Current position:
Senior Research Assistant, Guttmacher Institute
Mariah Menanno, MPH, graduated from Dornsife School of Public Health in 2021 with a major in Epidemiology and a minor in Infectious Diseases.
Mariah’s interest in maternal and child health (MCH) began during an internship at the Philadelphia Department of Public Health’s Division of Maternal, Child, and Family Health as an undergraduate. During this internship, she worked with a team to build a congenital Zika and birth defect surveillance system for the city. This experience highlighted the importance of public health throughout the life course. This interest continued during her graduate studies at Dornsife where she became more interested in sexual and reproductive health.
During her MPH program at Dornsife, Mariah served as the President of the Peer Health Educators and was a member of the Maternal and Child Health Student Organization. She participated in Drexel MCH Program events and completed an ILE exploring the association between contraception and sexually transmitted infections among US women.
What is your current role? How are you using your current MCH training?
I am currently a Senior Research Assistant at the Guttmacher Institute, a research and policy organization that focuses on sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR). Both of my projects focus on abortion, which is a key area of MCH that is under-discussed within a public health context. Abortion access allows birthing people the ability to choose if and when to become parents and decreases the dangers associated with pregnancy. In many cases, abortion allows birthing people to carry subsequent pregnancies, where without access there may have been permanent harm to their reproductive system.
My MCH training has allowed me to examine abortion and unintended pregnancy through a whole person lens, recognizing that the “intendedness” of a pregnancy is such a complex issue and that there are a vast number of reasons why someone may choose to have an abortion. In addition, my training has taught me how layered reproductive health issues are – especially considering the history of the United States forcibly sterilizing people of color, people with disabilities, and people with fewer financial resources.
I am using my MCH training and my skills in epidemiology and biostatistics to create research for advocacy so that we have evidence to base policy and direct action on.
How did your time as an MCH Trainee at Dornsife influence your career?
After a couple of years working with infectious diseases, my time as an MCH trainee and my passions brought me back to working in SRHR/MCH, and I know this is the place in the public health field for me.
As a Peer Health Educator officer, I loved the sex ed aspects and the focus on MCH before conception, focusing on the whole health of the parents. I am currently working on my Sex Educator certification through the Sexual Health Alliance to deepen this aspect of my career.
Any highlights from getting your MPH at Dornsife?
I really enjoyed getting to design my own analysis for my ILE, where I used data from the National Survey of Family Growth (NSFG) to examine the relationship between contraception use and sexually transmitted infections. I felt that this really gave me an opportunity to dive into my interests and try my hand at conducting an analysis from start to finish.
What advice would you give to current and future MCH trainees?
I would recommend staying true to your interests when searching for a job. It will feel so much more rewarding to work every day with an issue or organization that you care about. Talk to people and find email lists or job boards that most closely align with your interests (there are some very niche ones out there) and think about what type of work you want to do on a day-to-day basis. Do you want to sit at a desk? Be in the community? Design programs? Provide education?