About Us
Public Health Post informs and inflects the broader conversation on health and social justice.
Every day we feature new articles about the state of the health of the population. We invite policymakers, journalists, academics, and practitioners to share their work in ways that can influence health on a local, national, and global scale. Our editors, working with graduate student Public Health Post Fellows, present health statistics, research summaries, interviews with important health thinkers, and easy-to-understand data graphics to start new conversations about health. We join and drive the national dialogue on public health.
Want to write for PHP? Send your pitch to Michael Stein, Executive Editor, at mdstein@bu.edu.
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Rubina Veerakone
Fellow
Rubina Veerakone is an MPH candidate at the Boston University School of Public Health. Her interests include maternal and child health inequities, health law and policy, social epidemiology, and how the humanities relate to public health. If not fascinated by history, she’s most likely getting lost in songs and movies, or discovering ways in which science meets story.
Maya Thirkill
Fellow
Maya Thirkill is an MPH candidate at Boston University School of Public Health, focusing on epidemiology and biostatistics. Her experience volunteering with community health organizations in underserved communities has shaped her interest in social epidemiology. She is fascinated by storytelling as a tool for health literacy and constructing a culture of health. Maya spends her leisure time hiking, writing, and watching documentaries, but she hopes to produce a health-oriented film in the future.
Devin O’Donnell
Fellow
Devin O’Donnell is an MPH candidate at the Boston University School of Public Health focusing on community health and human rights. She is interested in the intersection of climate change and health, more specifically how community mobilization and cohesion are necessary for mitigation and adaptation efforts. Devin is working with the BUSPH Program on Climate and Health and the American Red Cross in these realms. In her free time, you can find Devin reliving her bakery days or exploring the nearby trails.
Sara Mar
Fellow
Sara Mar is an MPH candidate at the Boston University School of Public Health focusing on health policy and law. She is interested in how cross-sectoral policies can be better written and implemented to tackle health inequities. Sara is passionate about working with communities to ensure their needs are reflected in local policies, especially around issues of environmental justice, LGBTQ rights, and access to health services. In her free time, you can find Sara roaming the outdoors with camera in hand, or planning her next travel adventure.
Teresa Wood Kett
Managing Editor
twkett@bu.edu
Teresa Wood Kett, MPH, joined Public Health Post in April 2021 after 15 years managing programs in a local public health department. Her work varied widely but included community vaccination, school health, emergency preparedness, tobacco prevention, mental health, communication and most recently, Covid-19 pandemic response. She’s a Boston University School of Public Health alum who worked as a daily newspaper reporter prior to finding her way to public health.
Tasha McAbee
Multimedia Producer
tmcabee@bu.edu
Tasha McAbee is an MPH candidate at the Boston University School of Public Health. She is also a professional medical illustrator/animator at Boston Children’s Hospital and enjoys educating through design and visual media. When not contemplating things like health law and policy, gender gaps in health, vaccine hesitancy, and environmental health, she can be found spending time with her three dogs, or more accurately, taking countless pictures of them.
Jennifer Beard
Associate Editor
jenbeard@bu.edu
Jennifer Beard, PhD, MA, MPH, is a Clinical Associate Professor in the Department of Global Health. She was a co-principal investigator for the multi-study Ghana Operations Research for Key Populations project. The nine qualitative studies focused on the HIV prevention and other needs of young female sex workers and their intimate partners, prisoners, men who have sex with men, post-secondary female students, women who work in bars, people who inject drugs, and people living with HIV at risk of dropping out of antiretroviral therapy.
Michael Stein
Executive Editor
mdstein@bu.edu
Michael Stein is the chair of the Department of Health Law, Policy & Management at the Boston University School of Public Health, executive editor of Public Health Post, and co-author of the newly released PAINED: Uncomfortable Conversations about the Public’s Health with Sandro Galea. He is a physician and health services researcher who is an international authority on the intersection of primary care, mental health, and substance use disorders.