Alumni Profile

Dan Forsberg, RPA-C, MPH, CPH
Class of 2009
Health Policy and Management concentration 

Please tell us about some of your activities since your graduation from the MPH program?
After graduation in 2010, I have continued to run the Departments of Surgery, Orthopedics and OB/GYN at Forest Hills Hospital, part of the North Shore- Long Island Jewish Health System.  This community hospital is located in the middle of Queens, NY.  Often cited as the most diverse county in the country, Queens is populated by over 2.23 million people, 47% of whom were born outside the US.  54% speak a language other than English in their homes. Ensuring that these people receive evidence-based medical care in a compassionate environment that respects their cultural, religious, and ethnic diversity is a challenge.  Much of my additional time is spent teaching surgery to Physician Assistant and Osteopathic Medical Students in both didactic and clinical settings.

How has your MPH degree influenced your career?
I am much better able to navigate statistical and epidemiological evidence.  Wading through the literature was a much more arduous task before my Stony Brook education.  Now, the value of evidence and its applicability is much clearer. My ability to implement programmatic changes based on data is more adroit, and my analyses help my opinions hold sway with my colleagues.  I have begun adding themes of social disparities, population health and resource utilization to my surgical lectures, and I endeavor to improve my students’ evaluative skills.  I am a better administrator, teacher, and clinician because of the GPPH!

What advice would you give a new student just starting the program?
Stay as broad in your discipline as possible.  Take that class about which you’ve been wondering, get involved with OPHSA and participate in the larger community of the program and the school.  There are many avenues to achieve your goals.  Keep an open mind and explore.

Posted Fall 2011