Maria Mooney matriculated to GW in the fall of 2021. In her two years at GW, she involved herself with the Center in research and networking, even serving as the Vice President to the Student Network her first year. As a second-year student, Maria worked for the Center of Excellence as a Graduate Student Assistant and served as the President for the Student Network. She loved the collaboration between the Center and the Student Network and how she got to help connect students with peers and mentors and plan professional development events, stating “it was really helpful as I was preparing to leave grad school and get out into the workforce.”
Maria also got to work on a collaborative Culminating Experience (CE) project through the Center on cesarean birth rates amongst South Asian women. Her study, titled Reproductive Health Issues Associated With Cesarean Deliveries Among South Asian Women in the U.S., analyzed the relationship between having ever had a cesarean delivery and the diagnosis of reproductive health issues. In this project, she got to lead a team of 5 graduate school professionals in dataset cleaning and she developed and conducted a 52-item cross-sectional survey among South Asian women. She cited this experience as great hands-on learning for study design, asking the right questions, and removing as much bias as possible.
What Drew You to MCH?
Maria has been interested in MCH as far back as she can remember. “I had always had a deep passion for the maternal space.” Originally, she planned to be an OBGYN due to her interest in perinatal care, but found it more interesting to look at issues on the systematic level as opposed to the individual level. When applying for MPH programs, she sought out GW specifically because of the Center, as she knew the breadth of opportunity it brings to students in their education and beyond. “It really does make a big difference as far as access and funding and additional opportunities.”
Where are you currently working? The evolution of “Why MCH?”
Maria has been a Program Coordinator of Research at Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Nursing for two years. Her day-to-day tasks include assisting PIs in the development of projects, grant writing, database building, and survey development. Her biggest current project is assisting in the planning and development of a VCU nurse-led mobile van. Currently, the van travels to clinical sites and FQHCs in rural areas to assist with care coordination. Maria’s role is to help expand this service for maternal healthcare patients, specifically providing “gap care” for those who cannot reach an OBGYN through remote patient monitoring.
The Most Useful Skills from GW and the Center of Excellence
Maria points to Planning and Implementing Health Promotion Programs and Progam Evaluation as two key courses that gave her baseline skills that she uses in her current role as a program coordinator. She also lists MCH I and MCH II as classes she enjoyed: MCH I served as a “level setter” and gave her a baseline in MCH topics and MCH II helped build her skills in data analysis and database building. She would also recommend students take a course in R, SPSS, or SAS, as she comes across them often in her job.
Share a professional win!
Maria recently submitted two HRSA grants on a three week deadline. One of the grants was to expand the nursing workforce and the other was for a program evaluation of the sustainability of a maternal nutrition program.
What would you recommend new grads do in their job search?
As someone who reviews applications in her current job, Maria would advise all applicants to tailor their resumes to the job they are applying to by highlighting keywords mentioned in the application. “I can tell when someone put time into their application.”
Maria emphasizes that one of the most important skills is networking. Connecting with people personally, reaching out over LinkedIn, or sending a cold email could lead to a great opportunity. It also makes you stand out as a candidate if you have an “in” with a current employee. She would recommend that students create a rolodex of places to apply and people to reach out to connect. She also recommends broadening the search past LinkedIn: utilize connections and look on organization websites to find career opportunities.
CoE Shoutout
Maria would like to shout out Jerry for all his help during her job search. When Maria was applying for jobs postgrad, Jerry reached out to his professional connections to facilitate the job search process. After getting an offer, Jerry helped Maria navigate salary negotiations, a task she initially found daunting, but got through with his help.