Naissa Piverger ’17
B.S. in Public Health

Naissa Piverger graduated from Caldwell University with a B.S. in Public Health Education. Shortly after, Naissa began her studies at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, NYC. While at Icahn, Naissa served as the President of the Public Health Interest Group and successfully launched a clothing drive for the victims of Hurricane Matthew in Haiti, her native home. Her dedication led her to be recognized by international health organizations and Mount Sinai faculties, supporting Ms. Piverger’s efforts to diminish health disparities in developing countries.

Her commitment to community health was sparked through time spent as a Patient Educator in the East Harlem Health Outreach Partnership (EHHOP), and Health Promotion intern at New York University (NYU) where she developed a Train-the-Trainer curriculum to instruct providers on effectively addressing tobacco use among patients. Currently, she works as a Clinical Research Coordinator at the Population Health Science and Policy department in maternal and child health. She has moderated several focus groups exploring health care discrimination, very preterm births, and severe maternal morbidity. Naissa is presently working on a first-author manuscript examining the Barriers and Facilitators of Active Surveillance for Prostate Cancer from the Provider’s perspective.

Studying public health has allowed Naissa to see health disparities as downstream symptoms of greater social challenges. As an early career professional, she hopes to be one of the many voices advocating for upstream change and improving community health. Naissa will be serving as a Public Health Advisor at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) with a focus on infectious diseases.