Faith hopes that her work will contribute to building more just and compassionate health systems where people are truly seen, heard, and treated with dignity.

Faith Imbiti Okaalo is a second-year doctoral student in health behavior and health equity in the School of Public Health at UM-Ann Arbor. Throughout Faith’s academic and professional journey, she has demonstrated a deep commitment to addressing health disparities and advancing public health, with a particular focus on HIV care and equity. Faith’s research works to understand gaps in HIV care and the factors influencing retention in HIV care among women in Kenya. This work builds on Faith’s foundational training in public health, beginning with her undergraduate degree in Kenya and her MPH from Brown University where she concentrated in global health.

Growing up in Kenya, Faith witnessed firsthand the challenges women from marginalized communities faced to access quality health care. Faith notes that her first professional role as an HIV/AIDS testing service provider at a rural hospital in Migori County was a pivotal experience that ultimately shaped her professional trajectory. There, she observed that the majority of new HIV cases were among youths aged 14-27, particularly marginalized girls and young women. This experience fueled Faith’s determination to contribute to research that informs effective policies and interventions for HIV/AIDS in Kenya. Faith has received several awards for her contributions to the field of public health, including a CEW+ Fellowship and a 2025 Global Public Health Doctoral Travel Award.

Faith hopes that her work will contribute to building more just and compassionate health systems where people are truly seen, heard, and treated with dignity. She wants her work to help people live longer, healthier, and more fulfilling lives, especially those most affected by health inequities.

CEW+ commends Faith for her ongoing commitment to public health and names her a Riecker Graduate Student Research Fellow.