Meet our 2023-2024 Dean's Scholars

The Dean’s Scholars Program is a prestigious program for current UB undergraduate students studying public health to be offered acceptance into UB’s School of Public Health and Health Professions Master of Public Health program. Students are selected for their outstanding academic achievement and our goal is to make the transition into graduate studies as seamless as possible. Dean’s Scholars are offered direct acceptance into UB’s MPH program with no application or fees required. In addition to this seamless acceptance, Scholars are offered a stipend to be used towards the cost of attendance. The Program offers a unique and seamless path for Scholars to continue their academic career and complete their graduate studies. 

Hi! My name is Alyssa Hamblet and I recently graduated with my Bachelor of Science in public health here from the University at Buffalo. I was selected as a Dean’s Scholar, and it was an easy decision for me to stay here at UB and pursue my MPH. I took an introduction to medical science class in high school where I learned about public health, specifically epidemiology, which sparked my path to and interest in public health. I chose to be a public health major before the Covid-19 pandemic, and the pandemic only assured me of my passion to go into this field. In undergrad I learned of all that public health has to offer and the many different career opportunities you can go into. I wanted to get my MPH because it would be good for my future career goals and would give me the opportunity to focus more closely on epidemiology which is my interest within public health. Once I was offered the Dean’s Scholarship it was an easy decision for me to continue my education at UB in the MPH program with a concentration in epidemiology. This program stuck out to me amongst others because I will still obtain an MPH while having a focus of epidemiology. I completed my first semester of the program this past Spring of 2024 and it was a great transition from undergrad. I plan to complete my degree in the Spring of 2025 and hope to find my place somewhere as an epidemiologist one day.

Hello! My name is William Cohen, and I am a recent graduate from UB's public health Bachelor of Science class of 2023. As an incoming freshman, I was initially a biomedical science major to pursue dentistry. After my first semester at UB, I decided to switch my major to public health while at the same time taking courses that are aligned with the pre-dental track. The reason for the switch in major was my first-year seminar, which was a course on the chronic disease of type 2 diabetes. I was fascinated with preventing a highly prevalent condition affecting people worldwide, including members of my family. From that point on, I would learn everything UB had to offer on improving health through prevention to enhance the quality of life and decrease the strain that the burden of disease/injury has on our healthcare system.

During my time at UB, I worked as a manager in the Student Union, became certified as a New York State EMT, and held multiple internships at dental practices. My achievements at UB have been gratefully recognized as being inducted into the Delta Omega Honorary Society in Public Health and selected as a dean's scholar. I am excited to begin my master's in public health, with a concentration in health service administration, this fall, 2024, at the University at Buffalo. I plan on applying to dental school in the near future to combine my knowledge of public health and dentistry to better the world's health.