Work with Rachelle
Comprehensive Master's Application Package — Land Your Dream Program
Starting at
$2,000
Craft Powerful Admissions Essays
Starting at
$375
Master's Final Application Review
Starting at
$300
About
I bring 25 years of experience in public health at the national, state and community level, with experience in program evaluation, health policy, and chronic disease prevention. DrPH from UNC Chapel Hill, an MPH from George Washington University and a NSEP/Boren Scholar in Chile during undergrad. My experience includes leading a large $55 million data analytics project with the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), serving as the inaugural Chief Research and Evaluation Officer at the Texas Health Institute (THI), serving as a Clinical Professor for Public Health at the University of Texas at Austin, and being the Director of a CDC-funded national school health initiative at the National Association of Chronic Disease Directors. I have also held at three other national organizations and began my public health career in the Peace Corps. My story is directly related to the reason I love coaching and assisting with admissions applications. I am a first-generation college student from a very low-income family in rural Ohio. I navigated everything on my own and through that, developed incredible grit, determination and insight. I worked in admissions in undergrad and have supported students on the side ever since. After working as a professor at UT-Austin and serving on scholarship committees, I added on graduate admissions support. I enjoy supporting others that are early in their career and helping related to grad school applications for public health, public policy, health policy and healthcare. I am also the proud mom of three young adults, and enjoy supporting others navigating motherhood, the workforce and academics.
Rachelle’s Master’s Programs Qualifications
Open to working with clients outside the U.S.
Rachelle has helped clients get into these schools:
With over 20 years of experience in public health, I am a seasoned researcher and evaluator with a passion for qualitative research and harnessing people-driven insights. As the former Chief Research and Evaluation Officer at Texas Health Institute, I led a team of researchers and evaluators, conducting impactful studies and evaluations at the national, state, and community level. I am currently leading a team of 40 on a large data analytics project for Medicaid. I have also served as a Clinical Assistant Professor for Public Health at The University of Texas at Austin, where I taught courses on health policy, global health, and more. With my expertise in research and evaluation, I have successfully coached 20+ individuals in their journey to master's programs and over fifty for undergraduate admissions to top schools. If you're looking for guidance and support in navigating the admissions process, please reach out - I would love to help you achieve your goals!
Rachelle can help with:
Application Strategy
Editing
Essays
Interviews
Resume
School Selection
Why do I coach?
I coach because I did not have a coach. I am a first-generation college student from a low-income family and stumbled my way through. Despite stumbling, I went onto achieve many things - finishing undergrad Phi Beta Kappa with University and Departmental honors, entering the Peace Corps, a masters, and then finishing my doctorate at the #2 school for public health in the U.S., In addition, I've had the incredible opportunity to grow in my career and take on many leadership roles in this the public health space. In 2018, I took my work experience and went to teach at the University of Texas at Austin for two and a half years. I truly loved mentoring students, many of whom were also first-generation and applying to graduate school. Also, in raising my own children, I realized how much I was able to pass onto them that I did not have myself, and how much smoother my journey could have been if I had had some guidance.
Work Experience
Project Director
Bixal
August 2023 - Present
Hiring Manager
Leading a multi-disciplinary team of 40 to develop valuable and user-friendly healthcare analytics, data products and services by providing a strategic vision for DataConnect @ Centers for Medicaid and CHIP Services.
Chief Research and Evaluation Officer
Texas Health Institute
November 2020 - August 2023
Hiring Manager
• Provided leadership, expertise, design and management for all applied research and evaluation activities including scoping, key informant interview and focus group protocol development, survey design and methodology, qualitative & quantitative data analysis and interpretation. Lead stakeholder management across all projects. • Conducted foundational research for new organizational strategic plan. Developed structure of and grew Research & Evaluation team from 1 to 10 in three years. • Led a 2-year mixed-methods evaluation of cancer prevention programs in Texas. Led 4-county mixed-methods, bilingual community health needs assessment in Central Texas, national report for veterans' health. Collaborated with Health Equity team to develop high-impact, health equity-focused reports and data dashboards for Nueces County, TX and America’s Health Rankings (inaugural 2021 Health Disparities Report). • Cultivated regional, state, and national collaborations that advance THI’s mission. Coordinate with external partners on research and evaluation needs.
