Graduate Profile: Q&A with Rienna Russo
Name: Rienna Russo
Area of Research: Cardiovascular epidemiology
Degree: PhD
Year of Gradation: 2025
Current Role: Postdoctoral Research Fellow, CAUSALab, Department of Epidemiology, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
- What did you do before pursuing your graduate degree?
Prior to coming to Harvard for my PhD, I was a project coordinator and data analyst at NYU Grossman School of Medicine where I worked on modeling studies evaluating the impact of food policies on cardiovascular disease outcomes. Before that, I received an MHS in epidemiology from Johns Hopkins - What attracted you to the program at Harvard?
Methods have always been at the core of my interests, particularly how we can utilize existing data in innovative ways to generate actionable evidence for clinical and public health policy decision-making. When it came to selecting a PhD program, Harvard stood out for its methodologic rigor and real-world impact. Since funding wasn’t tied to specific questions, I could ask questions across a wide range of cardiovascular disease areas, while gaining deeper expertise in advanced epidemiologic methods. - What surprised you the most about being a graduate student in your chosen research program?
How rapidly the field moves. Over the course of my program, interest in the use of GLP-1 therapies beyond diabetes management grew – starting with FDA approval of semaglutide for weight loss in 2021, and later approval for cardiovascular disease prevention in 2024. Questions about long-term effects and combination treatments had not been evaluated in trials, creating opportunities for observational research, and through the mentorship and collaborations at Harvard, I was fortunate enough to conduct part of my dissertation research evaluating the cardiovascular impact of combined GLP-1 and SGLT2i therapies. - Why do you think your research area is important to public health?
We are living in an era defined by remarkable advances in survival, but these advances have introduced new challenges of increasingly comorbid diseases. Improvements in cancer screening and treatment, for example, have led cardiovascular disease to surpass primary cancer as the leading cause of death for some cancer survivors. Yet evidence on effective cardiovascular medications like statins, metformin, and GLP-1s remains largely limited to specific indications and populations. Closing that evidence gap is essential to meaningfully reducing the burden of cardiovascular disease, which remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. - What suggestions would you have for someone interested in applying for this research area?
It is an important and exciting time to work in cardiovascular epidemiology, especially if you are interested in research that can have widespread impact. The field is fast-moving, but precision and accuracy cannot be sacrificed for speed. Be appropriately cautious and technically rigorous. Asking a good question is harder than it sounds, but fortunately the field is full of them. And finding answers often requires a lot of help, but the more people who join this field the more support there will be to go around. - How has your time in the program influenced your career path?
I came in focused on research, but the program gave me opportunities to teach across a wide range of levels, from undergraduates to MD/PhD students. Through these experiences, I came to see teaching as another form of learning and developed a genuine passion for pedagogy. That has already shaped my postdoc, where I am leading two methods workshops at epidemiology conferences this year (SER and ISPE – hope to see you there!). - Is there anything else that you would like to share about your experience at the Harvard Chan School?
What I loved most about my time as a student was the community. The interdisciplinary nature of the Population Health Sciences (PHS) doctoral program enabled me to learn from students across departments and gave me a greater appreciation of how we can capitalize on other’s strengths to tackle complex public health problems. Within the epidemiology department, the environment was collaborative rather than competitive. I made incredible friends and we became co-authors on each other’s doctoral research (which we fondly call “mega-dissertation”), which I think speaks volumes about the environment the PHS program cultivates.
