Alumni Spotlight: Rachel Milkovich

Published
By
Mary Alice Yeskey
Reproductive and Sexual Health
Rachel Milkovich
  • Degree Program: MSPH
  • Area of Interest: Women's, Sexual and Reproductive Health (SRH)
  • Graduation Year: 2021
  • Hometown: Glen Ellyn, IL
  • Previous Degree(s) Earned: BA in Journalism from George Washington University
  • Current Role: Global Health Policy specialist at Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF-USA), focused on policy and advocacy for sexual and reproductive health. 
     

What sparked your interest in public health? 
The public health field has always felt exciting to me because of the holistic perspective it takes on an individual, community, and population level. It’s important to use systems-level thinking to address health inequities.

The skills I built as a PFRH student help me effectively connect technical aspects to clear policy objectives—and communicate them to different stakeholders.

What led you to choose Bloomberg School of Public Health and the Department of Population, Family and Reproductive Health? 
I appreciated that the Bloomberg School allowed me to specialize in SRH, and build different skill sets in evaluation, epidemiology, policy, demography, and global health, among other areas. I learned so much from the faculty in PFRH and was fortunate to support several research studies while I was a student.

How did your degree prepare you for current and future roles? What aspects of the PFRH degree program did you find most useful? 
Since graduating, I have had many opportunities to use my degree. In Chicago, I worked with community-based organizations on COVID vaccine-related programming, and I led evaluation efforts for a hospital-based program focused on supporting survivors of community and domestic violence. I am currently a policy specialist at Doctors Without Borders, overseeing the U.S. team’s portfolio on SRH advocacy. I work on a great team that engages with U.S. policymakers, U.S. civil society, and global health actors on different health topics. The skills I built as a PFRH student help me effectively connect technical SRH aspects to clear policy objectives—and communicate them to different stakeholders.