Here’s one thing you can be sure of about Jon Strong (B.S. Microbiology): His passport will always get plenty of use. His interest in improving the public health of the planet is evidenced by the passport stamps he’s been receiving the past few years. As he puts it: “I’ve been working toward a dual M.D.-M.P.H. degree, with several stops along the way to pursue my interests in global health.” Those stops include Kenya, Switzerland, Lebanon and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

“Following my first year of medical school at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I spent the summer in Geneva, taking courses at the World Health Organization and working at the GAVI Alliance, a public-private partnership that finances vaccine programs in developing countries,” he says. “Last year, I completed a M.P.H. at the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, focusing on biostatistics and humanitarian emergencies. I also had the opportunity to travel to Lebanon to design and implement a health survey of elderly Syrian refugees."

“Today I’m leading efforts to evaluate the largest U.S.-funded nutrition program in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a country wracked by decades of conflict and malnutrition. When this research concludes, I’ll return to Wisconsin to complete my final year of medical school and pursue a residency in emergency medicine.

“Eventually, I plan to seek out a faculty position at an academic medical center that will allow me to practice clinical medicine, pursue research overseas, and perhaps teach the next generation of leaders in global health.”