by Camelia Singletary, MPH

---

Public Health Perspectives is a podcast series targeted towards strengthening the future public health workforce by exploring the narratives of public health care professionals to gain insight on career paths that shape the profession. 

In this episode of Public Health Perspectives, Louise Hyneman, a St. Louis University MPH student, discusses her public health journey. Her experiences and interests surround working with food insecurity, like her internship with the St. Louis Area Foodbank. Louise also has an interest in economic development as a potential way to work towards sustainable changes in health outcomes. 

The St. Louis Area Foodbank serves 26 counties throughout Missouri and Illinois. It’s primary aim is to decrease food insecurity in the rural and urban communities that it serves. The organization works with disaster relief, holds food fairs, and provides SNAP application assistance to those who are in need.

Louise started her Bachelor of Science degree at the University of Cincinnati thinking she wanted to work in laboratory sciences but soon decided that she couldn’t see herself doing that type of work forever. During a summer ministry, she volunteered full-time at a social service clinic. It was during that summer where she realized all the moving parts that influence a person or family’s need for social assistance. It’s not just that people are irresponsible but all the social determinants of health. She continued to earn her Bachelor of Science in biology, while knowing she would go on to get a graduate degree in public health. Her degree in biology helps her understand the multiple facets of diseases as she works to develop program plans.

Recommended Resources:

• Public Health: The Intersection of Food Security and Well-being
• Restructuring a State Nutrition Education and Obesity Prevention Program: Implications of a Local Health Department Model for SNAP-Ed

---

Camelia Singletary, MPH, received her master’s degree in public health from the University of South Carolina in 2015. Her research interests include exploring the implementation of school physical activity programs in combination with nutritional components. She is also interested in analyzing the adoption of physical activity and healthy eating skills from a social-cognitive perspective. As a public health communicator at JPHMP Direct, she hopes to create linkages between evidence-based research, public health coursework, and health certification competencies.