Get to know the four newest members of the Dashboard team.

Dana Duong

Position: Research Analyst | Hometown: Levittown, NY

Tell us a bit about your journey so far and how you ended up at the Dashboard.

I recently graduated with my Masters in Public Health (MPH) from the George Washington University School of Public Health (GWUSPH). During my time as a student at the GWUSPH, I was a user of the City Health Dashboard myself! I was using the Dashboard in my Population and Community Health Analytics course to define and assess population health needs of a specific community and communicate those findings to public health, healthcare, and social services systems. With my MPH concentration in Health Informatics and Analytics, I wanted to find a role that utilizes data analytics to solve complex population and community health inequities. With my experience, I found that the Dashboard’s mission really aligned with my interests. I am so excited to work with the Dashboard Team.

What excites you most about the Dashboard and its mission?

I believe the Dashboard has the potential to see through its mission of helping city, state, and federal policymakers leverage data to improve health and well-being. With efforts to communicate the value of the Dashboard and its metrics to major stakeholders, and efforts to drive policy changes, the Dashboard’s work can make an impact on health and health-related outcomes and health equity. The goal of achieving health equity is at the forefront of public health, and I think the Dashboard can play a key role in seeing health equity come to fruition.

What’s one metric or focus area that you would like to see added to the Dashboard?

Health Literacy. Personal health literacy is a major social determinant of health that is associated with worse health care and health outcomes. A limited health literacy level puts an individual at risk of misunderstanding vital information to achieving and maintaining their health. It is associated with racial/ethnic minority status, age, poverty, health insurance coverage, educational attainment, language spoken before starting school, and self-reported health. A Dashboard metric of health literacy could help better inform communities of a priority that has potential to decrease health disparities amongst populations.

Yoomin Hwang

Position: Project Coordinator | Hometown: Maywood, NJ

Tell us a bit about your journey so far and how you ended up at the Dashboard.

I joined the Dashboard team as a new member in June. I recently graduated from the University of Rochester with a degree in epidemiology, where I gained three years of project management experience at my university's emergency medical services (EMS) agency. I am excited to leverage my project management skills and epidemiology background to work on projects that promote health equity. I am thrilled to be a part of the team and contribute to this important work!

What are you looking forward to learning in your role here?

I'm excited to work with the team to help local governments use Dashboard data to create and implement initiatives that improve health equity. I'm also looking forward to learning more about data analysis and visualization, and how to effectively communicate data-driven insights to diverse audiences.

Beyond work, we’d love to get to know your interests outside the office. Any fun hobbies or special talents?

I love putting puzzles together, listening to podcasts, and reading books. In fact, I've made it my personal mission to find a go-to local bookstore in every city that I live in! As a new resident of Manhattan, I'm excited to explore the bookstores in the area on the weekends.

Caleigh Paster

Position: Program Coordinator | Hometown: Burbank, CA

Tell us a bit about your journey so far and how you ended up at the Dashboard.

As a Williams College graduate, I spent my education pursuing my two passions of public health and communications through my majors in Biology and French. I was able to combine my career interests upon graduating in my work at Weill Cornell Medicine, leading their cancer department's educational podcast, video productions, and social media work. This was a great entry into the world of health communications and showed me the power that content creation can have on health literacy. However, I wanted to expand my reach from local New York City health efforts to population-level, nationwide health impacts. The Dashboard's direct connection to cities across the country drew me in as I knew that by joining the team, my work in content creation would be helping communities, both big and small take steps to improve health and wellbeing. With a mission so well aligned to my own, I knew the Dashboard was the perfect place for me!

Which area of public health and/or data are you most drawn to and why?

Nutrition. I have always been interested in food and have personally experienced the impact nutrition can have on improving health and combatting chronic disease. For this reason, I am particularly passionate about accessibility of healthy food options for all communities. Also, having lived abroad and having family in Canada, I have become fascinated by food processing in America relative to other countries and how our food regulation policies influence health outcomes. I would love to see a metric added to the Dashboard that focuses on nutrition education, literacy, and accessibility.

Beyond work, we’d love to get to know your interests outside the office. Any fun hobbies or special talents?

I love to play volleyball – I was a competitive player all throughout high school and college, and I recently joined a few leagues in New York City where I have been able to find a great community and stay active. Additionally, I love to cook and bake, so when I'm not on the volleyball courts, I can often be found in my apartment whipping up a new, often experimental, plant-based meal.

Eileen Shea

Position: Data Analyst | Hometown: Milwaukee, WI

Tell us a bit about your journey so far and how you ended up at the Dashboard.

My public health journey started at the Mailman School of Public Health where I graduated with an MPH in Environmental Health Sciences and Applied Biostatistics. From there, I went on to work in academia at a division called Mental Health Data Science where I helped to provide statistical collaboration for psychiatric and mental health research conducted within the Columbia University Department of Psychiatry, Research Foundation for Mental Hygiene (RFMH), and New York State Psychiatric Institute (NYSPI). I subsequently worked for an indoor agriculture company based in Brooklyn on their Research & Development team before making my return to the academic world and joining the Dashboard!

What’s one metric or focus area that you would like to see added to the Dashboard?

Since my background is in environmental health, I am very interested in getting more comprehensive climate metrics on the Dashboard. I think especially after this summer where record heat and the impacts of wildfires have been felt so widely, climate change as a focus area is more topical and important than ever. 

Beyond work, we’d love to get to know your interests outside the office. Any fun hobbies or special talents?

I really enjoy cooking and baking, and especially love to integrate seasonal ingredients into my food! I've recently started hosting dinner parties for my friends where all the dishes incorporate my favorite produce for the current season!

Are you interested in future opportunities to join the team? Be sure to select the “Career Opportunities” interest box when subscribing to the Dashboard’s latest news.