Bryce Puesta Takenaka, MPH, CPH

Bryce Puesta Takenaka, MPH, CPH (he/him) is a first-year PhD student in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences at the Yale School of Public Health. His work is grounded at the intersection of place, racism, and homophobia and different manifestations of discrimination shape HIV and health inequities in Black and Brown sexual minority communities in the United States. Bryce holds a Master of Public Health (MPH) in Epidemiology from the College for Public Health and Social Justice at Saint Louis University and a Bachelor's of Science in Public Health from Lindenwood University. To date, his research has encompassedvarious geospatial health research projects that ranged from using social media as a measure for COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy, the geographic patterns in mental health, as well as rigorous evidence syntheses on global youth centered design health interventions, HIV/STI screening interventions in the U.S., and spatial ecological modeling techniques in One Health scholarship. With true passion for uplifting current and rising scholars in public health, Bryce is also the Founder of the Public Health Student Network (PHSN) where he facilitates student-led workshops and opens a platform for underrepresented students in academia build relationships.