Elaine Scallon

Studying Sociology at NUI Maynooth led me to the career that I love - Epidemiology. I more or less stumbled into Sociology but once there I became very interested by the research methods used to study individuals in their environment. I learned the techniques of survey design and analysis. These skills led to my first job - conducting door-to-door surveys as part of a project studying women's use of folic acid. Again one thing led to another and soon I had a PhD in epidemiology from UCD. In 2003, I went off to work at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, GA. Now 13 years after graduating from Maynooth, I find my work both challenging and deeply gratifying. I am currently an Assistant Professor in the School of Public Health at the University of Colorado where I teach and conduct studies on the causes and burden of foodborne diseases. Although my topic has changed, and I continue to learn new methods, the fundamental skills I learned studying Sociology in NUI Maynooth continue to be important.