STUDENT Spotlight

Kelly Pimenta graduated from Rutgers University with an MPH in Epidemiology and is a first-year doctoral student at the UofM School of Public Health. Her research during her master’s studies at Rutgers involved working with the Hunterdon County Health Department, focusing on investigating communicable diseases and researching HIV testing practices in the metropolitan area of New Jersey using data from the CDC.

Additionally, Kelly worked on a research project at The Global Tuberculosis Institute, also located at Rutgers University, looking at panel physician data to identify the barriers these physicians face globally.

She is a recipient of the Van Vleet Memorial Doctoral Award, which supports her studies at the University of Memphis. Under the guidance of Dr. Matthew Smeltzer in the School of Public Health, Kelly is

Kelly Pimenta Doctoral Student PhD in Epidemiology

collaborating with Dr. Jane Hankins at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital on exciting research seeking to understand and improve the transitional care of sickle cell disease patients.

The team is collaborating with clinics in Brazil on a qualitative analysis to pinpoint barriers in care for patients transitioning from adolescence to adulthood. Many sickle cell patients in the United States are able to live into their adulthood, but that level of care is not available globally. There is a necessity to identify where barriers lie for clinics and physicians around the world to improve health outcomes for all people living with sickle cell disease.

Kelly is bilingual with fluency in both Portuguese and English, which is imperative in the collaboration with Brazilian clinics as the team prepares to travel to Brazil in Spring 2023 to collect data and conduct interviews with patients and research participants.

Kelly chose the UofM SPH Epidemiology doctoral program because it aligns with her vision and offers what she wanted out of her academic career. Reflecting on her first semester, she really appreciates the smaller, close-knit community at the UofM SPH over a much larger university. During her time so far, she has developed positive and close relationships with professors and fellow students that has made the transition being far from home much smoother.

After the completion of the program, her goal is to return to work in the public sector, which made a positive impression on her in the past.

Courtnee Melton-Fant, PhD Assistant Professor Health Systems Management & Policy

After obtaining her bachelor and master’s degrees from the University of Memphis, Dr. Courtnee Melton-Fant worked as a policy analyst at the Sycamore Institute, a non-partisan, public policy research center for Tennessee. In 2019, Dr. MeltonFant became a School of Public Health faculty member in the Division of Health Systems Management & Policy.

“I love conducting research, and I really enjoy teaching in our undergraduate program (BSPH). I like the energy and curiosity that the undergraduate students bring to the classroom.”

Dr. Melton-Fants’ research examines how state and local