Public Health Professor
The University of Texas at Austin
August 2018 - January 2021
Admissions Committee
Courses taught: Health Policy& Health Systems, Health Behavior & Health Theory, Global Health, Environmental Health
Strategic Consultant
Delaware Division of Substance Abuse and Mental Health
January 2018 - October 2020
• Served as evaluation consultant to Division Director for agency turnaround effort. • Guided qualitative and quantitative research projects for the agency, including a deep-dive into a newly introduced closed loop referral system. Developed evaluation and monitoring plans for federal grants, budgets and evaluation scopes for community agencies. • Conducted an agency-wide assessment of data reporting and evaluation practices for substance abuse (opioid-focused) and mental health programs, developed a top-level measure prototype for benchmarking progress, incorporating innovative measures of well-being into agency-wide effort (Wellbeing in the Nation).
Consultant
Independent consultants
June 2007 - September 2017
• Projects included developing evaluation protocols and logic models, qualitative analysis of focus groups and interviews, research and writing case studies, assessing and creating an agency-wide top level measures for a state substance abuse and mental health agency, working with a broad group of stakeholders to develop an action plan for community engagement, serving as a SME on Harvard’s CHOICES (obesity prevention cost effectiveness) project, federal grant applications, grant management and reporting. • Clients included the Delaware Division of Mental Health & Substance Abuse, Louisiana Department of Health, Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, National Education Association, Merchant McIntyre, Society of State Directors of Health, Physical Education and Recreation.
Director and Consultant
National Association of Chronic Disease Directors
May 2006 - November 2017
Admissions Committee
Co-Director 2011-13, Consultant 2006, 2008-10 • Directed the CDC-funded national-level School Health Initiative, including providing strategic leadership, project management, evaluation, and guidance and technical assistance to state health and education agencies and their local partners around chronic disease prevention. This included serving on various national committees, program planning and evaluation, research and publication development and dissemination, creating and managing advisory groups, facilitation of peer learning communities, technical assistance to states and localities, developing trainings and professional development, national professional development webinars, and collaboration with other national NGOs. • Researched and authored various national publications requiring broad stakeholder engagement: guidance document for public health professionals working in the education sector, guides for incorporating health into school improvement plans and for the WSCC model, 50-state policy matrix on school health, guide to implementation of the WSCC model, policy brief on integrating mental health into chronic disease & obesity prevention for youth, case studies on sustainability, guidance document for education sector on how health departments work. • Led national 46 state training for state health and education staff working on school health (2015). Facilitated national communities of practice. • Managed grant for production of special edition of Journal of School Health.
Assistant Director of Community Health
Prevent Cancer Foundation
May 2002 - July 2003
• Managed multiple community outreach programs including a multi-site breast and cervical cancer screening program for Hispanic women (Celebremos la Vida) and breast health program for high school students. • Provided technical assistance and conducted evaluation of funded sites. Spearheaded national expansion of Celebremos program by identifying potential sites and conducting on-site needs assessments and interviews. Designed and supervised application process. • Co-wrote a successful a $1.5 million CDC cooperative agreement in the area of colorectal cancer screening.
Policy Analyst
National Association of State and Territorial Health Officials
January 2001 - May 2002
• Researched, wrote and edited articles, social marketing materials, policy reports, CDC cooperative agreements, and grant proposals. • Tracked, researched and analyzed issues of teen pregnancy prevention, school health, mental health, injury prevention and physical activity/obesity prevention for youth. • Supervised content, design and distribution of monthly newsletter focusing on adolescent health. Collaborated on design, execution and evaluation of state-based technical assistance trainings.
Volunteer
Peace Corps
August 1997 - December 1998
Costa Rica • Lived and worked in a marginal urban squatters settlement under the auspices of PANI, the National Child Protection Agency of Costa Rica. • Worked as a social worker and health educator in a local elementary school and regional PANI orphanage creating and implementing school-based education programs that included health, sex, HIV/AIDS and vocational education, violence prevention, along with self-esteem training for students, staff, parents and community members.
Education
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
DrPH, Doctoral Program in Health Leadership - Health Policy and Management
2014 - 2017
Activities and societies: UNC Delta Omega - Public Health National Honor Society My mixed-methods dissertation focus was on early childhood obesity prevention, looking at infant feeding practices and beliefs in Hispanic mothers enrolled in WIC, and the role of bilingual peer breastfeeding counselors.
George Washington University School of Medicine and Health Sciences
MPH, International Health Promotion
2000 - 2001
Activities and societies: Graduation with Honors (Delta Omega Honorary Society for Public Health)
Ohio Wesleyan University
Bachelor of Arts, Sociology, Spanish
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Rachelle has helped clients get into these schools:
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