First-Gen to Professor: Rachel Hoopsick’s Path to Public Health

Initially, Hoopsick thought she’d become a direct care provider. A junior-year elective in epidemiology at Daemen University, however, changed everything.

“That course opened my eyes to the importance of prevention and collective public health, not just individual treatment,” she said.

Hoopsick’s academic journey is a testament to her evolving understanding of health. She completed her Bachelor of Science degree in natural science from Daemen in 2010, but her newfound passion for public health led her to UB. She earned her Master of Science degree in epidemiology and, wanting to dive deeper into health systems and population engagement, she pursued a Master of Public Health (MPH) with a concentration in Health Services Administration.

Hoopsick’s early career ranged from health education to applied epidemiology. Her work, particularly with community-based nonprofits, focused on providing behavioral health services to people with substance use disorders and mental illness. 

“Seeing firsthand how these issues affect people, families, and communities was eye-opening,” she said. This exposure led her to a PhD in community health and health behavior at SPHHP, which she completed in 2019. Postdoctoral work in UB’s Department of Family Medicine centered on addiction management and health services research. In 2021, Hoopsick took on a tenure-track assistant professor role at the University of Illinois UrbanaChampaign. There, she teaches epidemiology and mentors doctoral students in the Department of Kinesiology and Community Health.

Hoopsick’s research is evidence of her evolving knowledge of public health. She uses a socioecologic perspective and epidemiologic methods to study risk and resilience in substance use and mental health, particularly among high-stress jobs in fields like health care and the military.

“Once you’ve been in this field for a little while, you start to see everything from a public health perspective. Collectively, we can identify and solve our time’s greatest public health challenges,” she said.

“Each data point represents a real person, a family, a community,” Hoopsick emphasized. “The insights we derive and the solutions we create can have tangible impacts locally, nationally, and globally. This motivates me every day.”

Hoopsick reflected on her education at SPHHP: “As a Western New Yorker, I feel incredibly lucky to have had SPHHP (figuratively) in my backyard! The education I received across three degrees from there was immersive, engaging and well-rounded.”

She gratefully recalled the mentorship she received, particularly from her primary advisor and dissertation chair, Greg Homish, chair of the Department of Community Health and Health Behavior: “Neither of my parents went to college, so as a first-gen student, every step of my academic journey has been mystifying, to say the least! The support from my academic mentors was crucial. They provided me with encouragement, advice and space to thrive.”

Hoopsick’s journey underscores the vital role of public health in addressing complex challenges. “Public health is everywhere and everything,” she asserted. “Programs like SPHHP’s are training the next generation of leaders to creatively address health problems on all scales.”

To current students, Hoopsick offers simple yet meaningful advice: “Don’t worry if you don’t know exactly what you want to do when you graduate. The program is a journey about learning who you are and where you want to be. Embrace the broad range of careers in public health, and find your passion.”