I want to build the data systems that let health systems in low-resource settings see threats coming before they arrive. I have built versions of this before. In Tanzania, I worked with the Mo Dewji Foundation on MoAfya Camps, building a digital system that let clinical teams collect and monitor patient data in real time during large-scale health outreach programs. Before that system, teams tracked patients on paper, and reporting was fragmented and delayed. After it, they could see patient flow and outcomes as they happened and make faster decisions about staffing and follow-up care. In Baltimore, I built software for Charm City Care Connection, a harm-reduction organization, that documents and maps needle collection services so outreach teams can see where needs are greatest. Both projects taught me the same lesson: the people doing frontline work know what they need, and a well-built tool multiplies their effort. What I want to build next is bigger. Most health systems in countries like Tanzania are reactive. They respond after disease spreads, after clinics are overwhelmed, after the data finally arrives. I want to build surveillance and analytical systems that detect risk early: pipelines that pull together clinical, environmental, and population data, and models that flag emerging threats while there is still time to act. My research points in this direction. I study critical care epidemiology with MIMIC-IV data, environmental exposures with NHANES, and malaria and anemia inequality with Tanzania DHS data. I am applying to PhD programs in epidemiology for Fall 2027 to train in causal inference methods, because early-warning systems are only useful if their signals are trustworthy. Building this will help me directly: it is the research program I intend to spend my career on, and progress on it strengthens my PhD applications and my training. It will help my community in a concrete way. Stronger data systems mean faster outbreak detection, better-targeted interventions, and fewer preventable deaths in places that cannot afford to waste resources. The MoAfya Camps system showed me that this works at the scale of a health camp. The next step is the scale of a health system. I build because I have seen what happens without the tools: paper records, delayed reports, decisions made too late. I want to build the alternative.

I am a Tanzanian epidemiologist-in-training at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, pursuing an ScM in Epidemiology with a 4.0 GPA. I earned my BSc in Environmental Health Sciences with first-class honors from Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, where I received the Professor Emeritus Japhet Killewo Award for the best performance in Epidemiology. What gives me an advantage is a record of producing work that other people use. I have published six first-author papers. My work in the Journal of Critical Care examined between-hospital variation in liberation from invasive mechanical ventilation. I work with MIMIC-IV data on delirium, acute kidney injury, and ICU-acquired infection. I analyze NHANES data on PFAS and cadmium exposure. I study malaria and anemia inequality in Tanzania with DHS data. I do ToxCast computational toxicology and study CLSI antibiotic breakpoint changes. I also serve as a peer reviewer for Cureus and for Internal and Emergency Medicine. Few graduate students arrive with this volume of finished, published work. I also build things. With the Mo Dewji Foundation in Tanzania, I built MoAfya Camps, a digital system for real-time clinical data collection during large-scale health outreach programs. In Baltimore, I built software for Charm City Care Connection that documents and maps needle collection services for harm-reduction outreach. I work as a research assistant with restricted NHATS data and as a teaching assistant at Johns Hopkins. I received a Community Service Award from SOURCE at Johns Hopkins and was nominated as Student Employee of the Year. I am applying to PhD programs in epidemiology for Fall 2027 to train in causal inference methods and critical care epidemiology. My goal is to build analytical approaches that help countries like Tanzania anticipate and prevent emerging health threats. The honest reason I deserve this scholarship is financial. I am an international student. I received a Public Health Grant and a Merit Tuition Scholarship from Johns Hopkins, but funding terms 3 and 4 of my program remains a challenge. This scholarship would go directly toward tuition, letting me focus on the research and service work described above instead of the gap in my funding. My advantage is that I have already shown what I do with support: I turn it into published research and working tools for people who need them.

