Iffat Farah

Iffat Farah got accepted into the Master of Public Health program in 2019. As it turns out, timing is everything.

A year after she started the program, the pandemic hit, reinforcing her decision to major in public health. Rather than sideline her internships, the crisis put her skills in high demand.

“I got an internship with the Medford Health Department during the pandemic, registering people in vaccine clinics and providing information about the vaccine,” says Farah. “I also served as a contact tracer and assigned all COVID-19 questions to different groups to answer.”

Today, she works as a community workforce program coordinator for the Lowell Community Health Center, coordinating operations and creating trainings for community and staff members.

“Working at a community health center allows me to provide continuing education and training programs for outreach and community health workers, medical interpreters and other professionals,” says Farah, who chose the healthcare management track. “I feel great when I see that my participants are serving and supporting underserved populations including those with limited access to medical care.”

Born and raised in Bangladesh, Farah graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh in 2015. That same year, she moved to the U.S. with her family.

“I felt lucky when I got accepted into the UML Master of Public Health program because it covers topics that make a difference to people’s lives,” says Farah. “I learned about disease prevention and control, health education, program evaluation and health advocacy. The variety of work opportunities the field offers made me feel very confident about my decision.”

As a public health professional, Farah takes pride in serving diverse populations, including individuals from different cultural backgrounds, ethnicities and socio-economic statuses. 

“The care and attention that I got from my professors were priceless to me,” she says.