Students Receive Initiatives for Women (IFW) Funding

Binta and Tia smile at the camera.

ALBANY, N.Y. (August 2, 2020) – Two School of Public Health students have received awards from Initiatives for Women (IFW) to help support their public health careers.

IFW provides women at the University at Albany with the means to advance their educational and professional goals. Through individual donations, corporate and foundation contributions, IFW supports women in a variety of ways. Tia Marks and Binta Ceesay were both awarded Ford Foundation Women in Science Fellowships.

Marks, a PhD student in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences, will use her IFW award to present her dissertation research at an International Society for Environmental Epidemiologists conference. Her research focuses on toxic heavy metals exposure in children living in Madre de Dios, Peru.

Ceesay, a Master of Public Health student in the Department of Health Policy, Management and Behavior, is conducting an internship at the New York State AIDS Institute, a close partner of the School’s new Center for Collaborative HIV Research in Practice and Policy (CCHRPP). Her IFW award will cover the course fees for academic internship credit.

Both School of Public Health students were honored at a special virtual reception for the 27th group of IFW award recipients late last month.