Temple Dept. of Epidemiology & Biostatistics

Santhi Chandrasekaran, an alumna of Public Health Beyond Borders, has been awarded a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship to teach in Spain! Santhi's experience with PHBB sparked her interest in working abroad and gave her the confidence to pursue a Fulbright Assistantship.

The Department held our Ninth Annual Awards & Recognition Event at the end of April. During this celebration, we recognized the incredible achievements of our students, faculty, and staff. We also proudly honored our community preceptors and adjunct faculty.

Our faculty are so excited to celebrate all of our graduates today at @TempleCPH graduation! Congratulations Class of 2026!!

Last night’s graduation reception was a wonderful celebration of our graduates' achievements and a great time filled with laughter, connection, and well-deserved recognition of their hard work. We cannot wait to see the difference they make in public health and beyond!

The Dept. is proud to announce Kristin Skiendzielewski, LSW, MPH, as the recipient of the 2026 Outstanding Research Staff Award. This award recognizes a research staff member in the dept who has made exceptional contributions to research, innovation, collaboration, & mentorship.

The Dept is proud to announce Stephanie Morawski, MEd, as the recipient of the 2026 Outstanding Administrative Staff Award. This award recognizes an administrative staff member in the dept. who has demonstrated exceptional contributions to the department's operations & success.

We are proud to recognize Aimee J. Palumbo, PhD, MPH, as the recipient of the second annual Diamond Key Contributor Award. This award is a special commendation, given at the discretion of the Chair, to honor an individual’s exceptional and sustained contributions.

The Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics is proud to recognize Sezgin Ciftci, PhD, as the recipient of the 2026 Junior Faculty Service Award. This award recognizes junior faculty members whose service contributions go above and beyond expectations.

The Department is proud to recognize Jingwei Wu, PhD, as the recipient of the 2026 Mid-Career and Senior Faculty Service Award. This award recognizes mid-career and senior faculty members whose service contributions go above and beyond expectations.

Haoyu Zhou, a doctoral student in our Epidemiology program, was honored by the @amstatphilly. Haoyu received the Exceptional Achievement Award for Graduate Students, recognizing his contributions to methodological innovation, collaborative research, and professional service.

In case you missed it: Dr. @KirstenWiens was recently featured in The Washington Post! Dr. Wiens highlighted key warning signs of bacterial meningitis, reminding us that symptoms like a stiff neck, confusion, and light sensitivity are serious red flags that shouldn’t be ignored.

The Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics is proud to recognize Sezgin Ciftci, PhD, as the recipient of the 2026 Student-Selected Graduate Teaching Award. The recipient of this award is nominated by graduate students who were enrolled in classes within our department.

The Department is proud to recognize Graciela Jaschek, PhD, MPH, as the recipient of the 2026 Student-Selected Undergraduate Teaching Award. The recipient of this award is nominated by undergraduate students who were enrolled in classes within our department.

The Department is proud to announce Hoda Jradi, PhD, MPH, as the recipient of the 2026 Faculty Mentor Award. This award recognizes a faculty member who demonstrates outstanding mentorship through advising, research, and career planning, along with a commitment to student success.

The Dept. is proud to announce @KirstenWiens as the recipient of the 2026 Faculty Teaching Award. This award is presented to a faculty member who receives exceptionally high feedback from student evaluations across the previous two semesters, both quantitative & qualitative.

The Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics is excited to recognize Shalina Joshi, MD as the 2026 Outstanding Poster Award recipient for her poster, “Association Between Poor Sleep and Disease Progression in Patients with Indolent Blood Cancers.”

The Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics is extremely proud to recognize Tugce Kinik, PhD(c) as the 2026 Outstanding Student Citizen Award recipient. earned! She fostered a microculture of community and teamwork that enhanced other students' learning experience at Temple.

We are excited to recognize the recipients of the 2026 Academic Excellence Award. This award is given to graduate students who demonstrate outstanding academic performance through a high GPA, consistency in strong coursework, research and leadership.

Congratulations to Dr. Erin Kulick, who was awarded an OVPR STEM grant in recognition of her hard work and commitment to advancing environmental health research, supporting the launch of the new Breathe Philly initiative! We love seeing all the work our faculty are involved in!

We welcomed Dr. Rita R. Colwell for the final Department Seminar Series talk of the academic year last week. Her presentation, “Environmental Drivers of Infectious Diseases During Climate Change,” was incredibly informative and led to thought-provoking discussion among attendees!