Rachel Rogers charts a new career path in the health sciences

After an 11-year career as a flight attendant, Rachel Rogers decided to change her flight plan.

She explored a few other institutions before choosing her new heading, the Department of Public Health and Healthcare Administration (PHHL) at Radford University in Roanoke. She is currently enrolled in the health sciences dual degree track, which allows her to earn her master’s and doctoral degree concurrently.  

“Radford is different,” Rogers said. “There is a personal approach, and I feel like the small class sizes and the emphasis on synchronous and asynchronous sessions for the classes really make a difference. The program has a great reputation for working professionals.”

Rogers said that the way her courses are structured, in addition to her work as a graduate assistant in the PHHL department, has given her the opportunity to really get to know her colleagues and her instructors.

“I have helped faculty with several kinds of projects, including focus groups,” Rogers said. “I am in the research mentorship program and have presented at a couple of conferences and have done poster presentations. I never had the confidence in myself that I could do something like that, but this program has taught me that I can.”

Among her duties as a graduate assistant, Rogers studies health equity and food insecurity and is currently working on a racial justice competency model grant. Additionally, she is planning her own research about mindfulness-based interventions for chronic pain in Southwest Virginia as a response to the opioid epidemic.

While that sounds like a full itinerary, Rogers emphasizes that the program and her work in the PHHL department have allowed her to still maintain a great school/work/life balance.

“I’ve been able to balance all of the life activities I have while enrolled in this program, which has been great,” Rogers said.