Dana Sakipova (MPH '27) named TIPH Ambassador by ASPPH
An essential part of public health is advocating and raising awareness. Each year, schools and public health programs through the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH) nominate students as ambassadors through the This is Public Health (TIPH) Ambassador program to elevate public health awareness. This year, Dana Sakipova, MD, MS (MPH ’27), was nominated by Pitt Public Health and selected to serve as an ambassador, something she called “an honor and deeply personal milestone”
Sakipova earned her medical degree in pediatrics, but her
path to public health started during her clinical rotations and hospital practica
caring for both adults and children.
“I quickly noticed a recurring truth: by the time someone is
in an exam room, you are often treating a downstream crisis
that started long before,”
she said.
After that realization, Sakipova started working in hospital
quality management and accreditation in her native Kazakhstan and later
coordinated international academic health care partnerships in the U.S. with
UPMC.
Working in two distinct health care systems, Sakipova said
she’s learned that while policies and organizational structures vary across borders,
the core human goals never change.
“Whether in Central Asia or Western
Pennsylvania, communities strive for the same
essentials—clean air and water, nutritious food, safe living conditions,
routine vaccinations, and preventive care,” she added.
As a student at Pitt and now a TIPH Ambassador, Sakipova is using
her platform to show that public health is about safeguarding those shared
fundamentals before medical interventions are ever needed.
The 2026-27 ambassador cohort is made up of 82 graduate
students representing 51 schools and programs of public health across the
country, all of whom come to the program with diverse backgrounds.
“I am most looking forward to learning
from my fellow ambassadors across the country,” said Sakipova. “I love the opportunity to translate complex
health frameworks into relatable, human
stories that show prospective
students we are all examples of the mantra: ‘Whatever
your lived experience and background, there is a place for your voice here.’”
Being
an ambassador opens up both professional development and advocacy opportunities.
With a background in hospital administration and quality improvement and a practicum
that heavily focused on that, Sakipova is keen to note that collecting and
analyzing data is only half of the equation. The challenge, she said, is
communication and advocacy. Through hands-on workshops on data visualization
and media training, ambassadors can refine their skills so they can “translate
in the field into clear, accessible, and transparent insights for the
communities we serve.”
As someone who wants to work at the intersection of health
policy, health system improvement and community well-being, Sakipova wants to
build and advance health equity from the up, whether that takes the shape of leading program
evaluation, shaping health and
social programs, or driving initiatives around food and nutrition policy—such
as expanding food access and improving nutritional quality.
“Serving as a TIPH Ambassador sharpens the exact
competencies needed across all of these paths: public-facing communication,
national cross-institutional collaboration, and working confidently with media
and digital platforms to share health messages,” she said. “It directly bridges
the gap between analytical work—like data, policy analysis, and evaluation
frameworks—and the real-world communication needed to advocate for communities
and drive meaningful policy change.”
As a public health ambassador, Sakipova is quick to note
that many people wonder if they “belong” in public health, and she says the
answer is an unequivocal “Yes”
“I want to say directly: you do not need a medical degree or
a clinical background to build a meaningful career here”
Having gone through medical school, Sakipova said one of the
most persistent misconceptions she sees is a belief that public health is exclusively
reserved for doctors or lab scientists.
“In reality, medical care treats individuals after they
become sick, but public health addresses the physical and social environments
that shape our daily well-being—from safe housing, clean tap water, and food
security to digital literacy and language access.”
During her summer practicum with Pittsburgh-based support
organization Casa San José, Sakipova
worked on projects like evaluating emergency food support and adult ESL
programs, which she says are small examples of how helping people learn English
or ensure they have enough food can be just as helpful as a clinic visit.
“Public health cannot thrive on clinical perspectives alone,”
she said. “We need data analysts to reveal systemic patterns, engineers to
design resilient infrastructure, teachers to educate communities, writers to
communicate research, community organizers to build local trust, and
administrators to keep programs running sustainably. If you care about human
well-being and justice in your community, your specific skill set is not an
obstacle—it is your greatest strength.”
