Dissertation: "Sustainable municipal solid waste management in the united states: WTE adoption and integration"
Hometown: Chatham, IL
Undergraduate Institution and Major: University of Ibadan, Nigeria, Bachelor of Agriculture in Animal Science
Graduate Institution and Major: Linköping University, Sweden, Master of Environmental Science
University of Illinois, Springfield, Master of Public Health-Environmental Health
University of Illinois, Springfield,Graduate Certificate-Environmental Risk Assessment
University of Illinois, Springfield, Doctor of Public Administration
Bio: Yetunde Agbesola serves as a Healthcare Specialist in the United States Army. Her work includes basic and advanced patient assessments, emergency and trauma casualty care. Her professional and academic achievements have focused on animal science, public health, environmental health, waste management, and environmental science. She has a broad base of experience working not only with state and local government agencies in Illinois, but also with international establishments like the Climate Disclosure Project in the Nordic Region and with agricultural/biosecurity companies. She worked previously as an Environmental Health Specialist at the Tazewell County Health Department, Illinois where she advanced public health safety through ensuring compliance of facilities with local and state public health codes. Her work included facility inspections and investigations, public health education, and West Nile Virus monitoring. Prior to that, she worked at the Illinois Department of Public Health where she performed infectious disease surveillance and analysis, participated in outbreak investigations, data collection tool development and case interviews, performed historical data analysis to identify disease trends, predict peak periods and provide timely communications of preventive measures to public health partners and the public. Yetunde participated in the Governor’s Environmental Corps program the Illinois EPA in 2013, where she reviewed site remediation project documents for community right-to-know determinations and participated in multi-county remediation site inspections. In addition, she taught youth camp groups about environmental issues, protection of Illinois land, air and water resources, and gave demonstrations on environmental processes and biodiversity through art and games in the Illinois EPA Junior Governor’s Environmental Corps program. She also worked for international establishments while living and studying abroad, such as the Carbon Disclosure Project in Sweden where she evaluated Nordic companies’ response to climate change mitigation, adaptation, and environmental practices to achieve low carbon emissions, and preliminarily analyzed the results for further processing and presentation in the official annual report. She is multilingual and enjoys maintaining an active lifestyle, travelling, cooking, reading, and music in her spare time.
Relevant Professional Experience: Healthcare Specialist, The United States Army (2o16-present); Emergency Medical Technician (2019); Social Point of Contact, Illinois Public Health Association Hepatitis B Project (2017/2018); Graduate Research Assistant (2017), University of Illinois, Springfield; Infectious Disease Surveillance (Graduate Public Service Internship), Illinois Department of Public Health (2013-2014); Governor’s Environmental Corps Intern, Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (2013); Nordic Region Scorer, Carbon Disclosure Project, Sweden (2011).
Research Interests: Public policy and management in public health and environmental issues, municipal solid waste management, sustainability, obesity and local change in built-environments, public health surveillance.
Certification, Honors, and Awards: Certified Emergency Medical Technician, National Registry of Emergency Medical Technicians; Outstanding Physical Fitness Certificate of Achievement, Department of the Army; Graduate Student Research Grant Awardee (2018); Pi Alpha Alpha Honor Society Inductee; Certified Food Safety Manager, National Registry of Food Safety Professionals; Outstanding Performance as Graduate Public Service Intern, Office of Graduate Public Service Intern Programs Recognition, University of Illinois at Springfield, Illinois (2013/2014); Evelyn Zimmerman Scholarship Awardee, University of Illinois at Springfield, Illinois (2013/2014).
Professional Affiliations: The United States Army, National Registry for Emergency Medical Technicians (NREMT), Pi Alpha Alpha Honor Society (PAA), Illinois Environmental Health Association (IEHA), Illinois Public Health Association (IPHA), American Society for Public Administration (ASPA)- Central Illinois.
Volunteer Activities: President – Pi Alpha Alpha Honor Society (2018-2019), Public Administration Department, University of Illinois; Student Representative, Doctor of Public Administration Program Committee University of Illinois, Springfield (2018); Volunteer Coordinator, Washington Street Mission (2015); Volunteer, Health and Wellness Fair (2013/2014); Student Representative, Science for Sustainable Development Program Council (2010-2012).
Email: yagbe2@uis.edu