Alton Reid

My Greatest Accomplishment

During my time as a health scientist with the EPA Office of Inspector General (OIG), my team and I won a Gold Medal of Exceptional Service in 2021 for our report looking into the 2018 registration process for Dicamba, an agricultural pesticide and for upholding scientific integrity and transparency within the agency. I also presented research on neighborhood assistance efforts and how that impacts one’s mental and physical health (the subject of my master’s thesis while attending Drexel) for the American Public Health Association’s annual meeting in 2022. But some of my greatest accomplishments have come through volunteering. I helped the COVID vaccination efforts in Prince George’s County Maryland, with the Office of Community Relations around March 2021, by educating individuals and helping them get vaccines at clinic sites. I learned the value of presenting factual public health information to a lay audience to combat vaccine misinformation. I felt a great sense of accomplishment helping members of my community get informed and vaccinated, especially some of the older members who were influential and the most at risk in their families. They often persuaded others to come to our vaccine clinic sites afterward and this strengthened community engagement, especially as churches and other community centers volunteered to be access sites.

How Drexel Helped Me

Drexel gave me access to a lot of tools of the trade. I had no idea what Dedoose, SAS, Qualtrics, and other tools used in public health were before attending Drexel. I learned how to scope and utilize different aspects of my education to better impact communities. I still use a lot of public health data analysis, data visualization techniques and general stakeholder engagement skills I learned at Drexel. These skills show up in the OIG reports I have worked on in my current role as a health scientist, and I laugh at them now because some concepts made little sense to me as a student. Once I got into the working world, however, I thought to myself “Oh….that is why Dr. Amy Carroll-Scott, Dr. Michael or Dr. Brown said something like that in class so many times.”

Where I Hope to Be in Five Years

Outside of being finished with the DrPH I am now pursuing at Rutgers, I have not thought about this too much. I tend to go with the flow of things in the present and make the most impact I can, where and when I can. Ideally, I hope to be like my former football coach Bob Thompson from New York. He and a couple of his colleagues made a football team for us when we were kids, with the goal of giving everyone a shot to play as long as we were willing to work and put in the time. It was inspiring, and I hope to be in a similar position where I can lead or be a part of something where one can open the door for others and set them up for success.

How I Pay It Forward

I often try to look for a way to be a positive change wherever I am. No matter how big or small something seems, actions for the greater good are always commendable. Whether I am volunteering in my local community, at my undergraduate institution at Virginia Commonwealth University or just playing basketball, I give others a chance to play and prove themselves. I try to give back the kindness people have shown me throughout life in some form or another. It takes a village to truly become successful and that is something I have never forgotten.