Alumni Spotlight: Kevin Sassaman

Kevin earned his BS in public health sciences and his MPH in epidemiology through the 4+1 program. He is currently living in California researching HIV at the University of California, San Francisco.

Q: How did your time at UMass lead you to where you are today?

I came to UMass as a freshman microbiology major, however, I knew early on that I wanted to look at public health as well. As a microbio major, I took a few public health classes. Public Health 200 with Gloria DiFulvio really pulled me in and made me switch my major to public health. I ended up still taking microbio classes because I liked the scientific aspect of it but I wanted to connect with people. I ended up doing the 4+1 program in epidemiology. During that time, I worked with Dr. VanKim who is one of the most amazing human beings ever; she was just the best mentor. The 4+1 program was the best choice I made at UMass.

For my master’s project, I focused on social determinants of health and how they affected COVID-19 outcomes, including both infection rates and symptom severity. I did look through an LGBTQ lens a little but there wasn’t much of a difference, which is a good thing.

My current role is the first time being fully involved in an LGBTQ project and it’s been really fulfilling so far. The community has given so much to me and I am so happy to be able to give back to it in a very meaningful way right now.

Q: Tell us about the research you are working on now.

I am a clinical research coordinator for ARCHES, a study identifying the multi-level factors that affect engagement in HIV-related care at the University of California, San Francisco. We have a cohort of 1,000 HIV-positive sexual minority men and the study aims to keep their viral load undetectable.

I am the point of contact for all the participants in the study. I also make sure that we have proper consent paperwork and am here to answer any of the participants' questions. I enjoy the people aspect and showing them they are making a difference.

It’s been an amazing experience at UCSF. They’ve done so much amazing research in the past, especially for the LGBTQ community which has been so affected by HIV. I feel like I’m very much working on the cutting edge of things. I’m able to do research that wasn’t even possible 10 to 20 years ago.

Q: Did you plan on working with the LGBTQIA+ community after graduating?

I didn’t work specifically with LGBTQ healthcare at UMass. Being a gay man, I’ve always been very involved and interested in the community. I've always looked at public health issues through that lens. I did some work with oSTEM [Out in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics] which is an LGBTQ group on campus. It focuses more on the engineering field but I made a lot of really good friends through that.

Q: What made you choose UMass?

I chose UMass because I knew I would feel safe and supported there. I grew up in Massachusetts and I knew the social environment here has always been friendly to gay men. I grew up in a great environment, my parents were always supportive so I’ve been very lucky. I have never felt like I haven’t been able to be my true myself both at UMass and society as a whole.

I had queer faculty members at UMass. I could see myself in other people in the field that I wanted to pursue and reminded me that I can be a part of the LGBTQ community and pursue my dream career. It’s so important to have those role models and have those people to look up to.

Q: How did UMass prepare you for your career?

I use a lot of the skills I learned at UMass. My courses prepared me to be in this field and have been immensely helpful in getting to this position and succeeding in it. My time at UMass also allowed me to create time management, people skills, and communication skills that I use in my professional life as well.