Student Spotlight: Divya Kaushal, MPH'26

Divya Kaushal aspires to a career as an ophthalmologist and retinal surgeon. To better support her patients’ health, she intends to develop policy frameworks to promote equitable access to the nutritious foods that can be used to manage—and even reverse—chronic disease. To gain the skills she’ll need to champion evidence-based policy, she enrolled in Dartmouth’s hybrid public health program (MPH).  

The MPH cohort whose hybrid studies began in July 2024 boasts a surgeon, a pharmacist, and doctors, as well as more recent graduates of bachelor’s degree programs. Kaushal, who already earned a master’s of science in human nutrition at Columbia University, says that to the best of her knowledge, she is the only person in the cohort with a second master’s degree. “This cohort is a great melting pot for learning and bouncing ideas off of one another,” she says. “It makes discussions really interesting.”  

Kaushal makes the commute to Hanover for intensive weeks of on-campus study from Gainesville, FL, where she currently works as an ophthalmic scribe and assistant administrator at Comprehensive Retina Consultants, a suite of four central Florida ophthalmic clinics founded by her father. Kaushal also has ongoing appointments as a clinical research assistant to the Florida Lions Retinopathy Foundation, and as a research assistant to a professor at the University of South Florida’s College of Pharmacy. Publications she’s coauthored include a book chapter on cellular understanding of viral diseases, several papers on therapeutic use of small interfering RNA, and a review of nanomaterials for ophthalmic applications. Her undergraduate honors thesis at University of South Florida compared the efficacy of copper-zinc nanoparticles and lactobacillus, the microbe behind yogurt, to mitigate COVID-19. 

“One of the main things that appealed to me about Dartmouth’s public health program was the integration of health policy and clinical practice,” says Kaushal, whose undergraduate studies included stints as an undergraduate laboratory research assistant to a diabetes investigator and a scientist exploring the potential of nanotechnology to combat drug-resistant bacteria and emerging infectious diseases. “Dartmouth is very research driven, and the opportunity to work with faculty on evidence-based policy is a big deal to me.”  

Kaushal traces her passion for the power of nutrition to affect chronic disease to her four years as an administrator assistant to “Can Chronic Diseases Be Reversed?” The annual conference, organized by her father, brought together clinicians and scientists to discuss strategies for integrating nutraceutical and pharmaceutical interventions to manage such chronic diseases as Alzheimer’s, autoimmune disorders, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, and Parkinson’s. Consider, says Kaushal, the plight of a person with age-related macular degeneration. There’s a prescription injection that can slow disease progression, but insurance typically only covers one treatment every six weeks. “Sometimes people might need it more often,” she explains, “and they have to pay out of pocket.” Behavioral change—regular exercise and a plant-based diet rich in a variety of antioxidants—can be a more affordable alternative. “That can help their ocular health,” says Kaushal, “because everything is interconnected.” 

For Kaushal, enrollment in Dartmouth’s hybrid program has sustained her own interconnection, living with her parents and brother, and sharing family meals. Her current culinary kick, fast-casual-style burrito bowls, features components she makes from scratch each morning, including cilantro-lime rice and homemade salsa and guacamole. Living in Gainesville has also sustained a kick Kaushal picked up during her nutrition studies. Growing up in central Florida, Kaushal was an avid tennis player. She was studying biochemistry when the 2022 New York Marathon passed below her apartment window. “I was like, I’m not a runner, I’ve hated it my entire life,” says Kaushal. Embracing the challenge to stay fit, she signed up for the 2023 marathon, and has now determined to run a half-marathon in every state across the U.S., including a race in Shelburne, VT, in fall 2025. “I love running halfs,” she says. “You get your runner’s high, but it’s not too exhausting.”

Written by: Sharon Tregaskis

POSTED 1/10/2025 AT 11:32 AM IN #studentspotlight