Welcome to “3 Questions with …”, a career advising feature on the Tufts University Career Center blog. We’re asking alumni of all graduation years and career interests to share a bit of their experiences and advice.
Heresa LaForce, A20 Community Health
1. In just a few sentences, please tell us about your current job/graduate program/vocational endeavor.
I am currently a Masters student at Duke University and completing a thesis on the Systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) type 2 population and expanding on my 2026 Menstruation Matters project on sustainability and period health. Before graduate school, I completed an internship at Merck & Co. At Merck, I was worked in Pharmacovigilance under the Department of Quality Assurance. It was an eye opening experience applying public health knowledge and principles in an industry setting, specifically pharma.
2. How did your time at Tufts influence your career journey?
My time at Tufts being involved with the Tisch Scholars program and the Community Health (CH) department, both of which were influential in my career journey. I can confidently say I am still applying what I studied in my undergraduate days to what I do now! Not everyone can say that, and I am grateful for it. Being a part of Tisch Scholars was influential as it taught me to be a steward in my community. Since 2021, I have volunteered at Community Conversations for Sister2Sister which is non-profit based in Cambridge, MA and this is how I prefer to give back to the city that raised me. Additionally, the CH department at Tufts was so supportive and really allowed me to explore, and there I was able to learn spatial analysis, which is so fascinating!
3. What advice would you offer to a student who wants to pursue a career path like yours?
You may not know what your ideal line of work will look like, and that’s okay! Public Health is very interdisciplinary and there are many ways to be in the field, but I will say be intentional about the hard and soft skills you develop in your coursework and extracurriculars. Join a leadership development course or learn a new software; take advantage of the myriad of resources Tufts offers.
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