The Dartmouth Institute Graduates its Largest Class – A Distinguished Cohort of 103 Healthcare Innovators
Much excitement, joy, and applause rang through the air among The Dartmouth Institute’s graduates on Friday, June 11 during the Institute’s Class Day ceremony. The annual event was held in person at Dartmouth College’s Memorial Field for graduates and their guests and livestreamed for those participating virtually.
The special day brought many faculty, staff, and students together in person for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began, to recognize the well-deserved accomplishments of the next generation of public health and healthcare leaders. They gathered to celebrate the Institute’s largest-ever graduating class – 103 graduates – including 62 from the on-campus Master of Public Health program, 39 from the hybrid Master of Public Health program, one from the Master of Science in Healthcare Research program, and one from the PhD program.
Throughout the ceremony, the Class of 2021 embraced the ongoing charge to use their Dartmouth Institute training to advance and promote equity and social justice as core tenets of their work moving forward.
Keynote speaker and alumna Jocelyn Carter, MD, MPH’11, called upon the graduate to "be bold" with their ideas to "rethink, create, and implement more efficient, more effective, and more inclusive ways of structuring healthcare."
“There is an abundance of opportunities for redesign of traditional ways of doing things,” said Carter, a clinician-scientist, and a practicing internal medicine hospitalist at Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH). “Your time here at The Dartmouth Institute has likely fueled a heavy dose of curiosity and each of you will be spending the next part of your journeys piloting interventions or policy to help you answer those questions.” Carter’s own Dartmouth-Institute-inspired curiosity has led her to drive innovative solutions in her medical career at MGH, which includes serving as director of the Community CAre Transitions (C-CAT) initiative. The project links inpatients at high risk for hospital readmission with community health workers focused on closing gaps in care driven by social determinants of health.
The importance of advancing health equity and reducing health disparities was a shared emphasis among the two student speakers, Rian Hasson, MD, MPH’21, and Edgard E. Ngono, MPH’21. Both shared personal insights that touch the center of today’s pressing public health issues, from Black maternal mortality to immigration policy and unequal access to medical care. Hasson and Ngono encouraged their classmates to be at the forefront of leading change in their communities.
“I am inspired by the hunger within us all to learn. By our desire to show-up and show-out, and go out into this world and consistently make a difference,” said Hasson, a thoracic surgeon whose career interests include addressing disparities in lung cancer screening. “We were all doing this before we matriculated to The Dartmouth Institute. Today, and every day, I will celebrate the fact that each and every one of us has even more tools to continue on this journey, and we are not afraid to use them.”
“The COVID-19 crisis exposed and exacerbated the inequalities within the U.S. healthcare system,” said Ngono, who also served as the on-campus cohort’s class vice president. “At the time, I had my mind set on directly pursuing a career in medicine, but I knew that if the goal were to become the best healthcare provider I could possibly be, I had to learn more about the complex and uneven healthcare system in the U.S. I knew of no better place to do that than here at The Dartmouth Institute.”
The Dartmouth Institute’s Class of 2021 represents a distinguished group of individuals dedicated to driving change in policy and practice to improve both health and healthcare for all. During the ceremony, over 65 awards were given to recognize their scholarship, leadership, and commitment to social justice. After months of navigating a global pandemic and some of the toughest challenges facing public health and society to successfully complete their coursework, these healthcare innovators are poised and ready to continue making the world a better place.
Congratulations to the Class of 2021! See more highlights below.
Explore the Class Day 2021 Highlights:
All Photos from the Class Day Ceremony
Well-Wishes Video from The Dartmouth Institute Community
Video Recording of the Class Day Ceremony
Celebrating Our Graduates
In place of the traditional hooding ceremony, members of The Dartmouth Institute Class of 2021 share in the graduation celebration in full regalia from Hanover, NH to their homes across the country and around the world. Click below to scroll through the gallery of photos.
