University of Pennsylvania Masters of Public Health

I’m thrilled to join the MPH program—an exciting transition as I spent the bulk of my career in the non-profit sector working in global reproductive rights. I’ve taught for many years in the MPH program and love being in the classroom with our incredible students, so I leapt at the chance to spend more time teaching here.

In my new position, I’ll teach PUBH 5070 Public Health Law & Ethics and elective courses such as PUBH 6400 Global Reproductive Health Law & Policy. My additional role is ensuring the program is up to date with accreditation standards, which will give me an opportunity to learn in-depth about all aspects of the program. I also plan to continue to build my interdisciplinary research, which explores how abortion law operates to affect health outcomes across the globe. Most of all I look forward to connecting with students through Capstone projects, collaborations across the university, research opportunities, and in the classroom.

Sisters in Public Health in my viewpoint is a community for women that work in public health that started in Houston, TX. It’s for sisterhood and mentorship. Becoming a Lifetime Member of this organization means having a sisterhood to share space with women that are like minded. Growing up and going through undergrad I didn’t have spaces where others shared interests with me. Being in this organization makes me feel like I belong, and I can be in a space with women where I feel understood.

My public health focus is nutrition. In college, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do and a friend led me to public health. My focus in the field then became nutrition. In the next year, or sometime in the future, I would like to be involved with ongoing nutrition projects, more so focused on nutrition & policy. I want to be involved in healthy food access and food policy work. In my current position as Fieldwork Coordinator, it is community engagement adjacent, but I really would like an ongoing project. There’s a huge network in the Sisters in Public Health organization, and I believe working closely with the Philadelphia chapter can help me reach goals I have in public health. I plan to lean on the networking and professional development of it all. That’s what I like best about being a member, the networking and opportunity to build friendships.

If people are interested in getting involved with Sisters in Public Health, they should definitely check out their website and LinkedIn. There’s different areas to be involved in, take a look to see what resonates with you!

Tolu’s journey in public health began in 2014. She was passionate about incorporating real-life experiences into her teaching and derived great satisfaction from mentoring students. One of her favorite moments was when students have those “aha moments” in class!

A unique aspect of her research was its focus on radiology in a public health context. As the Research Program Manager at the Center for Global & Population Health Research in Radiology, she was dedicated to making screening and imaging more accessible, especially in low-income countries like Nigeria where functional machines are scarce.

As an alum of this program, Tolu found it surreal to be a faculty member! She always wanted students to understand the importance of sowing seeds for their future. During her student years, she built a strong foundation, sought mentors, and cultivated relationships, ultimately nurturing her teaching abilities. She transformed from a nervous first-semester student to an effective and accomplished teacher, who addressed the public health issues she wished were tackled when she was a student. Her teaching philosophy involved empowering the next generation to critically examine ways to break systems of oppression and build toward a truly equitable world. The MPH program continues to honor that legacy in how we approach teaching all of our courses.