Jenn
ifer Gay, PhD
Dr. Jennifer Gay conducts research in the area of physical activity and public health. More specifically her interests include how built environment and social contexts influence physical activity in children, adolescents and adults. Since joining the University of Georgia, Dr. Gay has focused on the health benefits of occupational physical activity, measuring activity at work, and how to increase time spent in activity during work hours. Her other areas of interest include built and social environment determinants of activity, growth and maturation as indicators of decreases in physical activity, measurement and methodological issues in physical activity research, and program evaluation.
Meredith Wessel
Meredith Wessel is a fourth-year Health Promotion major with a minor in global health. She is originally from Mississippi but chose to attend UGA because of her interest in Public Health. She is working on an article screening project for a literature review that is based on how reliable articles are in predicting different measures of social environment using key words. Meredith is also working on a healthy aging study regarding biomarkers in physically active young adults compared to sedentary young adults, as well as a continuation of a study on college students and their caffeine consumption. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, exploring downtown Athens, and playing tennis with family and friends.
Jasmine Udeshi
Jasmine Udeshi is a third year Health Promotion major and Gerontology minor on the pre-med track. After graduating UGA, she plans to attend medical school and become an OBGYN. As someone with a passion for global health and wellness, Jasmine sits on the board of Rise Against Hunger’s Atlanta chapter and is a Healthy Dawg Ambassador on campus. She also volunteers at Piedmont Regional Hospital and works in the Post Anesthesia Care Unit at Emory. Over the summer of 2021, Jasmine became a nationally certified phlebotomist and hopes to use her skills to promote health and wellness in her community. In her free time, Jasmine loves to travel and play tennis!
Madeline Kerestman
Madeline Kerestman is a fourth year Health Promotion major on the Premedical Track with a minor in Health Policy & Management. After graduating, Madeline plans to attend medical school and become a dermatologist. Madeline serves as the President of Kappa Delta Sorority, is a member of the American Medical Student Association, and is the Team Leader of the Mobile Clinic Volunteer Program at the AU/UGA Medical Partnership. She is passionate about connecting with the community by volunteering with the Foodbank of Northeast Georgia and working as an intern at Pūrvelo. During the summer of 2023, Madeline worked full-time as a dermatology medical assistant and applied to medical school. In her free time, Madeline loves to travel, read her favorite books, and spend time with her family & friends.
Abby Huggins
Abby Huggins is a Health Promotion major with an emphasis in Behavioral Science and a minor in Classical Culture. She is on the pre-medical track and plans on pursuing a career as an Orthopedic surgeon. Abby is involved with Kappa Delta sorority, Med-life, and a daycare volunteer at Athens Area Homeless shelter. Abby also volunteers at Piedmont Hospital. She loves traveling, spending time with friends and family, and cooking!
Melat Mekonnen
Melat Mekonnen is a fourth-year health promotion major. She is from Lilburn, Georgia but was originally born in Ethiopia and came to the United States when she was two. She is involved in genetics research, is a community service assistant, and is also a member of the organization Black Felicity. She was also the community service ambassador for the National Council of Negro Women and is on her third semester of volunteering at Piedmont Athens Regional Hospital. She hopes to one day work at the CDC as a Field Epidemiologist. In her free time, she likes to weightlift, bake, and go running!
Bansari Shah
Bansari Shah is a third-year Health Promotion major with an emphasis in Behavioral Medicine. She plans to apply to medical school to pursue a career as a pediatrician. She volunteers with St. Mary’s Health Care System as a marketing intern to write health and wellness articles for their blog. She is the events chair of UGA India Night where she plans the mixer event for UGA’s largest student-led cultural event. In the summer of 2022, she was certified as a pharmacy technician. In her free time, she likes baking, traveling, and going on hikes!
Micole Sy
Micole Sy is a third-year Biology major with minors in Public Health and Sociology. She is on the pre-medical track in hopes of attending medical school to be a pediatrician. Micole has lived all over the world but is from the Philippines and moved to the US when she was 11. She is involved with ESP, Doctors without Borders, and Phi Delta Epsilon. She also is one of the social media coordinators for the Women in Science and VAW Medical Spring 2023 team. Micole is a CSA for Myers Hall and a volunteer at Piedmont Hospital. She loves to travel, read, and watch movies in her free time.
Anastasiya Viryaskina
Anastasiya Viryaskina is a fourth-year Biology and Psychology major. She is from Alpharetta, Georgia but was originally born in Uzbekistan and moved to the United States when she was a year old. Anastasiya is involved in neuroimaging research with CHARM Lab and is dedicated to actively participating in her community by volunteering at Mercy Health center, Bigger Vision Homeless Shelter and UGArden. Anastasiya also is a member of the UGA Women’s Rugby Team and contributes to the team’s recruitment efforts. At the start of 2023, Anastasiya became a certified clinical medical assistant and looks forward to becoming a Physician Associate in the future. In her free time, she enjoys weightlifting, traveling, and spending time with friends and family.
