Raquel Rosa

Discipline and date of your BA or BS degree: B.S. in Allied Health Sciences (August 2025)
What influenced your decision to pursue a Master of Public Health at UConn?: I was a student always interested in pursuing a career in medicine. When I learned about the FastTrack MPH program at UConn, the idea of having a broad understanding of public health, healthcare systems, healthcare administration, and social determinants of health prior to entering medical school training stood closely with my values and background. I come from a low-income family where barriers to healthcare existed. I wanted to learn about the data behind those issues in the US, and learn what can be done to fix that. I also loved the idea of prevention, a large part of public health. Educating patients on prevention is sometimes the best thing you can do for their health. Moreover, I loved that the UConn Public Health program is “applied” and that its concentration is in inter-professional practice. This stood out to me since healthcare is a team, and it teaches me how to work better in those very important scenarios.
Background: I come from Waterbury, CT. I majored in Allied Health Sciences on the Pre-Med track at UConn. I competed in track and field and absolutely loved it. I have interest in social determinants to health research and promoting health education. I also am interested in developing ways to end barriers in healthcare.
Life Outside Work and School: Pianist, retired DI UConn athlete, volunteer to mentor high school girls about careers in medicine, and medical research.
Your immediate (next 1-5 years) career goals: Planning to use my MPH education working in a community health setting while applying to medical school.