
Matthew Joseph
Graduated in 2017
6 Semesters in HICH
My Involvement
It was a bit of an accident? The original intent was to create a collaboration between public health officials and students to create projects that would improve the health of the local community. This brought me in contact with various parts of the healthcare system I did not even know existed, despite their important roles in serving underserved populations. This included social workers, community health workers, health department staff, community organizers, and numerous others. It expanded my understanding of what the healthcare SYSTEM was as a whole, outside of the medical side many of us who started as premed was familiar with.
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I was part of the original group who started HICH, involved meeting with various community partners to discuss expectations for community learning agreements, presenting the project's framework to faculty to have their support with guidance from Dr. Price. Also assisted in the proceedings of the Community Greens project in first developing the plot of land worked within Nu Waters Co-op. Received grant funding for the Community Voice Toolbox Project's start from the Clinton Global Initiative. Helped in structuring panels and events for community health outreach, including helping with keeping things running during the first Community Health Worker Conference held at the University of Houston.
Favorite Memory
Getting up every morning during the summer of 2016 and trying to figure out the amorphous plans Dr. Price had for the university and building an experience for students out of it. Learning to understand Dr. Price had bigger goals than we had originally imagined, and adapting to those goals was always a treat.

Deborah Isola
Graduated in 2017
6 Semesters in HICH
My Involvement
Aside from various volunteer events, I was involved in HICH as a PEERS mentor and site leader! I was also a part of the community greens project early on. I am currently the Project Coordinator for UHCHWI and staff lead for the Responsive Resourcing project.
Favorite Memory
My favorite HICH memory was mentoring the students during PEERS. I worked with a group of young men who were part of a STEM and robotics high school and they were so much fun to be around. My co-mentors and I provided support for them to create a project that was designed to improve the response to another Hurricane Harvey and I was constantly impressed by what they were able to bring to the table.
After Graduation
Graduate Student at Johns Hopkins (Bloomberg School of Public Health)