Brittany Ayana Thomas

Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, Masters of Environmental Science MESc.

Brittany Ayana Thomas is a resident of Woodbridge, VA. During her undergraduate studies in Public Health at Johns Hopkins University (JHU), Brittany studied abroad in Uganda, Northern Ireland, and Brazil to gain an understanding of sanitation and human rights. In Summer 2014, she interned at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) with the WASH-Benefits Project, promoting hygiene interventions to prevent childhood growth-stunting. Following her graduation in May 2015, Brittany received JHU’s Meg Long Walsh Award to volunteer with the Gender and Waste Project, a leadership empowerment effort for women waste pickers in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. “Observing the impact of environmental challenges on the futures of families has inspired me to serve my country in the USAID. With the mentoring support of the Donald M. Payne Fellowship, I am excited to expand my public health background into a career advocating for global sanitation equity as an Environment Officer.”