Stephen Kimani, MSc-GH '14, and Aaron Stoertz, MSc-GH '11
Published August 18, 2015, last updated on June 3, 2020 under Alumni Stories
Each year since 2011, the Duke Global Health Institute (DGHI) has honored an outstanding master’s degree student at commencement. This summer, we decided to reconnect with a couple of the award recipients to find out what they’ve been up to since leaving Duke.
Aaron Stoertz ’11 Takes Unconventional Global Health Route
Aaron Stoertz, MSc-GH ’11, is currently a program manager in the life sciences division of Google[x], a semi-secret Google facility dedicated to making major technological advances. Stoertz says that he never thought he’d be where he is now, but his post-Duke career path clearly reflects his interest in health systems.
After graduating from the global health program at Duke, Stoertz worked as a technical officer at the World Health Organization (WHO) office in Geneva, where he’d previously interned under the mentorship of global health and public policy professor Anthony So while attending Duke. As a technical officer, Stoertz worked in the human resources for health division and helped establish guidelines for training health work forces based on the local population needs.
About a year later, Stoertz transitioned to a position in the Google’s People Operations division, where he helped Google investigate whether to establish employee health clinics at Google’s international sites in India, Southeast Asia and Europe. Stoertz later moved into a product development role at Google, working on a HIPAA-compliant telemedicine platform designed to provide broader access to specialty health care services. A few months ago, Stoertz transferred to Google[x].
So how does all of this relate to Stoertz’s global health degree? Stoertz says that the research and writing skills he gained at DGHI—as well as the health systems knowledge—were integral to his success in his program management roles. For example, understanding how health care models work in other countries helped him evaluate the viability of establishing Google health care clinics and advise product teams on factors to consider as they move into international markets.
Looking back, Stoertz says, “DGHI opened up a new path for me, and choosing the global health program at Duke was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I couldn’t be more pleased with the skills I learned and the contacts I made there.”
Stephen Kimani ’14 Heads Back to Medicine
Before Stephen Kimani, MSc-GH ’14, joined Duke’s global health master’s degree program, he’d earned his MD from the University of Nairobi and worked for several years as a general practitioner with the Ministry of Health in Kenya, his home country. Now, a year after graduating from the MSc-GH program, has returned to the medical field as an internal medicine resident at the Duke University Medical Center.
Kimani didn’t have to travel far to begin his three-year residency program. Over the past year, he’s been working as a clinical research coordinator in the Infectious Disease Genomics group at Duke’s Center for Applied Genomics and Precision Medicine. In this role, he coordinated study-related activities for two studies evaluating biomarkers in patients suspected to have infections.
When Kimani reflects on what he valued most about his experience at DGHI, three things come to mind: his mentors, his classmates and the practical knowledge and skills he developed through the program.
Kimani’s mentors—Christina Meade, Melissa Watt and Chris Woods—helped him identify a career path in clinical research and served as sounding boards as he explored the idea of residency training in the United States. He notes that even now, they remain an integral part of his life.
While at DGHI, Kimani developed a strong network among his classmates, who continue to be a source of ideas and influence that he regularly taps into for advice and intellectual discussion. For example, he recalled a recent inspirational conversation with a former classmate who now works in Nairobi about the prospects of healthcare entrepreneurship in East Africa.
Kimani often finds himself applying problem-solving and analytical skills he says he honed through his coursework at DGHI and the Sanford School of Public Policy. These skills have helped him advise organizations in Kenya and develop manuscripts with collaborators in the United States, Tanzania and Kenya—as well as prepare him for the career in academic medicine he’ll launch in just a few years.
Award to Be Renamed in Honor of MSc-GH Alumna
Madeline Boccuzzi, MSc-GH ’12, received the outstanding student award in 2013 and was working as the director of telemedical medicine at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California when she passed away from cancer in 2014.
While studying at DGHI, Boccuzzi worked under the mentorship of medicine and global health professor Shenglan Tang to research barriers and weaknesses in the supply chains of HIV rapid diagnostic tests and insecticide-treated bed nets in Lao People’s Democratic Republic.
As of 2016, the MSc-GH Outstanding Student Award will be renamed the Madeline Boccuzzi MSc-GH Outstanding Student Award in honor of Boccuzzi, who was a deeply respected and well-loved member of the DGHI community.
