Mexico and the first in his family to attend college. He intends to utilize his education to help promote health education in the Tucson community.

2011-2012 Scholarship Recipients

Five students spoke at the Annual Scholarship Luncheon held at the historic Arizona Inn in Tucson on Oct. 21, 2011. Listen to these amazing personal stories of triumph over hardship and how they developed a passion for public health.

Leaton Jones

Degree: BS in Public Health

Leaton joined the U.S. Army after High School and trained as a Combat Medic. As an Iraq war veteran, he has witnessed first-hand, the consequences of a lack of general education, access to healthcare and widespread poverty.

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Daniela Larson

Degree: MPH in Public Health Practice

Daniela was born in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, to a single mother who worked two jobs to provide for two children. She arrived in the U.S. in 2005 to attend college at the University of Arizona. Daniela is the only woman in her family with a college education.

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Mabel Owusu-Ankomah

Degree: MPH with a concentration in Epidemiology.

Born and raised in Ghana, West Africa, Mabel is the oldest of four children. Her interest in public health began at an early age when she watched her nine year old cousin die from the lack of access to proper medication.

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Janée Walsh

Degree: MPH in Health Behavior & Health Promotion and MS in Latin American Studies

At the age of nine, Janée was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes and it changed the course of her life. "My interest in public health stems from the wonderful support I received growing up as a type 1 diabetic." She hopes to work with Latino diabetic individuals and families to help recreate the type of community support networks she has access to.

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Lacie Yazzie

Degree: MPH in Public Health Policy & Management

Lacie is a Navajo Indian from Buffalo Springs, New Mexico where she was raised in a one room house with no running water until the age of 15. "The reason I choose a public health profession over becoming a medical doctor is the ability to treat an entire community rather than only one person. As American Indians, we care for our entire family, not just ourselves."

More Information

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