School of Public Health at University of Memphis

08/24/2026

08/18/2026

Amaree Austin focused her Changemakers project on increasing access to birth workers for African American women as well as helping build networks of both non-medical and medical birth workers of color and fostering a conversation on how provide more culturally appropriate care.

In Tennessee, Black women face a maternal mortality rate of 116 deaths per 100,000 live births, which is nearly three times the rate of white women in the state. State health data and reports rank Tennessee among the highest overall for maternal mortality in the nation.

Through the Changemakers grant Amareè was able to cover most of the cost to get her birth doula training. The grant also provided a framework to help her figure out how to apply that training into more comprehensive support networks for African American women.

A doula is a birth worker that provides continuous emotional, physical, and informational support during pregnancy, labor, and after birth. Research shows that they help lower the chance of cesarean sections, shorten labor times, reduce anxiety, and improve breastfeeding success by acting as a non-medical guide and advocate.

Great work Amareè!!

08/13/2026

For his project as part of this year’s Changemakers Initiative, Frans Judea Samosir created a larger conversation around the concept of . To actualize this vision, he built a podcast titled “Voice of Wellness” centered around a more complete and nuanced definition of wellness. He also hosted a community talk to empower people along their wellness journey.  
 
Guests on his podcast included fellow students, community stakeholders, and wellness advocates.  
 
Frans says that when people think of wellness, they typically think of the physical aspect while paying less attention to other types that may be just as important.  
 
The modern concept of multiple dimensions of wellness expands on a 1976 model by Dr. Bill Hettler, co-founder of the National Wellness Institute, which originally defined six core areas. In the years since, healthcare researchers have broadened the scope of wellness into nine distinct types: physical, emotional, social, intellectual, spiritual, cultural, occupational, environmental, and financial.  
 
Frans says creating a podcast has always been a dream of his, and the Changemakers micro-grant has helped bring this into reality. He believes that projects like Changemakers are so important because they allow students to build ideas that can benefit the world around them.  

wellness

08/08/2026

SPH graduate student, Ombeni Idassi, MHS, MPH harnessed the work he has already been doing around sickle cell disease as part of his project for this year’s inaugural Changemakers Initiative.
 
He built a coalition focused on mental health awareness within the sickle cell community, something that did not exist before he embarked on this project. Through community-based participatory research Ombeni wants to bring more awareness to the mental health challenges those who battle sickle cell disease may experience during their lifelong struggle against this debilitatingly painful disorder.
 
In creating this project, Ombeni hopes to look at how we can, collectively, address bringing resources, opportunities and evidence-based research to the community, but also understanding unique aspects and mental health challenges within the sickle cell population, and how this coalition can harness its collective power to help bring down negative health outcomes, painful side effects, organ damage and create conditions for which a better quality of life is possible.
 
Ombeni says there was no immediate center point which connected the healthcare, research, academia, government, and community all together to address mental health within the sickle cell community in a tangible way, and he hopes this project can be that center point. He does not think of this as his project, but instead the entire communities project, together.
 
Truly inspiring work, Ombeni!    
 

08/07/2026

We are so excited to welcome new students to SPH! Check your email to RSVP for New Student Orientation.

08/04/2026

Ferial Ahmadi brought her vast architectural experience, having spent 7 years as an assistant professor at the University of Mazandaran in Iran, to her Changemakers project this year.

Ferial hopes to create a bridge between public health, built environments, and architecture. To do this, she created MehrNest; a home-centered project that combines architecture and psychology to help families create supportive living environments for people with  and other mental disorders.

She believes that families who have children with ADHD are given limited advice on how they can optimize their home environments to address challenges those living with ADHD face; she thinks that this project can help fill in some of those gaps.

The mobile application she created gathers data from users with simple questions aimed at describing their home living space, especially the bedroom and study room of children or those with ADHD. After the app collects data, it can generate a sensory risk score. Based on this risk score, the app can offer suggestions on how to redecorate a family’s home to be more conducive to those dealing with ADHD or other mental health issues. 

