Student Spotlight: Shenae Miller
2025 Fulbright Scholar Dr. Shenae Miller continues to expand upon her passions at the University of Georgia to pursue a doctoral degree with a concentration in Health Policy and Management. Miller is a physician by training, having earned her medical degree and specialization in sports medicine from the University of the West Indies in Jamaica. She gained public health experience through work with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) during the pandemic, and internships at the CDC, while simultaneously completing her Master of Public Health at Emory University. She later pursued further studies in humanitarian health at Johns Hopkins University. Miller also has surgical training, having worked as an orthopedic surgery resident in Jamaica. Miller is the first UGA CPH DrPH student to receive the Fulbright Scholarship.
2025 Fulbright Scholar Dr. Shenae Miller.
What attracted you to getting your doctorate at the College of Public Health?
“I love the clinical part of medicine, but there is also a gap in terms of patient advocacy and health policy. So, I decided that just with an MPH and the other degrees, I needed to be able to have a larger voice. I really wanted to learn more about public health, and knew it would be through the Doctor of Public Health (DrPH) program. I opted to get more infield work experience with public health, and then I decided to reapply to get the Fulbright scholarship, so this is my second time being offered the scholarship.”
What particular area of public health are you passionate about?
“I have worked in so many different aspects of public health, but I would say my focus right now is on policy and enactments of those policies to help the vulnerable populations in Jamaica and also the broader Caribbean. I also want to take away from the public health experience here various aspects of how public health is administered, and to kind of wrap that up in a similar syllabus and have that being taught at the university level in my home country.”
Do you have any external activities that you are passionate about?
“I love connecting with people, seeing people from different walks of life, and that’s one of the things that kind of brought me closer in terms of wanting to choose UGA, when I realized, from the pictures and the diversity. I’m also an avid runner, so I do run 5Ks and 10K’s. I try to keep fit, so I play different sports including tennis and badminton, and I also do a bit of swimming, and I love track. I love being an active part of my church as well. We do health fairs and community outreach, and that’s something that I look forward to participating in here in the U.S. communities.”
How have you been impacted by scholarships you’ve earned throughout your career?
“I’m super grateful for all the help that I would have received and to whom much is given, much is required. So it’s my giving back, not only to Jamaica, but also to the U.S., for trusting me and giving me that support as I try to embark on a vision of change for our healthcare system back home, and also the public health system, which is virtually non-existent and only started growing post-pandemic.”
Something you look forward to during your time at the CPH?
I am looking forward to growth and expansion, and I say that in different ways: growth on the individual level, growth on the community level, and just in whichever sphere of life that God decides for me. I am definitely looking for those opportunities where I’ll get a chance to be a part of different community groups, work at churches, schools, volunteering, improving on interpersonal skills, learning more about leadership, learning more about research and just having all of that knowledge to pour back into others, because I don’t believe in keeping that knowledge to myself.
