Temple public health graduate Kaitlin Cartoccio, CPH '12, has been recognized as one of “40 Under 40 in Public Health,” a national honor highlighting leaders who are improving the health of communities across the country. Cartoccio is making an impact at the local level as community programs coordinator for Bernards Township, New Jersey. She manages programs including health education events at schools, neighborhood health screenings and vaccination clinics, working as a leader in the health department where she interned while studying at Temple. 

“I really feel like Temple is what honed my public health skills and gave me my passion and my grit for public health,” Cartoccio says. 

Cartoccio started at Temple as a nursing student before growing curious about the possibilities of public health. “At first it seemed like the public health majors were the ones that didn't want to dissect anything,” she jokes. “Then I read the curriculum, and I fell in love immediately. I thought all the classes sounded amazing; I could do so many different things with this major.”

She decided she wanted to teach people about health in a public role. Cartoccio interned in the Risk Communication Lab, directed by Sarah Bauerle Bass, whose work focuses on how public health messages are crafted to reach diverse audiences. “She was integral in helping with data collection for an NIH-funded study,” Bass says. “It was clear that she was not only smart but able to learn on the fly.”

Cartoccio passed the exam to earn her Certified Health Education Specialist (CHES) certificate while still at Temple. “I don't want to say the exam was too easy, but I couldn't believe how much the capstone program at Temple, that two-part program-planning and implementation class, helped me with the CHES exam.”

She also interned in the health department of Bernards Township, a municipality of around 27,000 in northern New Jersey. Upon graduating from Temple she interviewed for the job to replace the departing manager she had interned under. “I found out later that it was kind of a courtesy interview, because I was just 21. Apparently I did a good job with the interview. I started work four days after I graduated in 2012, and I've been here ever since,” she says.

In her health department role, Cartoccio is the community’s health educator. She specializes in programs about communicable disease, substance use and misuse, mental health, youth services and emergency preparedness. She has developed and implemented events including a Teen Volunteer Fair and educational sessions such as "What Are You Really Vaping?" She works with school administrators and teachers, students, parents, area health providers and first responders, outside experts, and regional health officials.

“In New Jersey, you have local, county and state health departments,” she explains. “At the local level, I get to meet all the people in the community, to really know what's going on. That is just really cool to me.”  

While working in the health department, Cartoccio earned her master’s degree in public health at Rutgers University. “I wrote the motto for Temple, Perseverantia Vincit—perseverance conquers—on the top of my Rutgers graduation cap,” she admits.

This is the second “40 Under 40 in Public Health” class recognized by the de Beaumont Foundation, which Pierre S. de Beaumont, the founder of the Brookstone Company, created in 1988 to fund public health initiatives (the first class was in 2019). This year’s class honors individuals in 27 states “whose creativity and innovation are strengthening communities across the country.”

“At a time when health professionals are being required to adapt and take on monumental challenges, we are incredibly proud of these leaders,” said Brian C. Castrucci, president and CEO of the de Beaumont Foundation. “We created the 40 Under 40 program to recognize and tell the stories of rising leaders who are making a difference in communities across the country. By promoting their work and accomplishments, we hope to attract and inspire a new generation of leaders.”