“Public health is being able to provide or connect people with the information and services they need to have a healthier life.”

Lynle Hayes is a committed public health professional pursuing a master’s in biostatistics at UM-Ann Arbor. Growing up, Lynle saw the importance of government aid programs in providing health care and other resources, as well as the challenges of arbitrary guidelines and inconsistent access. Her experiences fostered her compassion and resourcefulness and, later in life, drew her to a career in public health. As Lynle puts it, “Public health is being able to provide or connect people with the information and services they need to have a healthier life.”

Lynle graduated from Kent State University with a bachelor’s in biology and ultimately launched a career in public health. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Lynle served as health commissioner and accreditation coordinator at the Salem City Health District in Ohio. Health departments were inundated with information, data, and statistics that were difficult to effectively interpret and relay to communities, and the experience changed Lynle’s perspective on information flow and delivery to the public. Health departments risk losing trust and credibility with communities as a result of outdated or fractured data, yet Lynle had never encountered a health department with a biostatistician on staff. Confronting this gap ultimately led Lynle to graduate school at U-M: despite the challenges of balancing school and parenting her four children, Lynle is committed to further developing her skills in pursuit of a healthier world.

Lynle’s goal is to leverage her expertise to train and support local health departments in basic statistical methods and data analytics and advance effective data communication. She also plans to continue working administratively in local public health and pursue opportunities to teach skills to new students in public health programs.

CEW+ applauds Lynle’s vision for her career in public health and names her an Irma M. Wyman Scholar.