Two USF College of Public Health (COPH) graduates and one COPH student set to graduate this May have earned fellowships from the Presidential Management Fellows (PMF) program, a leadership program that matches advanced degree candidates from all disciplines with Federal opportunities and is part of President Barack Obama’s Pathways Program that helps students and recent graduates join the Federal service.

They are three of only 10 winners from five Florida universities, and the only ones from USF.

Modupe Osinubi, Stephanie Kolar, and Terrill Curtis were chosen for the selective fellowships, which provide a two-year paid fellowship that includes professional training, rotations in various federal agencies, challenging assignments and opportunities to engage in solving domestic and international issues.

Terrill Curtis, who will graduate from COPH this may with a Master of Public Health degree, is interested in working with a variety of federal agencies, but most specifically the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

Stephanie Kolar, PhD, who is a 2013 graduate of USF COPH’s doctoral program, currently conducts research on tobacco cessation and weight management as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Miami. Her graduate studies have focused on diverse topics such as antibiotic resistance, sexually transmitted infections, complementary and alternative medicine, HPV vaccine uptake, social and behavioral factors affecting health, and health disparities among racial/ethnic minorities and under-served populations.

Modupe Osinubi DVM, PhD, who graduated from USF with a Master of Public Health in 2013, is a veterinarian who studies animal vaccination and assessing human health risk related to exposure to animals with diseases such as rabies. Dr. Osinubi is currently an Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education (ORISE)/Oak Ridge Associated Universities (ORAU) Fellow with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, GA.

Curtis, Dr. Kolar, and Dr. Osinubi are three of 609 individuals selected as 2014 PMF Finalists out of nearly 7,000 applications for this competitive, multi-stage application and assessment process. This year also marks the first year the PMF program has offered positions for a new Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) track designed to develop a cadre of public service minded federal leaders with STEM qualifications. All three fellows from USF COPH are among the first 91 Finalists selected for the new PMF-STEM track.