Victoria Umutoni’ 21 Discusses her Professional Journey during the COVID-19 pandemic
by David Cohen
Current Master in Public Health student Victoria Umutoni ’21 is in the Global Health track. She reflected on her practicum and professional outlook in a recent interview.
Umutoni had initially planned to travel to West Africa, but had to shift to another internship. Her practicum was with Vanderbilt’s Emerging Infections Program, a population-based surveillance network. Her work with colleagues Bentley Akoko ’21 and Lin Ammar ’21 was for COVID surveillance. Umutoni reviewed medical chart of laboratory confirmed hospitalized COVID patients and assemble data for the CDC. She also worked on a descriptive report of hospitalized COVID cases and an emergency preparedness report for the Emerging Infectious Program. She notes that her practicum was “a great learning experience in surveillance tracking”.
Umutoni expressed significant gratitude to the M.P.H. program for its support and guidance in her development. “I was very interested in research, but I didn’t know what field I wanted to work in. Vanderbilt’s program confirmed my interests in Global health and Epidemiology. I want to use my research skills to conduct studies that will influence and change health policy in the future… I was also really amazed how the M.P.H. program was able to help us find a practicum quickly that related to our interests… I thought making changes in public health was easy, but my experiences showed me that it is a field that requires a lot of collaboration with other sectors” said Umutoni.
Although Umutoni only has a few months left in her program, she is grateful for joining Vanderbilt on her journey into the public health sector. “Because we are such a small group of students, we receive a lot of support and attention from professors and advisors. At Vanderbilt, I have received a rigorous training, great mentorship, created connections and I look forward to putting into practice what I have learned” said Umutoni.
Quotes have been edited for clarity and length.