Working as a Teaching Assistant (TA) and Research Assistant (RA) during your public health degree, with Meghan Haffey

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In this episode, Sujani is back with Meghan Haffey to discuss working as a research assistant (RA) and a teaching assistant (TA). Meghan describes her own experience of working as both an RA and TA during grad school and discusses tips on how to secure and thrive in these positions. 

You’ll Learn

• What a research assistant (RA) is
• What a teaching assistant (TA) is
• How these roles can add to the graduate school experience
• Advice on how to balance work and school at the same time and ideal times to take on these roles during school
• The importance of communication in these roles
• How to seek and land these opportunities
• How to tell if an opportunity will be a good “fit” for you
• Tips from Meghan on how to thrive in a role as an RA or TA

Today’s Guest

Meghan Haffey is passionate about health advocacy, wellness promotion, nutrition, disease education and prevention, languages, serving people of all cultures, and leadership. She is currently finishing her Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) degree in Health Promotion and Health Education with a minor in Health Policy. She has completed all doctoral-level coursework, passed the preliminary exam, and is now working on her dissertation. She is also working full-time as a graduate research assistant on the UTHealth RADx-UP121 COVID-19 testing and vaccination project and on the production of a health promotion graduate school textbook.

She graduated from Baylor University as a University Scholars major in the Honors Program, concentrating in the sciences, public health, Spanish and Chinese. She then completed her Masters in Public Health (MPH) degree in Epidemiology with a Leadership Studies Concentration at the University of Texas School of Public Health in Houston. She also graduated from the Archer Graduate Program in Public Policy at the Archer Center in Washington, D.C. As an Archer Graduate Fellow, she worked with the National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) in the Government Affairs department. Her experiences have ignited a passion to ultimately pursue a public health career in disease prevention, health education and wellness promotion.

Resources

• Sujani’s previous interview with Meghan about the Doctor of Public Health Program

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