Those Who Can, Teach
The Path from PhD Student to Professor
Kristen Gibson graduated from the Bloomberg School in 2010 with a PhD in Environmental Health Engineering, confident in her abilities to pursue a career in academia.
She had both research skills and experience as a teaching assistant. She also had acquired a less tangible but equally important qualification鈥攈ow to be a good mentor.
Now an assistant professor of Molecular Food Safety Microbiology at the University of Arkansas, Gibson says she learned from the best: Her adviser, Environmental Health Sciences (EHS) Professor Kellogg Schwab, PhD, MSPH, is an expert in environmental microbiology and issues of global water quality and access.
Gibson worked as a technician in his lab for three years before entering the EHS doctoral program.
鈥淗aving someone excited about what you鈥檙e doing, who listens to your ideas and motivates you, that鈥檚 being a good mentor,鈥 says Gibson, who, as a PhD student, researched molecular detection methods to identify pathogens in water sources.
As a CLF-Lerner Fellow for four years with the School's Center for a Livable Future, Gibson received funding to support her doctoral research.
In her own work as an educator and researcher, Gibson makes it a point to introduce her students to public health fundamentals.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think we talk enough about how our research can drive health policy,鈥 she says.
When it comes to advising her own students interested in pursuing public health graduate studies, Gibson doesn鈥檛 hesitate to offer an informed if slightly biased opinion.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e looking for exposure to aspects of public health across the board, then Hopkins is definitely the place to be,鈥 she says.