Who We Are
The THRIVE MPH Fellows Program at Fort Valley State University, empowers emerging public health professionals through hands-on research, expert mentorship, and real-world service. Whether analyzing data, building community health initiatives, or preparing for global fieldwork, our fellows are gaining the skills, confidence, and experience to lead lasting change.
Here, you’ll find opportunities to grow — academically, professionally, and personally — while making a measurable impact in communities both locally and abroad.
Explore the path. Embrace the work. Become the leader our world needs.
This is where health leaders rise.
The THRIVE MPH Fellows Project is a transformative, practice-based fellowship designed to cultivate the next generation of public health leaders.
Through a rigorous blend of research training, community engagement, and professional development, our fellows gain hands-on experience addressing real-world health disparities in underserved communities—locally and globally.
Fellows participate in monthly research workshops, data analysis labs, and applied learning tracks in areas of global health, food insecurity, and chronic disease prevention.
With support from faculty mentors and access to tools, THRIVE Fellows graduate not only with a degree, but with a portfolio of impact, ready to lead in public health practice, policy, or doctoral study.
Dr. Hamidah Sharif-Amanyi, Program Director
Associate Professor of Public Health
“At FVSU, we don’t just prepare students for careers in public health. We raise up health justice leaders—digital-savvy, community-rooted, and unapologetically bold.”
Our Project Leadership
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Dr. Hamidah Sharif-Amanyi
Principal Investigator, Project Director
Dr. Sharif-Amanyi is an internationally recognized public health educator, researcher, and advocate for health justice. With over two decades of experience in community health, global health, and graduate education, she leads THRIVE with a commitment to empowering students and strengthening the communities they serve. She is also the principal investigator of the SISTAHS Study and Director of the Ghana Rural Health Project. Dr. Sharif-Amanyi holds multiple graduate degrees including a Doctor of Education in Health and Behavior Studies from Columbia University in the City of New York.
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Dr. Heidi Gregg
Co-Principal Investigator,
With over a decade of experience in higher education, she holds a Doctor of Public Health in Leadership from Georgia Southern University. As a qualitative researcher, her work explored crisis leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic in a rural Georgia county. A proud alumna of the FVSU MPH Program, she is deeply committed to raising awareness and empowering the next generation of public health leaders through mentorship, teaching, postdoctoral research, and addressing critical public health issues affecting underserved communities.
Get in touch.
It all begins with an idea. Do you have an idea for a community or public health project in the Peach County area? Please share your ideas, concerns and comments with us.
