Marta Cieslak MPH ’10 is currently the president of the Public Health Alumni Association (PHAA) Board of Directors. She received her MPH degree in Health Policy and Management. Her interests include Lean methodology, operational excellence, coaching / mentoring, and population health. She also serves as an advisor to early stage health technology startups.
Q. What motivated you to become involved in the Public Health Alumni Association?
A.During my time at the School of Public Health, I was exposed to alumni from past years, who dedicated their time when I was a student. I recall the exposure to alumni being so critical to my professional development that I wanted to be able to provide that same experience to current students. The PHAA board is a great opportunity to provide such opportunities to students on a larger scale—by organizing networking events, professional development webinars, and mentorship opportunities.
Q. What would you like to see PHAA accomplish while you are president?
A. One of the PHAA goals is to create networking opportunities for both students and alumni. In recent years, we have been focused on forming collaborations with other Schools of Public Health alumni groups to organize various networking events. These collaborations have been very successful and we would like to continue to expand our network and reach by tapping into new partnerships. These partnerships could be with other professional organizations or student groups that have similar goals and values as PHAA. The hope and intent of these partnerships is that they will yield professional opportunities for current students and alumni, offer professionals in the field with a possible recruitment pipeline, and provide additional visibility in the community for the partnership organizations.
Q. What are some of the challenges facing PHAA? What are some of the opportunities?
A. One of the main challenges for PHAA is having visibility in the student and alumni community, especially outside of the Bay Area. The other piece to this challenge is how do we continue to keep people engaged year after year once they learn about our group and what we can offer.
We have a very motivated group of board members that are constantly brainstorming and iterating on efforts from years’ prior by incorporating feedback and adjusting our strategy accordingly for the following year. This year we are trying new types of activities in the Bay Area to engage folks, who otherwise may not have participated in past events. These activities include hiking outings, speed networking events, and student-alumni dinners. We also have board members who reside in Southern California, who are helping us gain visibility in a different market other than the Bay Area and spearheading events in that region. Lastly, I think there’s an opportunity to create a brand for PHAA and leverage that brand by increasing our presence on social media, which we are working on.
Through these efforts, we hope to fulfill our mission and goals of creating professional development and networking opportunities, as well as promoting diversity and inclusion, within the student and alumni community.
Q. What would you like to say to your classmates and fellow alumni?
A.I truly had an amazing experience at the School of Public Health in terms of the quality of education and building lifelong connections with my classmates both professionally and socially.
To my classmates and fellow alumni, I would strongly encourage your participation in the alumni community to keep alive the tradition and spirit of UC Berkeley’s School of Public Health. Go Bears!