Not getting into medical school turned out to be a good thing for Katie Waller, and for Concern.

That gave the Billings, Montana, native time to decide she was more curious about population-level health and that what she really wanted was to pursue a public health career, with an emphasis on women’s and maternal health, and a global influence.

“I wanted a commitment to community-based participation practices, and Concern has that. We take time to engage the communities we work in whole-heartedly.”

Even as a child, Katie, a senior program officer for Concern in its Innovations for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health program, found herself drawn to different cultures and to historical fiction about women. As an undergrad, she attended Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Washington, choosing the school largely because she was attracted by its strong study-abroad program and emphasis on global citizenship. She took advantage of that program to study in Namibia and India.

“Once I started at Concern, I realized that the people who work here are fantastic,” Katie said. “The national staffs are phenomenal, and our investments in them are an untold success story.”

When she decided to pursue a Master’s in Public Health at the University of Michigan, she first went to Tanzania to volunteer with a local NGO and travel. While getting her Master’s, she interned at Tema General Hospital in Ghana, focusing on newborn care, and then worked with a variety of NGOs in Detroit on public health issues.

After graduating, she worked for a year at the University of Michigan Public Health School, examining issues like patient-provider communication and how literacy affects one’s healthcare, with a focus on chronic disease. But she was eager to return to a job with an international slant.

Katie joined Concern in July 2012 as an intern, and was hired on permanently within two months. Based in New York, she helped set up Concern’s Innovations programming in Ghana. She is now focused on Kenya and on Sierra Leone — where she has worked before, during, and since the 2014 Ebola crisis.

“Once I started at Concern, I realized that the people who work here are fantastic,” Katie said. “The national staffs are phenomenal, and our investments in them are an untold success story.”