Marco Verdeja - Class of 2019

I currently work as an Equity and Inclusion Consultant for Community Health at Intermountain Healthcare, overseeing strategy development and implementation for system-wide Community Health equity initiatives in areas such as immunizations, insurance and health access, avoidable disease and injury, and healthcare anchor work. I also support locally based community health efforts in Utah and Millard Counties.

Previously, I worked for three years as a general practitioner and in emergency medicine in Mexico, where I developed a keen sense of the need for population-based health approaches. I moved to the U.S. to receive my master's in public health degree from Brigham Young University and graduated in 2019.

I find great satisfaction in improving healthcare access and addressing health disparities for populations who may be underserved, underinsured, and burdened by increased barriers. Supporting equity, inclusion, diversity, and access initiatives across a large healthcare system allows me the fulfillment of seeing population-level needs met, particularly for those most at risk across large geographies and through an array of public health intended measures.

First and foremost, being mission-driven with the intent to ensure the conditions for all individuals and populations to be healthy as your goal. An understanding of program and initiative development is important; from the assessment and research phases, to the partner identification, strategy development, implementation and action, measurement and tracking and eventual evaluation. Community partnership development and trust-building is also key to maintain and leverage important connections and align efforts.

Every class in my master's program has been useful in various ways throughout my career. I think this speaks to the nature of public health minded work that typically is multi-faceted, collaborative, and interconnected. Not only the classwork but also the close connections available with professors as mentors has been invaluable to me. The opportunities to gain experience as a teaching assistant, a research assistant to various professors and in various topics prepared me and gave me an advantage. The opportunities to engage community partners in projects with my MPH professors and the opportunity to support research later published in scientific journals is another way in which the MPH experience can help prepare you for a fulfilling and meaningful career.