Dartmouth Institute MPH Student Spotlight: Tarun Jella
Before enrolling in The Dartmouth Institute’s MPH program, Tarun Jella worked as a community organizer in Cleveland, Ohio, developing voter engagement and advocacy tools for limited access communities. He also helped to manage a statewide campaign to reallocate resources from incarcerating low-level drug offenders to new treatment and rehabilitation centers for those struggling with addiction. It was while working on the ground with individuals and communities across Ohio that Jella says he came to “understand that public health needed to be understood more expansively to incorporate human rights, socioeconomics, and political equity.” Programs and policies that address health disparities, civic engagement on the part of patients and clinicians, and reform of medical education— these are some of the most pressing needs not just in healthcare but in Americans’ lives right now, Jella says. With medical school as his eventual goal, Jella continually seeks a balance between professional development and personal accountability for systemic injustice—a theme he hopes will carry throughout his career.
Areas of Interest:
- Racial differences in infant mortality, as well as other issues effecting low socioeconomic/underserved populations
Dartmouth Institute Deliverables:
- Solid understanding of the policymaking process
- Implementation planning
- A quantitative toolkit of conducting health services research
"I want to investigate the blind spots in our healthcare system and imagine new ways to build political will to push programs and policies that will benefit those who are most vulnerable."
POSTED 9/4/2018 AT 11:43 AM IN #mph on-campus