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Alumni & Student Accolades
Summer 2025
Danial Malik receives 2025 Outstanding Community Engagement Award
Congratulations to alumnusDanial Malik, MPH ‘22, who received the University of Louisville’s 2025 Outstanding Community Engagement Award in the staff category. Over the past three years, he has led the research division at UofL’s student-led Compassion Clinic, producing abstracts, posters and presentations for Research!Louisville and the President's Inclusion, Excellence and Diversity Symposium. Using his public health expertise, he’s mentored three student teams, guiding them in research, data collection and presentation development. Malik’s leadership fosters teamwork, helping students contribute to the academic community through their work at the Compassion Clinic.
While a graduate student at the School of Public Health and Information Sciences, Malik held various leadership positions with the Student Government Council and was campus liaison to the American Public Health Association. He organized several presentations for the SPHIS community, including the virtual Woodson Seminar Series that featured four nationally recognized speakers between October 2021 and April 2022.
Currently, Malik works for the School of Medicine’s Division of Surgical Oncology as a clinical research coordinator.
Learn more about UofL’s annual Outstanding Community Engagement Awards.
Kiara James receives employee recognition award from UofL Health
Congratulations to alumna Kiara James, BA '17, MSHA '22, for being named the fifth annual Kelsie Small Future Healer Award earlier this spring. This award was created by UofL health in 2021 to recognize a healthcare professional who exemplifies excellence, caring, compassion and commitment to education. James is currently a community health worker at the J. David Richardson Trauma Center at UofL Hospital. She graduated from the School of Public Health and Information Sciences with a bachelor’s degree in 2017 and completed an MS in Health Administration in 2022.
James has worked with UofL Hospital for five years and leads a team of four other people as community health workers, after being the only community health worker in her first year. According to a news release, James’ colleagues said she "models trauma-informed care, how to connect and build relationships with individuals and families" and "how to support and advocate even when it’s hard."
James also founded the nonprofit Pushing Forward that supports gun violence victims with impaired mobility and limited financial resources by installing wheelchair ramps. This new ramp makes it possible for someone with a traumatic spinal cord injury to return home sooner and begin their next phase of recovery.
Graduate student joins 2025 Student Think Tank for AJPH
Dept. of Health Management and Systems Sciences graduate student Amen Ajamu is one of six “Think Tank” students American Journal of Public Health for 2025. Each year, graduate public health students apply for this prestigious opportunity to collaborate with the journal's editor-in-chief and editorial team to amplify youth voices in public health discussions. In mid-February, he traveled to the APHA headquarters in Washington DC to meet with the editor-in-chief, his team, and other members of this current cohort of the Think Tank.
SPHIS Awards at 2025 KPHA Annual Conference
The following alumni and students received awards at the 2025 KPHA Annual Conference in Louisville, KY.
2025 Outstanding Epidemiologist of the Year Award
-- SPHIS alumna, Haritha Pallam, PhD’24, MS, MPH’10
2025 Vivian A. Lasley-Bibbs Changemaker Award
-- SPHIS alumna, Angela Graham, MPH’15, CPH
KPHA Public Health Practice Student Award (First Place)
-- Melody Ucho, M.Sc.PH, doctoral student in the Dept. of Health Management and Systems Sciences, presented, "Unmet Health Needs of Menopausal Women and the Economic Cost on the United States: A Literature Review." Co-authors included Melissa B. Eggen, MPH, PhD and Ayobamidele Adebanjo, M.Sc.
Epidemiology Methods/Poster Student Award (First Place)
-- Venetia Aranha, MPH, BDS, doctoral student in the Dept. of Epidemiology and Population Health, presented, "The impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on drug overdose mortality in Kentucky hospitals from 2015 to 2021." Co-authors included Kira Taylor, PhD, MS and Jovita Murillo, DrPH, MPH, MA.
