Nicholas Lehnertz, MHS '07
Fixing Public Health Problems

As an undergrad at Columbia University, Nick Lehnertz studied political science with a focus on international relations, but he wasn't exactly sure how to incorporate that into his future. "I was groomed to be an attorney by my mother's family, but that's not me," he says. Yet after toiling as a musician for several years in New York City, he decided to re-enter the international relations and human rights arenas, but this time with a focus on public health. 

"I desire a hands-on approach, the ability to get at the issues at hand and help develop solutions, which is what initially led me to public health in general, and the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in particular," says Lehnertz. "The Department of International Health's Social and Behavioral Interventions track was exactly what I was looking for.  In addition, the Department contains the Center for Refugee and Disaster Response, which allowed me to continue to pursue my interests in this area."

Where Faculty Rule
If you ask him what he liked best about the MHS program and the Department, the enthusiastic graduate will give you a long list, starting with the faculty. "My advisor in the Social and Behavioral Interventions track, Peter Winch, was phenomenal, and a really unique guy," says Lehnertz. "I also loved the opportunity to attend multiple courses with world-renowned public health researchers, such as Courtland Robinson and Gilbert Burnham. The professors here take the time to teach courses every year, allowing the students to share in their research. I found the Department's faculty to be very grounded and open to students."

Lehnertz also praises his fellow students. "Hopkins students come from everywhere," he says. "From the beginning we were encouraged to talk to our neighbors, because you never know who the person next to you may be, where they came from or what they have already contributed to the field. And there weren't just public health professionals in the program, but medical and nursing students too."

Lehnertz describes the MHS program's internship requirement as a tremendous benefit to his study, one that gave him the opportunity to work abroad and narrow his research focus. He had two internships: one in Bangladesh for five months and one in Uganda for three months.

"I actually didn't know about the internship for the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research in Bangladesh (ICDDR,B) until about one month before it started," says Lehnertz. "Peter Winch told me about it and advised me that I should go. The internship was extremely well thought out, allowing me the opportunity to conduct formative research on healthy fertility practices, such as birth-spacing, and to explore how to integrate those practices into neonatal intervention packages."

On the other hand, the Uganda internship, which Lehnertz found on his own, was more programmatic in nature: "It definitely made me see what could go wrong in the system, and as such it became a real learning experience."

A Real Eye-Opener
Lehnertz appreciated the flexibility of the MHS degree program and the wide variety of courses offered. "When I returned from my internships, I took more courses, and the automatic 75 percent reduction in tuition for the year was an obvious plus," he says. "I took another biostatistics course and was able to use the data I acquired during my Bangladesh internship to write my paper for that class."

Lehnertz graduated with a keen interest in maternal and neonatal health: "The program and my internships really opened my eyes to the importance of education and literacy for women in developing countries. Maternal health is such an important factor, since it is the mothers who are often primarily responsible for the health and education of the children, the upkeep of the household, and the provision of food and money through the raising of livestock and growing of food. Without improving maternal health and education, families and communities in developing countries will continue to struggle with issues of development."

"My eyes were also opened here in another way — attending Hopkins makes you feel as though you don't know anything at all," laughs Lehnertz. "Every day, you realize there is so much more to learn. This is a positive place to do that."

Lehnertz is currently working as a consultant for the Global Fund and has recently accepted a position with the International Rescue Committee in Sierra Leone.

(July 2007)