Christine Anyanwu, Research Associate I, is skilled in qualitative data collection and analysis, reporting, and community engagement. Before joining our team, Ms. Anyanwu was a senior research assistant at the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she spearheaded study logistics, report writing, and data analysis of community-based participatory research and program evaluation efforts. Get to know her more in this interview below. We are grateful to have her as a team member!
How did you become interested in public policy?
I became interested in public policy because I started seeing the direct link between policy and community outcomes. Policies can provide the foundation, standards, funding, etc. for the systems and programs that have impact on our lives. Public policy is an effective tool to scale empathy and create long-term, systemic changes.
You have a lot of experience around research and health care. What drew you to this field?
I’ve been interested in health since I was a kid, but I don’t remember what exactly drew my younger self in. I was more into the medical field early on, wanting to be a pediatrician and then a clinical pharmacist. But my senior year of college, I was a sexual assault peer educator and introduced to the world of public health. Learning that health and well-being could be impacted by a variety things like legislation, access to quality education, and even societal norms made me want to pursue public health more. I honestly got into research by accident. I just realized how much I enjoy learning about people’s experiences and perspectives and kept pursuing roles that allowed me to do that.
What do you look forward to working on here at PPA?
I’m excited to be exposed to different topic areas from projects across PPA’s four policy areas. I’m really into social drivers (determinants) of health, so I’m interested in learning about the various systems or policies out there and people’s experience with or perspectives on them. I look forward to working with community partners to help contribute to positive changes in their communities.
What’s a project or accomplishment you’re particularly proud of?
Getting my master’s in public health back in 2022. My MPH journey was only 3 semesters long, but I really made that experience my own. I was balancing a lot of responsibilities at the time, but everything I did was important to me and great opportunities to explore the health topics I was interested in.
Our staff are based all around the country. Where are you located? How do you feel about working remotely?
I’m from Baltimore, MD. Specifically, the county. Working remotely is nice. It has its pros and cons like working in-person. But I really appreciate that the culture at PPA makes me feel connected to the whole staff even though I’m not in a physical office with them.
What do you enjoy doing outside of work?
I’m a sports girl, I am a fan of the Baltimore Ravens and the Boston Celtics. I’m also a big foodie and a collector, I guess? I have a comic book collection (western comics, Japanese manga, graphic novels), a small collection of magazines, and just started getting into collecting DVDs. I recently realized how important it is to own physical media, so that inspired my DVD collection and is another influence for my comic and magazine collections.
I really enjoy going to live concerts. Some of my favorite artists that I have seen perform live include Beyonce, Tyler the Creator, Blxst, the Jonas Brothers, and Forrest Frank. One thing I really appreciate about live performances is the fact that so many different people with different talents come together to make the show what it is. That’s especially true for shows in bigger arenas, where artists’ shows have elaborate set designs and more moving pieces to make the show an experience.