I give back in two ways: by building tools for people who serve others, and by doing research that answers questions affecting real patients and communities. The first started in Tanzania. I worked with the Mo Dewji Foundation on MoAfya Camps, large-scale health outreach programs for underserved communities. Clinical teams tracked patients on paper, so reporting was fragmented and slow. I built a digital system that let teams collect and monitor clinical data in real time during health camps. It was unpaid work over many months. Once it went live, teams could see patient flow and outcomes as they happened, which changed how they assigned staff and followed up with patients. The lesson stayed with me: the right tool, built for the people doing the work, multiplies their effort. In Baltimore I do similar work with Charm City Care Connection, a harm-reduction organization. I built software that documents and maps their needle collection services, including a geocoding system that helps outreach teams see where needs are greatest. Harm reduction is stigmatized and underfunded, and the organization could not pay for custom software. I built it because the outreach workers needed it. I also serve as a teaching assistant at Johns Hopkins, spending hours each week helping students master material I have already learned. And I serve as a peer reviewer for Cureus and for Internal and Emergency Medicine, which is unpaid work that keeps published science honest. My research is the other half. I have published six first-author papers. One, in the Journal of Critical Care, examined between-hospital variation in liberation from invasive mechanical ventilation using a competing-risk analysis. I study delirium, acute kidney injury, and ICU-acquired infection with MIMIC-IV data. I analyze NHANES data on PFAS and cadmium exposure and albuminuria. I study malaria and anemia inequality in Tanzania using DHS data. I work on ToxCast computational toxicology and on CLSI antibiotic breakpoint changes. Each project starts from the same question: what do clinicians and policymakers need to know to make better decisions? I was recognized with a Community Service Award from SOURCE at Johns Hopkins and nominated as Student Employee of the Year, which tells me the pattern is visible to others too. In the future I want to scale both halves. I am applying to PhD programs in epidemiology for Fall 2027, with research interests in causal inference methods and critical care epidemiology. My long-term goal is to become an epidemiologist who builds analytical approaches that help countries like Tanzania anticipate and prevent emerging health threats through stronger data systems and evidence-driven policy. Too many health systems only react after disease spreads. I want to help build systems that detect risk early and prevent harm before communities suffer. The plan is concrete. Finish the ScM in Epidemiology in 2027. Complete a PhD with rigorous training in causal inference. Keep building tools with and for the organizations doing frontline work, in Baltimore and in Tanzania. Keep publishing research that clinicians can use. Giving back, for me, is not separate from my career. It is the career: use data and epidemiology to make health systems work better for the people who need them most.

I measure my work by whether it helps people who need it. Two projects show what that means in practice. In Tanzania, I worked with the Mo Dewji Foundation on MoAfya Camps, large-scale health outreach programs serving underserved communities. Clinical teams were tracking patients and outcomes on paper, which meant reporting was fragmented and decisions were slow. I built a digital system that let outreach teams collect and monitor clinical data in real time during health camps. The work was unpaid and took months of evenings. When the system went live, teams could see patient flow and outcomes as they happened instead of weeks later. That changed how they allocated staff and followed up with patients. In Baltimore, I volunteer with Charm City Care Connection, a harm-reduction organization. I built software that documents and maps their needle collection services, including a geocoding system that helps outreach teams map service locations and identify where community needs are greatest. Harm reduction work is stigmatized and underfunded. The organization needed better tools but could not pay for them. I spent my time building those tools because the outreach workers needed them and the people they serve deserved better. I also serve as a teaching assistant at Johns Hopkins, which means spending hours each week helping other students understand material I have already mastered. It is not the highest-paying use of my time. I do it because I remember what it was like to struggle with difficult coursework and because someone helped me when I needed it. These choices come from how I was raised and what I have seen. I grew up in Tanzania, where I watched health outcomes depend not only on medicine but on whether systems existed to detect risks early and respond. I come from a modest background. Pursuing graduate education abroad required overcoming significant financial barriers, and I received a Public Health Grant and a Merit Tuition Scholarship from Johns Hopkins. People invested in me. I take that seriously, and I repay it by investing my skills where they are needed most. My research follows the same principle. I have published six first-author papers, including work in the Journal of Critical Care on between-hospital variation in liberation from invasive mechanical ventilation. I study delirium, acute kidney injury, and ICU-acquired infection using MIMIC-IV data. I analyze NHANES data on PFAS and cadmium exposure. I work on malaria and anemia inequality using Tanzania DHS data. None of this is abstract to me. Each project is an attempt to answer a question whose answer could change how care reaches people. I was recognized with a Community Service Award from SOURCE at Johns Hopkins and nominated as Student Employee of the Year. I did not seek those. I mention them only to show that the people around me have noticed the pattern: I show up, I do the work, and I do it for others. Selflessness, to me, is not a feeling. It is a habit of choosing work that serves people over work that serves only yourself. I have built that habit into my career, and I intend to keep it.