Emily Raeside
Emily Raeside is a 3rd-year Health Promotion major with a minor in Global Health. She plans to continue her education, pursuing her masters in Public Health. Emily is a Peer Learning Assistant in Concepts of Biology and enjoys tutoring students of all ages. She is a coach for Kilometer Kids, a youth running program, teaching the importance of building healthy behaviors including exercise. In her spare time, she enjoys running, playing intramural sports, and cheering on the 49ers and Georgia Bulldogs.
ALUMNI
Madison Picklesimer
Madison Picklesimer graduated with a BS in Health Promotion with an emphasis in Health Services and a minor in Health Policy and Management in 2023. Following graduation she began a Physician Assistant program at South College – Atlanta. Her topics of interest include gerontology, sexual abuse prevention and awareness, and mental health. In her spare time she enjoys going to the gym, dancing, and hanging out with family and friends.
Rithika Archinapalli
Rithika Archinapalli graduated with a BS in Health Promotion with an emphasis in Health Services in 2023. She enrolled in a Physician Assistant program at South College – Atlanta with the goal of becoming a Physician Assistant while also working for a non-profit public health program. She is originally from Cleveland, OH, but she moved to Cumming, GA before staring at UGA. She is excited to assist in data collection and outreach. Her interests include heart disease prevention, menstrual health, and vaccination promotion. In her free time, Rithika likes to play tennis, do yoga, go hiking, cook, and hang out with friends and family
Katie Tran
Katie Tran is a Biology major who is pre-med and hopes to one day work as a radiologist. Her passions include nonfiction reading, running outside, and volunteering at the Mercy Health Center.
Marcus Dumas, MPH
Marcus Dumas graduated in 2021 and is now Lecturer in the Department of Health Promotion and Behavior at The University of Georgia’s College of Public Health. His topics of interest include adolescent health, minority health, urban health, sexual health, and health equity. He also holds a graduate degree in Biomedical Science with a concentration in Organization Development and Leadership from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine and received his MPH in Health Education and Promotion from Morehouse School of Medicine. A health educator by training, Marcus enjoys working with youth and young adults which led him to a career in education, teaching Public Health and Community Health courses at Georgia Perimeter College (now Perimeter College at Georgia State University), the University of Georgia, and Morehouse School of Medicine. He has aspirations of developing a non-profit Community Health Facility for youth and adolescents living in urban communities and linking this to a university to teach the clinical side of public health. Outside of work and school, Marcus enjoys public speaking and is very active with his fraternity where he volunteers with Project Alpha – a national program designed to educate and support young males in middle and high school.
Chantal Laflamme
Chantal Laflamme majored in Health Promotion with a minor in Health Policy and Management. After graduating from UGA she moved to Columbia, SC to purse an MPH in Health Policy and Management. She worked in Dr. Glenn Weaver’s lab as a Graduate Research Assistant. She now works as a Project Manager at Epic doing implementation monitoring. Chantal assisted with the PAL evaluation project and was co-author on two published papers from a systematic literature review on stair use and mental health and the use of RFID technology for physical activity measurement.
Marilyn Wolff, PhD, MPH
Marilyn Wolff currently works at the CDC as a program evaluator in the WorkLife Wellness office. In her spare time, Marilyn enjoys traveling, jogging, playing hockey and frisbee, and reading (especially on the beach!).
Catriona Gedde
s
Catriona Geddes is a graduate of the PACE Lab. After graduating from UGA she enrolled in an accelerated nursing program with Augusta University. At UGA, she was a CURO Honors Scholar and majored in sociology with a minor in Spanish.
Kathryn Wyckoff
Kathryn Wyckoff currently works for ABT Associates in Atlanta. At UGA she majored in psychology with a minor in public health.
Erika Rees-Punia, PhD
Erika Rees-Punia gradated with her PhD from the Department of Kinesiology. She has Master of Public Health degree from Emory University. Erika held a pre-doctoral fellowship for the American Cancer Society and a summer fellowship at the National Cancer Institute. Now she is a post-doctoral fellow at the American Cancer Society in Atlanta.
Rhiannon Euhus
Rhiannon Euhus graduated from UGA with degrees in Statistics and Health Promotion. She was a member of the PACE Lab for three years, where she participated in a variety of projects focused on diabetes and exercise, mapping physical activity with accelerometer data, measuring exposure to greenspace, and Vitamin D deficiency among college students. She has a career interest in health policy, epidemiology, global health and infectious disease, and took a position with the Laura and John Arnold Foundation in Washington, DC as a Health Care Analyst after graduation.
Rose
mary Corriero
Rosemary Corriero is originally from South Carolina and finished her MPH at the University of Georgia in 2016. She worked on the Physical Activity and Learning (PAL) program. She currently is an ORISE Fellow at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Her research interests include the intersection of health policy and health promotion, as well as cancer prevention and education, women’s health, HPV and HPV vaccination.
Kaitlyn Pannell
Kaitlyn Pannell has her BS in Health Promotion and finished her MPH at the University of Georgia in 2016. She assisted with the process evaluation, including school observations and data reporting, for the Physical Activity and Learning (PAL) program. Her interests include obesity prevention, specifically among youth, and employee wellness programming. In her free time, Kaitlyn likes to travel, read, play soccer, and hang out with family and friends.