Martina Spain, MPH, is one of three winners of the 2026 Graduate Teaching Assistant (TA) Awards from the Gillings School of Global Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The award recognizes teaching assistants who inspire students; enhance student learning through creative, engaging, and/or innovative teaching methods; support student success in the classroom; and facilitate student development as public health professionals.
“Martina is a natural at teaching,” one student wrote in their nomination. “I have never had a TA feel so comfortable talking in front of a group of students while maintaining a professional relationship with us. She brings a light-hearted spirit to the classroom that is irreplaceable. With her public health background, she is always sharing great experiences that relate to the class and inspire me as a student to become a public health professional.”
In addition to being a doctoral candidate in maternal and child health and a Graduate Teaching Assistant, Spain is also a Graduate Research Assistant with the National MCH Workforce Development Center. Since the fall of 2024, she has been working with the Center’s evaluation team to evaluate academic-practice partnership programs.
This summer, Spain will also manage the Title V MCH Internship Program. In the program, undergraduate and graduate students work together in teams of two to complete a 10-week project at a Title V agency. The program supports the students through a series of learning sessions, which help them develop essential MCH skills while successfully accomplishing the deliverables of their projects.
In addition to managing some of the key logistics for this summer’s program, Spain will also directly support the student interns by leading some of the learning sessions and providing feedback on their project work plans and discussion board posts.
“We are incredibly proud of Martina for receiving this well-deserved teaching award,” said Dorothy Cilenti, DrPH, MPH, MSW, director of the National MCH Workforce Development Center. “Her ability to inspire students, connect public health practice to learning, and foster professional growth makes her an extraordinary mentor for our Title V MCH interns.”
Prior to her doctoral studies, Spain designed and implemented programming for adolescent parents at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and conducted research addressing major gaps in women’s health at Boston University. She also helped establish a grassroots network of MCH advocates as an MCH Peace Corps volunteer in Guatemala and worked to advance women’s health globally with the U.N. Foundation’s Universal Access Project. She earned her MPH at Boston University’s School of Public Health with certificates in maternal and child health and global health program design, monitoring, and evaluation.