Amy Kryston

Amy Kryston is an MPH graduate and researcher trained as a civil and environmental engineer. After working as a project engineer for two years, she completed her MSc focusing on the relationship between cholera and algal blooms and on transboundary water treaty optimization in South Asia. During the first year of her MPH program, she conducted her Humanitarian Health Initiative (HHI) internship with the UNC Water Institute to explore sanitation in informal settlements and fragile, conflict-affected, and vulnerable (FCV) settings, an opportunity which allowed her to discern her desire to work with sanitation in complex systems and marginalized communities. She currently works as a graduate research assistant at the UNC Environmental Justice Action Research (EJ) Clinic and with Dr. Manga through a research scholarship funded by the UNC Institute for the Environment and has continued with HHI as the administrative intern. Through her work with the EJ Clinic and her MPH practicum, Amy has explored barriers to safe sanitation in the United States and is exploring the associations between unsafe sanitation and adverse health outcomes and collaborating with community partners to inform future municipal funding decisions. She is currently the management intern with HHI and also supports service projects in Nicaragua and Gaza. She recently completed a FLAS fellowship for Haitian Creole, and is excited to have the opportunity to further study languages.