Tony Lugemwa

PhD in Social and Behavioral Sciences

The last 2 years at the School of Public Health (SPH), at the University of Memphis have been exciting; there is much appreciation to the faculty, staff, and students who have helped me enjoy my time here in Memphis as graduate student. There has been a significant growth in both my personal and development goals that I can attribute to the SPH community but particularly the amount of learning within the social and behavioral program.

As the outgoing President and former Vice President of the Public Health Student Association (PHSA), I had the opportunity of working with the SPH administration and students to organize events like the National Public Health Week (NPHW) which is aimed towards promoting public health in the city of Memphis. Both roles were fundamental to my growth and development, specifically in the area of serving the community and meeting the needs of people. 

There have been various opportunities to travel to conferences like the Tennessee Public Health Association (TPHA) and the American Public Health Association (APHA); these conferences have not only been valuable to me but also memorable. I was able to share my research at these conferences; the feedback, especially to look at more longitudinal data on hookah smoking and understand the behavior in depth has been very beneficial to my work. The most important time at the conference is the networking; there is a lot to learn from the different experts and public health professionals you meet during this time, especially those with similar research interests.