Tasha Gill: Gathering tools for her vaʻa
Tasha Gill is on a journey to gather more tools for her vaʻa (canoe). One tool she has firmly in hand is the Master of Public Health (MPH) degree she earned in 2014 at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, and she is using it to improve the health of her community on Guam as well as to propel her in her studies.
After finishing her undergraduate studies in biology, Tasha was looking for a way to make a difference. She learned about the public health program and realized that it would give her the skills she needed to join other community members and tackle the problem of health disparities on Guam.
During the MPH program, a course in indigenous research methods taught by Maile Taualii, assistant professor of public health, was particularly influential, Tasha says. "She challenged us to identify a research problem and helped us to analyze the data and present our findings."
Tasha credits her UH professors for challenging her to think about ways to change systems. The work she did during her graduate assistantship under the direction of associate professor Jane Chung-Do allowed her to work with communities across the state of Hawai‘i through a youth suicide prevention grant. This experience taught her to see the harmony between public health research and public health practice. "I learned the importance of building trust with community members, and gaining their buy in," she says.
Shortly after completing her MPH degree, she returned to Guam where she began working with the Guam Department of Public Health and Social Services to develop a model for delivering early childhood mental health care services. She and her colleagues partnered with other agencies and members of the community to create a smoother integration of health services for kids ages 5 and younger.
Tasha found herself back in the realm of prevention at the Guam Behavioral Health and Wellness Center, where she served as project coordinator for a substance use prevention grant. Tasha explains that her role was to partner with 10 diverse NGOs to improve substance use prevention capacity and infrastructure in Guam. It was in this role that she had an "a-ha!" moment; she was where she had envisioned, realizing her public health potential in her hometown.
However, she desired more tools for her va’a. This work led Tasha to realize that she wanted to learn even more ways to help her community. Today, Tasha is a student in the PhD program at the Department of Public Health Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
"Right now, public health is the forefront of so many global socio-political issues," she says. "I'm so very thankful for my time at UH Mānoa's public health program. I learned the value of working with community members, and I felt a sense of belonging with the public health community."
Tasha is grateful for the guidance and support she received from her many mentors at UHM. Associate professor Tetine Sentell was instrumental as her advisor, providing her with academic and moral support. Tasha says she felt a sense of community among public health faculty, staff and students.
A strong sense of kuleana, along with a deep belief in the value of the reciprocal relationship between self and community, drive her to keep working toward her goals of improving community health. "My community raised me, and I have a responsibility to give back to my community. This responsibility was entrusted to me, and it continues to drive me forward."