CAREER PATHWAYS
Colleen Donohoe
Division — said that her fellowship gave her the freedom to ask a lot of questions and learn more about the variety of work happening at the laboratory .
“ Something that ’ s nice about the fellowship is that it gave me a project for my portfolio ,” she said . “ You ’ re working towards and completing a project . At the end of the fellowship , I have this finished product to present ,” Roloff said .
Roloff added she knew she was qualified to interview for her current position since she was confident that she could demonstrate the skills that she learned in achieving a finished product .
“ I didn ’ t know that this was a path that was available to me when I applied for the fellowship . I realized that this was a good fit between my professional interests and the skill sets that I worked so hard in grad school to learn . I came to the realization that I really want to stay here and be here ,” Roloff said .
Like Roloff , Colleen Donohoe , who recently finished her fellowship , was hired by the New Jersey Division of Health Public Health and Environmental Laboratories , her host laboratory .
“ It wasn ’ t necessarily the goal when I started , but when my mentor encouraged me to pursue my MPH concentrating in epidemiology and biostatistics , I knew I had a unique opportunity to take what I was learning and apply it every day at work ,” Donohoe said .
During her fellowship , Donohoe had been involved in many different aspects of the New Jersey population-based state surveillance study , which included recruitment , field collections , sample receiving , data management , data visualization and analysis .
“ I had little practical public health experience before this fellowship , so I could never have imagined how far this fellowship would advance my professional skills in data management and analysis ,” Donohoe added . And the experience she gained was rewarded when her mentor encouraged her to apply for a job opening within the same program . Now her mentor is her supervisor .
“ We are grateful that the host laboratories and mentors have provided such great experiences for our interns and fellows ,” Rowland said . “ They have played a key role in the success of the programs . We love to see fellows and interns getting jobs in public health laboratories . This is the ultimate goal .” g
Registration Now Open !
ID
LAB CON
2025
March 25 – 27 , 2025 Pasadena Convention Center Pasadena , CA
www . aphl . org / IDLabCon
PublicHealthLabs @ APHL
APHL . org
Winter 2024 LAB MATTERS 5