Public health student selected for prestigious fellowship
A public health graduate student at The University of Texas at Arlington has received the highly competitive Texas Health Resources Gunnin Fellowship.
Alexa Washington, a UTA alumna and current Master of Public Health (MPH) student in UTA’s College of Nursing and Health Innovation, earned the Gunnin Fellowship, which provides financial assistance and a 400-hour internship with Texas Health Resources.
“We are incredibly proud of Alexa’s accomplishment,” said Erin Carlson, director of graduate public health programs at UTA. “She is a great ambassador for the UTA College of Nursing and Health Innovation and the public health program. She has such a bright future ahead of her.”
Washington earned her bachelor’s degree in public health from UTA in May 2020, and began work toward her MPH in fall 2020. She said she was motivated to pursue this path because of her strong desire to improve health in the community.
“I am really grateful that I received this fellowship; hopefully, I will learn a lot,” Washington said. “I am really interested in creating interventions to help reduce health disparities among vulnerable populations.”
Washington thanked two of her mentors at UTA: Carlson and Brandie Greene, clinical assistant professor of kinesiology.
“I’ve had a really great support system from my professors,” she said. “They’ve all helped me and believed in me. I don’t know what I’d do without them.”
The Gunnin Fellowship is named for Gerry C. Gunnin, who served as president of the Presbyterian Healthcare Foundation and vice president of the Community Health Improvement Department for Texas Health Resources from 1995-2001. The fellowship is intended as a tribute in honor of his leadership that continues his legacy of advancement in community health improvement efforts.
-Written by Sarah, McBride, College of Nursing and Health Innovation