Catherine Mwai, MPH ’23, is a public health scientist with a deep commitment to working with communities to understand and address health challenges, especially within historically underserved and ethnic-minority populations. She has worked alongside rural and urban communities across the U.S., Indian Country (self-governing Native American/American Indian regions), and East Africa. At The SASH Lab at Yale, Catherine manages research operations, curricula and program development, and project implementation.

Her career spans the public health ecosystem. She has led a health systems study on cancer care access and women’s health in Somalia; developed culturally responsive school-based health curricula on the Rosebud Indian Reservation; advanced minority engagement in clinical research at Michigan Medicine; and expanded patient- and family-centered care through hospital-community partnerships, also at Michigan Medicine. Catherine has a professional history of blending cross-sectoral collaboration, participatory and strength-based practices, and innovative approaches to address population health.

Catherine earned her bachelor’s degree in public health from Eastern Michigan University and her master’s degree in public health from the Yale School of Public Health. She completed an NIH-funded postgraduate fellowship in Community-based Participatory Research under Dr. Ijeoma Opara at the Yale School of Public Health.