April 7, 2014

Joseph C. Tringali, an innovator and visionary businessman from Baltimore, was a man of many abilities and gifts. He had the ability to work hard, to persevere, and to overcome many obstacles in order to achieve success in business and in life. His greatest gift was his family, to whom he owed all and devoted all. But he also had the gift of gratitude. He recognized his own good fortune and empathized with those who were less fortunate. He was especially touched by the plight of children who faced hardships and challenges, whether due to health issues, poverty, or lack of opportunity and encouragement. 

The Tringali Scholarship is awarded to a student who demonstrates a firm commitment to embarking on a career in public health that will address the challenges facing disadvantaged children and improve their opportunities for healthy and productive lives.

Lauren Forbes, MPH '13, and Bianca Frisby, MPH '12, the School of Public Health's recipients of the Joseph C. Tringali Memorial Scholarships, are off to great starts in their careers. Lauren and Bianca recently checked in with the School of Public Health to give a glimpse into their work and lives after Drexel University.

2012 Recipient
Lauren Forbes, MPH '13
Hometown: Portland, OR
Department: Community Health and Prevention
Additional Honors: U.S. Fulbright Grant Recipient

Spotlight: Lauren currently works with the World Vision Ethiopia Education Department on designing and implementing a skillful parenting pilot program to improve early childhood health and development outcomes. Her role has been to design the program overall, design evaluation tools, and manage the baseline data collection process along with various other tasks related to the planning of the program. Currently, Lauren is finishing out her time on her Fulbright grant and is looking towards her next professional move, which will likely involve taking some down time at home in Portland to recharge and catalyze her personal and professional interests. She hopes to still be involved in the pilot program to some capacity, but she sees herself moving towards a U.S-based international development career in a smaller to mid-size NGO and/or start-up social enterprise. Maternal, child and family health is still and will likely always be a core component of the work that she does whether in international development or domestic public health.

What the Tringali Scholarship means to you: I really appreciated the Tringali Scholarship because not only did it help to lighten the immense financial burden of graduate school, but it also inspired me to continue to be ambitious and it reminded me that I have something valuable to offer to the field of public health and maternal and child health in particular.

2011 Recipient
Bianca Frisby, MPH '12
Hometown: Fort Washington, MD
Department: Community Health and Prevention

Spotlight: After graduating from Drexel, Bianca worked for The Food Trust to increase access to healthy food for underserved communities (often speaking with federal policymakers). She recently returned to graduate school to do an MFA in fiction at Rutgers University, where she founded a student run radical reading group that focuses on exploring homophobia and racism in literature in order to create more conscious and discerning writers and teachers. She is also spearheading the creation of a new course focused on critical approaches to literature for teachers and writers with this group in the spring 2014. She also received an Art and Social Change grant from the Leeway Foundation to create “The Missing,” a visual and sound installation commemorating the lives of African American men erased from society, either through violent death or incarceration in partnership with Drexel University’s Center for Nonviolence and Social Justice. After graduating, she hopes to return to maternal and child health in some capacity, perhaps working in micro-finance/economic development for women.

What the Tringali Scholarship means to you: The Tringali Scholarship allowed me to complete my education at Drexel University and study with incredible professors (Dr. Randall Sell in particular) who have forever shaped my thinking and approach to public health.