My interest in supporting individuals with intellectual disabilities comes from a broader commitment to building health systems that serve everyone, especially populations that are often overlooked. Throughout my academic and professional journey in public health, I have become increasingly aware that individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities frequently face barriers in accessing healthcare, education, and social services. These barriers are not only medical but also structural, reflecting gaps in awareness, resources, and inclusive policy. I am currently pursuing a Master of Science in Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where my work focuses on understanding patterns of disease and improving population health systems. Epidemiology provides powerful tools for identifying health disparities and designing interventions that can improve outcomes for underserved communities, including individuals with intellectual disabilities. One of the realities that motivates my work is the fact that many public health systems were historically designed without considering the needs of people with disabilities. As a result, individuals with intellectual disabilities often experience poorer health outcomes, reduced access to preventive care, and greater social isolation. These disparities highlight the need for research and policies that intentionally include disability perspectives. My experience living with noise-induced hearing loss has also shaped how I understand accessibility and inclusion. While hearing loss differs from intellectual disability, it has helped me recognize how easily environments can become barriers when accessibility is not considered. This awareness has strengthened my commitment to ensuring that health systems and community programs are designed with diverse needs in mind. In my academic and community work, I seek opportunities to translate these values into real-world impact. For example, through my work with Charm City Care Connection in Baltimore, I helped develop a geocoding system that supports harm reduction outreach programs. The system allows outreach teams to map service locations and identify where community needs are greatest. Projects like this demonstrate how data and technology can improve how public health programs reach underserved populations. Looking ahead, my career goal is to use epidemiology and public health research to better understand the health needs of populations that are often marginalized, including individuals with intellectual disabilities. By studying patterns in healthcare access, disease risk, and social determinants of health, I hope to contribute to policies and programs that create more inclusive health systems. Supporting the intellectual disability community requires more than medical care; it requires societal commitment to dignity, inclusion, and equity. Public health research has the potential to play an important role in this effort by generating evidence that informs policy and expands access to services. Ultimately, my goal is to ensure that the systems we build reflect the needs of all individuals, including those whose voices are too often excluded from decision-making processes. By combining research, data-driven solutions, and community engagement, I hope to contribute to a future where individuals with intellectual disabilities receive the respect, support, and opportunities they deserve.

My name is January G. Msemakweli, a Tanzanian public health researcher currently pursuing a Master of Science in Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. I grew up seeing how health outcomes in many communities depend not only on medicine, but on whether systems exist to detect risks early and respond effectively. That reality shaped my decision to pursue public health and continues to drive the work I do today. I come from a modest background, and pursuing graduate education abroad required overcoming significant financial barriers. Although I was fortunate to receive a Public Health Grant and a Merit Tuition Scholarship from Johns Hopkins, financing graduate education as an international student remains challenging. These obstacles, however, have strengthened my determination to succeed and to ensure that the opportunities I have been given translate into meaningful impact for others. Service has always been central to my work. Before coming to the United States, I worked with the Mo Dewji Foundation, where I supported health outreach programs serving underserved communities. During these programs I saw firsthand how difficult it was for clinical teams to track patients and evaluate outcomes using paper records. To help address this challenge, I developed a digital system that allowed outreach teams to collect and monitor clinical data in real time during health camps. What had previously been fragmented and delayed reporting became a tool that helped teams make faster and more informed decisions about patient care. Experiences like this reinforced my belief that public health progress depends not only on compassion but also on strong data systems that allow limited resources to be used more effectively. My research now focuses on population health analytics and disease prevention. I have contributed to peer reviewed work examining environmental health risks and emerging disease patterns, and I aim to continue developing analytical tools that help health systems detect risks earlier and respond more effectively. Ultimately, my goal is to help strengthen data driven public health systems in Tanzania and across Africa. I want to contribute to a future where health systems do not simply react to disease after it spreads, but anticipate risks and prevent them before communities suffer the consequences. Support from the ADP Scholarship would help ease the financial pressures of graduate school and allow me to focus fully on the work I am committed to: using science, data, and service to improve the health of communities that need it most.