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Isatu Jalloh

1x

Finalist

1x

Winner

Bio

I am a first-generation student who is passionate about public health. Seeing the health challenges in my home country inspired me to pursue a career in healthcare. My goal is to study public health and become a healthcare professional who works with organizations like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or the World Health Organization to improve healthcare systems in developing countries.

Education

Georgia Military College High School

High School
2024 - 2025

North Clayton High School

High School
2022 - 2026

Miscellaneous

  • Desired degree level:

    Doctoral degree program (PhD, MD, JD, etc.)

  • Majors of interest:

    • Public Health
    • Biological and Biomedical Sciences, Other
  • Planning to go to medical school
  • Career

    • Dream career field:

      Medicine

    • Dream career goals:

      Public Health Physician

      Sports

      Soccer

      Club
      2023 – 20252 years

      Research

      • Public Health

        CDC — Intern
        2025 – 2025

      Public services

      • Volunteering

        Masjid Al-Ihsaam — Founder/Lead Teacher
        2023 – Present
      • Volunteering

        SAT- SchoolHouse — Reading and Writing Volunteer
        2024 – Present
      • Volunteering

        Teen Experience and Leadership Program (TELP) – Grady Hospital — Volunteer
        2024 – 2025

      Future Interests

      Advocacy

      Volunteering

      Bettie Lott and Vera Times Public Health Scholarship
      Winner
      One of the biggest health issues that we face in Clayton County is that people do not understand the health care system. In Clayton County, there are almost 40,000 people of foreign descent. This means that we have a wide variety of cultures and languages represented in our community. This is what makes our community so strong, but it is also what creates a problem for people to understand the health care system. In my life, I have seen this in a variety of ways. For instance, many of my aunts and uncles, as well as my parents, do not go to a yearly visit with a doctor. This is not because they do not care about their health and well-being. It is because they do not understand the health care system and are uncomfortable with it. In fact, many times, my parents do not even know what the doctor is telling them when they go to their office. Despite the fact that the person was born in the United States of America and understands the language, which is English, it is difficult to understand the terminologies the doctors use to explain their condition. The doctors usually use terminologies to explain the patients’ condition. When the patients do not understand what the doctors are saying, they tend to avoid going back to the hospital. This may lead to health complications, which would have been avoided if the patients went back to the hospital. In Riverdale and College Park, patients tend to go to the hospital only when they are seriously ill. Diseases such as high blood pressure and heart problems may not be diagnosed since patients are not visiting the hospital regularly. In order to combat this, I would develop a HealthBridge Community Initiative that would aim to ensure that individuals are able to be more informed about their health and the health system. This would be done by training student volunteers to conduct basic health education workshops within schools and other centers across the community. The aim of the workshops is to ensure that individuals and families are able to be educated about basic health concepts that would enable them to be able to read their prescriptions, understand the importance of yearly visits to the health system, and be able to prepare for a visit to the health system in order to be comfortable with the system. It would also have a part that is mobile and would provide the family with information regarding common health issues in simple language, inform them of their scheduled appointments, and other such information. It would also have information in other languages that can help the family understand the situation better if they do not speak the same language. Accessing health information would make them feel more confident while talking to doctors. Improving health literacy can make a big difference in communities like ours.This means that if a person is health literate, that person knows his or her health and can avoid serious health issues while having a healthy life. I want to create a solution as a public health practitioner to help create solutions that make healthcare easier to understand and accessible for everyone in my community.