About Us
Public Health Post – or PHP as we call it – is a forum for discussing and advancing public health. Our goal is to facilitate an ideas-first dialogue around public health that focuses on the drivers of population health. We seek to engage policymakers, journalists, academics, and students who can make change on a local, state, national, and global scale. We examine how scholarship and research findings can inform current policy debates. We aspire to be fresh, fun, and appealing to people across sectors; to feature work from across the world; and to become the go-to-place for public health conversation.
Public Health Post is not uniquely focused on research done at Boston University. We highlight work we are excited about and welcome contributions from other institutions and sectors. We aim to be provocative and invite constructive dissent. Anything expressed on the site does not necessarily represent the opinions of the Public Health Post staff or Boston University.
For more information and to send us article ideas for Public Health Post:
David K. Jones
Editor-in-Chief
Assistant Professor, Health Law and Policy & Management
dkjones@bu.edu
David’s research examines the politics of health reform. His forthcoming book examines how states made decisions about what type of health insurance exchange to establish as part of the implementation of the Affordable Care Act. He has also written about Medicaid, CHIP, and health reform in Europe. His new project re-traces Robert Kennedy’s steps to examine the social determinants of health in the Mississippi Delta. He was awarded the Outstanding Dissertation Award by AcademyHealth for his Ph.D. thesis completed at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. He also has a masters of arts in political science from the University of Michigan and a masters of science in public health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Before graduate school he worked in the Idaho Legislature, the Canadian House of Commons, and Congressman Charles Rangel’s District Office in Harlem, NY. David is originally from New York City where he worked as a pretzel vendor at Yankee Stadium.
Gilbert Benavidez
PHP Fellow 2017-2018
Boston University School of Public Health
gbboston@bu.edu
Gilbert is a current graduate student at the Boston University School of Public Health, where his concentration is health law, bioethics and human rights. His primary interests concern international human rights law, policy and ethics, but he is also deeply invested in global socio-politics. Gilbert is currently focused on exploring and developing practical and efficient policies and interventions to protect the rights and dignity of refugees and internally displaced persons worldwide. When he isn’t scouring Health Affairs, Gilbert loves to practice his Olympic weightlifting, play guitar, take pictures of his cats and find new places to eat.
Madeline Bishop
PHP Fellow 2017-2018
Boston University School of Public Health
madlb@bu.edu
Madeline is an MPH candidate at the Boston University School of Public Health, pursuing certificates in Program Management and Maternal & Child Health. She is particularly drawn to adolescent mental health and development, as well as social enterprise as a tool to address health challenges around the globe. Apart from her seemingly endless list of interests in public health, Madeline enjoys talking to strangers, road-tripping, ocean views, and mountain adventures with her trusty canine companion.
Melissa Davenport
Project Manager
Public Health Post
davenpor@bu.edu
Melissa Davenport received a BFA in painting from Rhode Island School of Design, and is completing an MLA in Legal Studies at the Harvard Extension School. Prior to her position at PHP, she was program manager at the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard and operations manager at Fort Point Arts Community. Melissa is from Maine, the way life should be, and makes short nonfiction films about labor, craft, and landscape.
Qing Wai Wong
PHP Fellow 2017-2018
Boston University School of Public Health
wongq@bu.edu
Qing Wai is a current MPH candidate at the Boston University School of Public Health pursuing certificates in Health Policy and Epidemiology. Her interests include policies that reduce health disparities and equal access to quality education as an important social determinant of health. When not pursuing her academic interests, Qing Wai can be found on the volleyball court, running, or volunteering for various youth development programs in the community.
Former Associates
Nicholas Diamond, PHP Fellow 2016-2017
Nick is a recent graduate of the Boston University School of Public Health and received a graduate certificate in African Studies from the Boston University Frederick S. Pardee School of Global Studies. Within global health, his emphasis is sex, sexuality, and gender. Nicholas speaks French and Wolof and is focused on improving LGBT health in francophone West Africa through health policy, advocacy, and communications. When he isn’t writing for Public Health Post, Nicholas enjoys journaling, reading, cooking vegetarian recipes, and running with his dog.
Jonathan Gang, PHP Fellow 2016-2017
Jon is a recent graduate of the Boston University College of Communication, where he specialized in long form audio storytelling. Besides public health, he enjoys covering music, the outdoors, transportation and infrastructure, and the environment. When not out reporting he can generally be found in his basement working on bikes, outside riding said bikes, playing guitar in bedroom, paddleboarding on the Charles, or lost somewhere out in the mountains.
Maggie Thomas, PHP Fellow 2016-2017
Maggie is a PhD student at the Boston University School of Social Work. Her doctoral research is concentrated on public policy, with a focus on poverty and systemic oppression. Maggie is a part of the Social Policy Analysis Working Group at the School of Social Work, working on child welfare, economic instability, and child care subsidy projects. Prior to joining BU, Maggie practiced social work with LGBTQ youth and families and in the child welfare system. Maggie is an avid Chicago Cubs fan and loved J.R.R. Tolkien before it was cool.