Annual Report Feb 16 2021

Gina Dorsan, MPH ‘19
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“My passion is creating long term change
that’s going to benefi t people.”
Gina Dorsan knew she wanted to become a public health professional in 2010,
after the devastating earthquake in Haiti.
Dorsan knew she wanted to help the Haitians and any other underserved population
in any way she could. That year, she partnered with LDS Charities and assembled over 100 hygiene kits, and hasn’t
stopped working since to help minorities who are disproportionately affected by public health, especially during the
pandemic.
Since graduation, Dorsan has worked at Comagine Health, at the BYU Computer Science Department helping with
community engagement as a staff assistant, at Utah Valley University as an adjunct online instructor for HLTH
1100 Personal Health and Wellness for the Public Community Health Department, and at Ensign College, teaching
LS 103 Nutrition and Health as an Adjunct GE Faculty. She also volunteers at ARISE Project for Humanity, an
organization whose aim is to empower Haitian youth through mentoring.
In every setting Dorsan has been in, she has used the skills she acquired from the BYU MPH program. She said,
“One of the main skills needed in public health is to be able to form relationships so that people can trust you,
before you implement new programs.” Her experience in the MPH program, and skills in qualitative methods,
community engagement, and working with people, are exactly the kind of skills that have served her and those
around her in her current work.
For Dorsan, the most meaningful part of public health is the opportunity to create sustainable change. “That’s my
passion,” she said, “creating long term change that’s going to benefit people. If what I am involved in is going to
improve someone’s quality of life, then I did my part as a public health professional.”
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Victor Arredondo, Continued
improving zoning and all of the sudden people didn’t have enough to eat.
We had to switch quickly.”
Arredondo’s preparation through the BYU MPH program has guided him
through his career. He said, “It prepared me in what I know, in the way I
need to act, and the skills I need to accomplish my job. I’ve had tens of
interns and I haven’t had one that’s better prepared than the ones that come
from BYU.”
The most important thing that Arredondo’s education gave him was “The
vision that public health is a career where we lift people up as a group.”
He said, “If I didn’t have that vision, then my job would have been done
differently, I would have achieved different results, and I would not have
been able to meet the needs as I have so far.”
“
“Public health
is a career
where we lift
people up as a
group”
“
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