Bloomberg American Health Initiative selects Dr. Amiri as Fellow

Dr. Azita Amiri has been selected as a Bloomberg Fellow.

Michael Mercier | UAH

The Bloomberg American Health Initiative has selected Dr. Azita Amiri, PhD, an associate professor of nursing at The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH), as a Bloomberg Fellow.

Dr. Amiri’s fellowship focuses on environmental challenges in the part-time Masters of Public Health Program that begins in June at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore.

The Bloomberg American Health Initiative is a new effort that aims to improve health and save lives in the United States. The Bloomberg Fellows Program is an initiative that provides world-class public health training to individuals engaged with organizations tackling critical challenges facing the United States. Fellows receive a full scholarship to earn a master’s or doctorate degree in public health, then use their new skills to continue tackling some of the toughest challenges facing US communities.

Dr. Amiri has spent over a decade in environmental health research.

"In 2017, I found the pleasure of working with the environmental justice communities in Alabama," Dr. Amiri says. "This narrowed down my nursing practice, and my research focuses on vulnerable populations and environmental justice communities."

Her fellowship goal is to develop an environmental justice model to mitigate inequalities, injustices and health disparities concerning environmental exposures in Alabama and possibly expand it to other states.

"Environmental justice is a complex public health challenge and a global problem," Dr. Amiri says. "I am confident that, with what I will learn from this fellowship and UAH’s collaboration with the Bloomberg School of Public Health, UAH can lead the environmental justice mitigation plans in the South."

The fellowship provides UAH the opportunity to have Johns Hopkins University as a longtime collaborator, she says.

"UAH does not have a Department of Public Health and collaboration with the top public health school in the world is exciting."

She expects to finish the program in two years.

"My selection as a Bloomberg Fellow reflects my potential to make a difference in my community and across the nation," Dr. Amiri says.

"I dreamed it and worked hard for it, and most importantly, I never gave up. Now I’m dreaming where I want to go next from here," she says. "I am so delighted to be part of this and looking forward to advancing communities here in Huntsville and Alabama."