Current Fellows
2025-2027 Cohort
Emily Oetzman
Wood County Health Department
Emily Oetzman is a born and raised Wisconsinite from Lodi. She earned her Bachelor’s of Individualized Studies in Sociology, Public Health, and Population Studies with a minor in Leadership from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities and her Master of Public Health concentrated in Leadership in Practice from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. Emily got her start in public health in her youth, when she started a chapter of FACT— Wisconsin’s peer-to-peer tobacco and nicotine education and prevention program— at her high school. Emily has experience with multiple health departments across Wisconsin, in substance use prevention, environmental health, and program creation. Emily’s public health interests lie in furthering equity centered policy and practices, as well as using social marketing as a tool to further public health programs and ideas. In her free time, Emily enjoys reading, concerts, photography, and volunteering with Camp Kesem.
Huda Ahmed
Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin
Huda Ahmed’s journey in public health began in Sudan, where she received her Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery from the University of Khartoum. She later received a second bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas at Dallas and in May 2025 received her MPH from the Medical College of Wisconsin, marking a milestone in her aspirations in working in public health. During her MPH field placement, Huda worked with the City of De Pere Health Department, contributing to their Health in All Policies (HiAP) approach. Huda worked with the public health department to lay the foundation for this initiative by educating local departments about this collaborative approach and presenting it to the Board of Health. Continuing this work, Huda’s capstone project focused on health equity and the integration of Health in All Policies approach. Outside of Huda’s professional pursuits, she is a mother of four, enjoys cooking, and walking and biking outdoors with her family.
Claire Bess
Rock County Public Health & Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Tobacco Prevention & Treatment Program
Claire is originally from Springfield, Illinois. She earned a B.A. from Augustana College, double majoring in Geography and Sociology & Anthropology, with minors in Public Health and Geographic Information Systems and Technology. Her undergraduate capstone project explored food security among refugee populations in the Quad Cities area. Claire completed her Master of Public Health at the University of Pittsburgh, concentrating in Health Policy and Management. During her graduate studies, she worked as a student research assistant with the Pitt Health Policy Institute Medicaid Research Center. She also completed her practicum internship with the UPMC Health Plan Center for Social Impact, where, among other projects, she contributed to the development of the City of McKeesport, PA Social Determinants of Health Accelerator Plan as part of the project support team. Claire is interested in food assistance programs and policy and is passionate about improving policy for more equitable and efficacious implementation.
Kelly Gill
Wisconsin Department of Children & Families & Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Children & Youth with Special Health Care Needs
Kelly grew up in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Kelly worked as a second grade teacher, where she loved building relationships with her students and making learning fun. Through this experience, she was inspired to learn more about how she could improve the health and well-being of children and their families. She received her MPH in Maternal and Child Health at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities. During her graduate career, she completed an internship with Minnesota’s Department of Health where she wrote a policy brief advocating for legislation to ensure respectful maternity care in Minnesota. She also worked as an intern with the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services supporting their Title V Needs Assessment by performing qualitative data analyses. In her free time, Kelly loves to enjoy Madison’s many lakes and parks, try new coffee shops, read lots of books, and go thrift shopping.
Brooke Ramusack
Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Immunization Program & HIV Care Services Program
Brooke Ramusack received her B.S. is Community Health from Indiana University -Bloomington before attending the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee for her MPH with a concentration in Community Behavioral Health Promotion. While in graduate school, Brooke worked for the State of Wisconsin Department of Health in the Bureau of Environmental Health. There, she tracked occupational diseases and worked directly with Wisconsin workers to understand their lived experiences and identify novel work-related hazards. Additionally, she played a role in developing lead-testing standards for pregnant women in the state. This work gave her an interest in lead exposure in the state which inspired her Capstone – an enhanced property inspection policy toolkit for local health departments – which she worked on in collaboration with WI DHS entities. Brooke is interested in the impact of housing, built environment, and neighborhood safety on population health outcomes and the long term impact of historical policy on equity and community wellbeing. In her freetime, Brooke likes to hike, bike, bake, travel, and do crosswords!
Lori Gerstenfeld
City of Milwaukee Health Department
Lori received a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Science and Global Health Studies from Northwestern University. During her undergraduate years, Lori gained experience at EPA Region 8, the City of Evanston, and Northwestern’s Leadership Development and Community Engagement office, where she developed an interest in working with communities to address environmental health issues. She decided to pursue a Master of Public Health at Northwestern University with a focus on environmental health. As part of her MPH, Lori completed her applied practice experience and cumulative experience at Mobile Care Chicago, a nonprofit providing asthma and dental care to low-income children through mobile medical clinics. In this role, she developed educational materials and analyzed data for research on the impact of short-term changes in air quality on lung function in children with asthma. Lori is passionate about addressing environmental justice concerns, particularly disparities in air and water quality and the impacts of climate change. In her free time, she enjoys outdoor activities including hiking, backpacking, running, and camping.
2026-2028 Cohort
Salimatou Diallo
Public Health Madison & Dane County, Maternal Child Health
Sali holds a Bachelor’s degree in Health Promotion and Health Equity from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. During their undergraduate studies, they contributed to the Ward Wellness Program, a research initiative focused on the design and efficacy testing of culturally adapted depression treatments for African American adults with clinical depression. In this role, Sali assisted in conducting a pilot study to evaluate the effectiveness of a smartphone-delivered depression treatment and facilitated focus groups. Sali continued their academic journey at UW-Madison, earning a graduate degree in Public Health with a focus on Maternal and Child Health. For their MPH practicum, they collaborated with the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Department of Maternal and Child Health, where they developed a comprehensive Data Resource on Perinatal Mental Health. Passionate about advancing public health through interprofessional collaboration and data dissemination, Sali is committed to promoting health equity and power sharing. Outside of their professional pursuits, Sali enjoys reading, hiking, and exploring new places.
