The Sophian

Issue date: 9/21/06 Section: Features

Media Credit: Zoe Feldman Zoe Feldman '06

During her undergraduate career, Zoe Feldman '06 faced the issue so many students of liberal arts face. What does one do after double majoring in fields such as psychology and philosophy?

For Feldman, the answer was public health. After taking a seminar in health psychology with Benita Jackson - who received her degree in public health from Harvard University - during her junior year, Jackson advised Feldman that public health could be the perfect field for her. Last year, Feldman made the decision and applied to several schools last year where she could earn her master's in public health (MPH).

After being accepted to almost all of the programs to which she applied, Feldman decided to attend Columbia University in a dual-degree program. She is currently in her first year, working towards earning both her MPH in epidemiology and her master's in social work (MSW) in three years.

Feldman spoke passionately about her new field of study. "Public Health is an extraordinary field that crosses boundaries no other discipline really dares to cross. It looks at the juxtaposition between issues of social justice/human rights and traditional, or non-traditional, medicine," said Feldman.

Feldman is currently taking four and a half classes: epidemiology, biostatistics, environmental health sciences and a course that "looks at the public health aspects of children's health in particular, and as part of the curriculum we go somewhere different every week to do hands-on research about a specific topic." In addition to these classes, she is also working as a research assistant to a faculty member in the epidemiology department at Columbia. Currently the two of them are "working on a grant proposal regarding yoga as a possible intervention for African-American males with hypertension," said Feldman.

Her advice to any Smith students interested in the health field is to remind people who are pre-med "to consider [public health] as another option." She also emphasizes Benita Jackson as an important resource on the Smith campus in this field.

Eventually Feldman hopes to work toward her Ph.D. in epidemiology, specifically focusing on obesity and food studies. She said in a concerned voice, "America is eating themselves to death." And it's people like Feldman who are hoping to make a difference.

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