Substance Use Prevention Coordinator
City County Health District
Valley City, ND

What is your background?

I became interested in the Public Health program through my dual undergraduate degrees in Emergency Management and Anthropology at NDSU. I spent the first few years of my childhood in Harvey, ND and then moved to the bigger city of Minot, ND until I graduated high school and came to Fargo to attend NDSU. 

What did you specialize in at NDSU?

I specialized in Health Promotion.

How did the NDSU MPH prepare you for the workforce?

The Health Promotion track really emphasized community needs assessments and making sure that we are working to provide services that the community actually needs, not just what perceive the need to be. I think keeping that in mind in any work that I do in the workforce will be beneficial. 

What is your current position or academic pursuit?

I am working as the Substance Use Prevention Coordinator (with a focus on opioid use and overdose reduction) for Barnes County through the City-County Health District in Valley City, ND. How are you impacting the health of North Dakotans (answer as applicable)With the recent media attention to the impact that opioids are having across the United States, the work that I am doing is important to North Dakotans by improving their access to treatments and services, along with life-saving medicines, such as Narcan, to help improve lives and save lives of those in North Dakota while also working to reduce the stigma attached to opioid use and overdose.