Inspired by community health, they took their message to Congress

Yale School of Public Health students Himani Pattisam, BS '25, MPH '26, and Emily Goines, RN, BSN, MPH '26, joined Dean Megan L. Ranney, MD, MPH, on Capitol Hill to advocate for public health funding and for restoring professional degree designations for nursing, social work, and public health. Joining fellow members of the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH), they visited congressional offices across Washington, D.C., urging lawmakers to invest in the research and workforce that keep communities healthy.

Dean Ranney, Goines, and Pattisam met with staff from the offices of Senators Richard Blumenthal, Christopher Murphy, and Sheldon Whitehouse, Representatives Rosa DeLauro and Hakeem Jeffries, and staff from the majority party appropriations committee on March 18, 2026. The conversations were encouraging — many staff members were already aware of funding gaps and receptive to their concerns. Goines and Pattisam share their reflections below.

Emily Goines, RN, BSN, MPH ’26

Being a mother to a child with complex medical needs — and a nurse with 20 years of experience — has given me many opportunities to advocate. Wanting a deeper understanding of health policy so I can advocate more effectively for families like mine, and lead in public health, is what brought me to the Yale School of Public Health. So, when I heard about the opportunity to accompany Dean Ranney to Capitol Hill, I jumped at the chance.

Our meeting with appropriations committee members felt the most important and meaningful. We emphasized why it matters for the future of public health that we support research and build a workforce that promotes the health and wellbeing of communities. I left feeling that our message was heard, and hopeful that what we shared resonated.

Spending a day on the Hill with Dean Ranney was a highlight of my time at Yale. I returned to New Haven energized to keep advocating for health care access and equity, and I know this experience will help shape my public health career.

Himani Pattisam, BS ’25, MPH ’26

At the Yale School of Public Health, I studied health policy with the goal of attending medical school and returning to lead a community health center in my home state of Ohio. I have long been inspired by Drs. Beth Liston and Amy Acton, two physicians and public health practitioners who have run for office in Ohio and served our communities in unique ways. I became interested in public health to better understand how to improve accessibility and navigation of the health care system, especially for immigrant families like mine. In New Haven, I have spent much of my time volunteering at HAVEN Free Clinic and interning with refugee resettlement agencies Integrated Refugee & Immigrant Services (IRIS) and the International Rescue Committee (IRC). I have engaged in state-level advocacy with the HUSKY for Immigrants Coalition, so I was eager to see policymaking at the federal level.

At ASPPH Hill Day, we advocated to restore and increase funding for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and to reinstate the professional degree designation for public health, social work, and nursing, which affects students' ability to access federal loans for their education.

In meetings with legislative staff from both sides of the aisle, it was exciting to watch Dean Ranney build genuine, empathetic partnerships through storytelling and data. I shared my experiences as a former executive director at HAVEN Free Clinic, a student-run clinic affiliated with Yale School of Medicine that provides high-quality care to uninsured and underserved members of the New Haven community. At HAVEN, I collaborated with students across the health professions — public health, nursing, medicine, and physician assistant — to provide primary care to patients in need. I described the challenges of ensuring the proper functioning of a complex health system when some members of the health care team are experiencing intense financial pressure because their degrees are not recognized as "professional," despite their crucial contributions to our success.

Our advocacy at the U.S. Capitol was a powerful reminder that these large systems are built by people, and that they can also be changed by people if we speak up.