Awards and Honors
On-Campus MPH Independent Internship Awards (and their project and field sites)
- Emily Acker – The Lown Institute Hospitals Index: Communicating Findings from 2021 Rankings to Communities and Professionals; Lown Institute, Boston Massachusetts
- Mary Arakelyan – Safety in Numbers; Quantifying health worker perceptions of patient safety culture across OECD countries; Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, within the Health Division of the Directorate for Employment, Labour, and Social Affairs, Paris France
- Zion Iverson – A Careful and Kind Approach to Social Determinants of Health in the Patient Revolution Demonstration Clinic; The Patient Revolution
- Eija Kent – Early and Lasting Connections; Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center OB/GYN Department
- Julie Thompson – Using quantitative data analytics to illustrate the associations between air pollution, environmental justice, and health outcomes in Maryland; Community Engagement, Environmental Justice, and Health Center, University of Maryland
On-Campus MPH and MS Integrative Learning Experience Awards (and their project titles)
- Lucy Skinner – Redefining rurality: using hospital referral regions to investigate rural-urban health outcomes
- Amanda Coyle – Urban-rural disparities in child and adolescent mental and behavioral health in the US: a scoping review
Hybrid MPH Practicum Awards (and their project and field sites)
- Shannon Buxell – Hazardous Drug Handling in Healthcare Settings: Assessing the Impact of Compliance with New Standards; Providence St. Joseph Health System Pharmacy Clinical Services & Providence Cancer Institute, in Portland, Oregon
- Rachael Heitner – A Qualitative Study of Palliative Care Program Online Branding Practices; Center to Advance Palliative Care, NY
- Angela Ramponi – Assessing the Role of the AIM Model on Rural Accountable Care Organization Structural and Care Delivery; The Dartmouth Institute
- Martha Shepherd – A Bundle of Joy without the Bundle of Bills: Co-Production of a Maternity Bundle for an Employer-Based Healthcare Plan; Episodes of Care Office at Vanderbilt University Medical Center
- Katherine Stokes – Improving Perinatal Care Coordination between the Emergency Department and the Birthing Pavilion at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center; Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center
- Renée Wolff – Shifting Paradigms: Lessons Learned from Community Outreach during a Pandemic; Maine Medical Center & Main Access Immigrant Network, Portland, ME
- Cecilia Wu– Virtual Vestibular Training for Home Health Physical Therapists: A Quality Improvement Project; Boston University School of Public Health & Suburban Home Health
Henry Masters Award
Established in 2010 in memory of Dartmouth Institute student Henry Masters, this award honors students who are "continuing to carry Henry's torch" with making a lasting difference in health and healthcare, especially for underserved populations.
- Edgard Etoundi-Ngono, On-Campus Program
- Cecilia Wu, Hybrid Program
Dartmouth Institute Leadership Awards
This award recognizes students for their leadership skills and their capability to provide meaningful leadership in the most vulnerable markets across the United States.
- Parminder Deo, Hybrid Program
- Korie Rice, On-Campus Program
Social Justice Awards
The Dartmouth Institute Social Justice Award recognizes students who are improving public health
or healthcare by actively engaging in social justice issues to promote equity, peace, and justice. Awardees are nominated by Dartmouth Institute students, faculty and staff.
On-Campus Program:
- Alina L. Manko
- Blaise O'Malley
- Datta Sai Sarkar Goli
- Dylan J. Balcom
- Edgard Etoundi-Ngono
- Jacqueline A. Pogue
- Jason M. Stanley
- Jeffrey Crowell
- Justice M. Nagovich
- Korie Rice
- Lisa-Ann Ridley
- Mark A. Eid
- Mary Arakelyan
- Rupa Nallamothu
- Tessa Howard
- Timothy Hesselton
- Zion Iverson
Hybrid Program:
- Carson (CJ) Blomquist
- Cecilia Wu
- Erin George
- Jenna Murray
- Katherine Stokes
- Marjorie (Nikki) M. Gewirz
- Marlou Taenzer
- Mikhara Harvey
- Natalie Martinez
- Parminder Deo
- Rebecca Laird
- Rebecca Goldberg
- Renee Wolff
- Rian Hasson
- Sarah Probst
- Sharmin Hossain
- Tecla Coleman
- Yohann Ramilo
Delta Omega Honorary Public Health Society inductees
Hybrid Program:
- Parminder Deo
- Rian Hasson
- Rachael Heitner
- Rebecca Laird
On-Campus Program:
- Mary Arakelyan
- Charles Burney
- Amanda Coyle
- Ovya Ganesan
- Yang Liu
- Blaise O’Malley
- Julia Thompson
- Hena Waseem
Class Day Student Speakers
- Rian Hasson, Hybrid Program
- Edgard Etoundi-Ngono, On-Campus Program
Class Marshall
- Korie Rice, On-Campus Program
- Jenna Murray, Hybrid Program