Morgan State University (MSU) is teaming up with Pfizer to get more minoritized populations into the field of medical development, and two Black women make up the fellowship’s inaugural class.
Through the 2-year program, dubbed the Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) Fellowship in Vaccines Medical Development, participants will “gain invaluable training and networking opportunities to pursue a successful career in the biopharmaceutical industry,” according to a news release Pfizer shared with Blavity.
“This landmark partnership with Maryland’s preeminent public urban research university is the seminal public health fellowship within the Pfizer Biopharma organization,” Ronika Alexander-Parrish, the founding director of the DrPH Fellowship, said, according to MSU’s announcement.
“There are fewer than five HBCUs with DrPH programs in the United States. As such, we recognize and appreciate the unique value this fellowship brings to both Pfizer and Morgan,” Alexander-Parrish continued.
As part of an effort to facilitate more diversity in medical development and expand perspectives on vaccine-related real-world data and analysis, Morgan State University has partnered with Pfizer. https://t.co/NlzaAS5C0t
— WMAR-2 News (@WMAR2News) July 17, 2022
Dr. Kim Dobson Sydnor, dean of MSU’s School of Community Health and Policy (SCHP), also spoke positively of this groundbreaking partnership.
“We appreciate this tremendous opportunity to partner with Pfizer in putting the call for diversity, equity and inclusion into action, this is a milestone moment,” she said, according to MSU.
“We look forward to seeing our students gaining access to the additional skills and acumen, traditionally afforded to so many others, and becoming successful within this industry,” Sydnor continued.
Nguhemen Tingir and Monica Ochapa, 2 current DrPH candidates, were selected as the program’s inaugural fellows, and they’re excited to be part of such an initiative.
“It is of tremendous importance that companies like Pfizer engage HBCUs and foster greater diversity among BIPOC talent because it provides the opportunity to level the playing field and create a more equitable society for the future,” Tingir said, the Baltimore-based HBCU reports.
Monica Ochapa added that the opportunity grants her “a platform to advance solutions for health inequity, increase healthcare for underserved populations, and create innovative approaches to disease prevention through public health research and practice,” according to MSU.
Shoutout to both Nguhemen Tingir and Monica Ochapa!
