COPH Alumna Selected for ORISE Fellowship with the CDC

Malendie Gaines, who received her Doctor of Public Health degree in Epidemiology in 2015 from the ETSU College of Public Health, has accepted Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE) postdoctoral fellowship with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.  

She is working in the National Center for HIV/AIDS, Viral Hepatitis, STDs, and TB Prevention as a Health Equity Fellow. Through this fellowship, she can assist other researchers in exploring the social determinants of health of HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis, sexual transmitted diseases, and Tuberculosis.

Prior to her doctoral program at ETSU, she worked full time as an HIV clinical research coordinator in Macon, Georgia.  This is where her interest in HIV prevention, treatment and education began and she continued to work with organizations and programs that prevent HIV/AIDS throughout her doctoral program at ETSU.  Dr. Gaines stated, “When I started my job at Mercer Medicine, I would have never known I’d still be working in the field of HIV/AIDS.”

During the summer of 2013, Gaines completed her DrPH field practicum with Project HOPE UK in Munsieville, South Africa, where she initiated a teen HIV prevention program. She also conducted research on HIV risk behaviors during all three years at ETSU, and presented her work at the National STD Prevention Conference hosted by the Centers for Disease Control in 2014.

“Through ETSU’s College of Public Health, I gained experiences that I could not have gained anywhere else which prepared me to reach my future goals. Through high-powered mentorship by Dr. Megan Quinn, I was able to reach my full potential. She pushed me in the direction I needed to go from the beginning,” said Dr. Gaines.

“Malendie is an excellent alumna of the DrPH epidemiology program at ETSU.  Throughout her program she completed research, teaching, and service activities related to HIV/AIDs and health equity,” stated Dr. Quinn.  “Her current fellowship is a perfect fit for her epidemiology and public health skills and passion for health equity.” 

Some of her awards include the following: The 2014 Alpha Kappa Alpha Educational Advancement Foundation, Inc. Graduate Scholarship; The 2014 Southern Region Education Board Dissertation Fellow; The Frist Global Health Scholarship; The Wykoff Public Health Scholarship; and the 2015 Outstanding Doctor of Public Health Student Award for the Department of Biostatistics and Epidemiology. 

In conjunction with epidemiological research and activities, Dr. Gaines volunteered with the HIV Network by participating in fundraisers and support groups for people who are HIV positive. She was also heavily involved with the homeless community in East Tennessee. She volunteered with Thankful Baptist Church in the feeding of the homeless and worked with the children’s ministry.

During spring 2015, she completed her dissertation titled, “The Influence of Race and Gender on HIV Risk Behaviors in High School Students in the Southern States of the United States.”  Dr. Gaines summarized, “From research experiences to classroom lectures on Social Determinants of Health...ETSU’s College of Public Health has guided me to this step of being allowed a prestigious opportunity such as this ORISE Health Equity Fellowship through the CDC.”