Mary Carolonza (she/her/hers) graduated from New York University with a B.S. in Global Public Health and Applied Psychology. After taking a Women & Mental Health class at NYU in Fall 2022, she was inspired to intern with the Columbia-WHO Center for Global Mental Health (then the Columbia University Global Mental Health Programs) in 2023 and later returned to serve as a Management Intern in 2024. As an intern, Mary worked on Dr. Kathleen Pike’s team to contribute to a scientific review and synthesis for a paper for the Mental Health at Work Index. Her research interests include learning how to use the PRECEDE-PROCEED model to design, implement, and evaluate a public health intervention in an underserved/under-researched community, using health communication strategies to improve the target audience’s self-efficacy, and using community-based participatory research strategies, like focus groups and informational interviews, to inform a research study.
Mary loved her time as an intern and is grateful to have had the opportunity to return as a Management Intern for Summer 2024 and again in Summer 2025 during her gap year. She enjoyed facilitating the seminars, participating in seminar discussions, and meeting with interns one-on-one to provide advice on Master of Public Health applications strategies.
Mary is excited to pursue her Masters of Public Health at the University of Pennsylvania this fall. During her MPH application process, she received invaluable mentorship from Center staff and alumni, and in the future hopes to mentor other interns who are applying to MPH programs.