Ferial hopes to patent this concept and launch it into all major app stores in the coming months; she says the support of faculty and staff during this project have helped make it possible and is grateful for the opportunity. 

Truly inspiring work Ferial! 

07/29/2026

Shania Robinson launched an ambitious goal this year as part of the inaugural Changemakers Initiative at the University of Memphis School of Public Health.
 
She is working toward creating a wellness experience for the city of Memphis, rooted in nature, southern culinary tradition, music, movement, and celebration of all the vibrancy which stitch together the fabric of our city; the Memphis Health Jamboree.
 
She is hoping this experience can become a yearly tradition here, and has partnered with Memphis Parks to find the perfect location to host the event planned for next year. She is also doing outreach to ask for the communities' help in what they want to see and where.
 
With the micro-grant Shania received as part of the Changemaker Initiative she was able to put together a soft launch for the Memphis Health Jamboree, connecting stakeholders, community leaders, and potential supporters of the project as well as celebrate the work that has already been accomplished.
 
Great work Shania, we can’t wait to attend the Jamboree!
 

07/24/2026

Jeanbaptist Nizeyimana is a recent graduate of the University of Memphis School of Public Health; he came to study here in Memphis after growing up in a Ugandan Refugee Camp where he saw firsthand how his community there could benefit from access to Public Health information.
 
Uganda currently hosts approximately 1.96 million refugees and asylum-seekers with the majority fleeing conflict in South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Sudan.
 
For this year’s Changemakers Initiative, Jeanbaptist chose to focus on building a Public Health Curriculum for young people living in the refugee camp where he grew up. The 8-month course will focus on the foundations of public health, mental health awareness, and entrepreneurship training. Jeanbaptist has faith that equipping young people with these skills will benefit the entire community as they can help spread this knowledge to their families and loved ones.
 
He believes that making true change is about addressing disparities, solving existing problems, and empowering people with knowledge.

Great work Jeanbaptist!

07/23/2026

SPH is proud to announce that faculty from the University of Memphis School of Public Health and the Herff College of Engineering are helping to raise the bar in academic publishing.

In June 2026, Urban Science (MDPI) announced an increase in its Impact Factor, achieving Q1 rankings in both Urban Studies (top 12%) and Geography (top 18%). Dr. Maryam Karimi (Director of Research and Associate Professor, School of Public Health) and Dr. Rouzbeh Nazari (Chairman and Professor, Civil, Construction and Environmental Engineering) were recognized by the journal's editorial office for their roles as Guest Editors, with their peer review leadership and research recruitment credited as key drivers of this positive trajectory.

Great work, Dr. Karimi and Dr. Nazari!

07/17/2026

Bikram Adhikari is a second-year PhD student at the University of Memphis School of Public Health.
 
This past semester Bikram was one of the inaugural participants in the School of Public Health’s Initiative which awarded students microgrants to implement innovative solutions that address public health challenges faced here locally, as well as globally.
 
For this project, Bikram developed a free mobile application called Healthy Me which is now publicly available in the Google App store. The app focuses on the prevention and management of non-communicable diseases like diabetes and hypertension. It has several features to help those affected by these issues manage their health.
 
The first feature allows users to track key health indicators such as blood pressure, blood glucose levels, pulse rate, weight, and BMI. Users can also add medications they need to take into the app and receive timely reminders of when they need to take their medicine. It also uses AI powered logging of calorie intake so users can take photos of meals they are having, and the app can tell them how much protein, fat, and carbohydrates they are about to consume in each meal. Bikram also emphasizes that the main feature of the app is the privacy aspect of it; all data generated is stored locally on a person’s mobile device and not shared with any third parties.
 
Bikram says he is incredibly thankful for the Changemaker Initiative, which gave him the funding to implement his ideas, as well as the guidance and support from faculty and staff to help bring his vision into reality.
 
Amazing work Bikram! This is just another example of how students here at the School of Public Health are on the forefront of real-world solutions to complex public health challenges faced throughout the world.