Asuka Elms
Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Chronic Disease Prevention Program
Asuka grew up in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and earned her Bachelor’s degree in Global Health and Human Development and Family Studies from UNC–Chapel Hill. She began her career as a community health worker (CHW), working in both a local health department and a federally qualified health center to support underserved patients managing chronic conditions. She later worked with the North Carolina Community Health Worker Association, focusing on strengthening collaboration among CHWs and supporting regional coordination efforts. Asuka will graduate with a Master of Public Health in Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Indiana University Fairbanks School of Public Health this spring. During her graduate studies, she interned with the Diabetes Impact Project–Indianapolis Neighborhoods (DIP-IN), where she supported CHW engagement and contributed to a longitudinal evaluation examining community capacity building and partner relationships. Asuka is passionate about leveraging community strengths and advancing place-based initiatives that uplift the role of CHWs in chronic disease prevention. In her free time, she enjoys running, hiking, and watching The Great British Baking Show.
Sydney McGuine
Clean Wisconsin
Sydney is originally from Huntley, Illinois. She earned her Bachelor’s in Environmental Public Health from the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire. Throughout her time there she participated in internships in the Eau Claire City County Health Department as well as at Feed My People Food Bank. She then went on to receive her Master of Public Health Degree also from UW Eau Claire. During her graduate career, she had the opportunity to work as a graduate assistant in the Administrative Office of Sustainability. Here she worked with student interns on data collection, green labs, and food equity projects. She also started a bike share program on campus to help improve access to basic needs for students while reducing emissions with cleaner travel. She was also able to work with local community groups to make updates to the city’s ordinance on urban tree policy. This allowed her to experience working firsthand with community members and the city to make change. Sydney is passionate about health equity and environmental justice and the impacts of climate change on health. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, going to coffee shops, spending time outside, and time with friends and family.
Hebatalla (Heba) Mohamed
Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Bureau of Environmental and Occupational Health
Heba received her MS in Global Health & Population from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, where she concentrated in Infectious Disease Epidemiology. Before and throughout her degree program, she supported humanitarian operations in crisis- and disaster-affected settings through research and coordination for mobile health delivery initiatives and decision-support tools for emergency outbreak response. Her graduate thesis examined how water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) conditions at both the household and community levels interact with broader contextual exposures, including violence, to shape infectious disease risk among children. Underlying much of her work is interest in the relationship between place and health: how the environments people inhabit, whether resettlement camps, worksites, or farms, influence their health outcomes, vulnerability, and access to systems of protection and care. She is excited to contribute to the interdisciplinary work of the Bureau of Environmental and Occupational Health and to help address challenges rooted in these intersections.
Peyton Mueller
Sauk County Health Department
Peyton is from Portage, WI. She received her B.S. in Community and Environmental Sociology and Life Sciences Communication from University of Wisconsin – Madison, where she also completed her Master of Public Health. During her graduate career, Peyton worked with UW Sea Grant on community-based research examining the presence of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) in private wells across three Wisconsin counties. Building on this work, she developed the Private Well PFAS Evaluation Toolkit to support local and Tribal health departments in planning, conducting, and communicating private well PFAS sampling efforts. This project involved collaboration with partners across multiple agencies and sectors, strengthening her skills in outreach and stakeholder engagement. Peyton previously spent nearly four years as an Outreach Assistant with the Wisconsin Land and Water Conservation Association, where she supported communications efforts and gained a deep appreciation for the role county conservation staff play in protecting environmental and public health. She is passionate about leveraging strategic collaboration to address upstream determinants of health. During her free time, she enjoys time outdoors, listens to music, tries new restaurants, and spends time with friends and family.
Anthony Ocampo
City of Milwaukee Health Department & Milwaukee Health Care Partnership
Anthony is from Round Lake Beach, Illinois. He received a Bachelor of Science in Biological Sciences from Marquette University and received his Master of Public Health with a concentration in Epidemiology from UW-Milwaukee’s Joseph J. Zilber College Public Health. During his summer field experience, Anthony interned at the Wisconsin Department of Health Services working with the Newborn Screening Team to evaluate and analyze data on babies who were lost to follow up. For his Capstone project, Anthony conducted an ecological cross-sectional study to evaluate the association between neighborhood socioeconomic vulnerability and diabetes prevalence within Milwaukee County census tracts. During his graduate studies, Anthony worked at a dental clinic exposing him to health and insurance-based disparities which have shaped his desire and interest in promoting equity-based epidemiological studies with an emphasis on chronic diseases. During his free time Anthony enjoys spending time with his significant other and cats, as well as playing recreational soccer on weekends.
Olivia Yeaman
Wisconsin Department of Health Services, Office of Policy and Practice Alignment
Olivia Yeaman is from Shelter Island, New York. She earned her Bachelor of Social Work with a minor in Sociology from Providence College and her Master of Public Health from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. During her undergraduate studies, she developed a strong interest in environmental health and interned with a toxicologist at the Rhode Island Department of Health, where she worked on cancer cluster investigations. After graduation, Olivia spent three years as a research assistant in social marketing, primarily supporting CDC-funded ad testing campaigns focused on diabetes prevention and reducing sugary drink consumption. This experience strengthened her interest in public health and motivated her to pursue her MPH. During her graduate training, Olivia focused on environmental health and completed an applied practice experience with the Wisconsin Department of Health Services. Her work centered on developing recommendations to update the Wisconsin Statewide Heat Vulnerability Index. In her free time, Olivia enjoys running, spending time with her cats, and exploring Madison’s restaurant scene.