Thomas Hogan

What is your favorite public health experience and why?

“Connection to community. My best public health experience is when I get to embrace myself into the community. This can look like working with new people, coaching them, or simply meeting and volunteering in the local community.”

What is your proudest public health moment and why?

“My proudest moment in health coaching was when I got to coach my first client. I was so afraid of doing something wrong or messing it up, but I pushed myself to continue. Once I overcame that fear I knew that I took this role for the right reasons and that it is my true passion.”

What has been your most challenging public health experience and why?

“My most challenging health coaching experience comes around every week when I get to learn something new in the health field. The more I coach, the more I learn about the human body to not only help myself, but also for my future clients too. Whether it be a topic on nutrition, fitness, recovery, or anything else health related I dive right into that subject. I take it as a challenge, but also love it because it means I get to gain some knowledge I didn’t have before!”

Why do you care about public health?

“I care deeply about public health because I believe that we as a society want to live our lives happy and healthy. Once I learned about how many things impact our health, I wanted to spread that value to others in order to assist others in improving their health.”

What is your public health story?

“I first went to school initially as an athlete and wanted to better myself on the field. I soon found myself as a kinesiology major and kept going deeper into the health field. Following my bachelors degree I was driven to pursue a masters degree in health education. I was then fueled by my family. For the longest time that I can remember I did not think twice about my lifestyle or habits till three family members passed within the next four years. Heart disease and obesity were the big outliers to all of them. The more I learned, the more I saw this as an opportunity to help others. As I gained knowledge in holistic health, I became passionate about not only bettering my health, but also assisting others with their wellness.”

What public health advice would you like to give?

“One word of advice that I would like to give for anyone looking to improve their health is first examine their sleep and stress levels. Many of us think of diet and exercise being the most impactful, but I have been researching lately that both recovery and stress in our lives can have gigantic impacts on our daily health. I would first tell people to start making your place of rest a sleeping sanctuary. A cool, dark room is a fantastic start. As for stress, there is one thing I know that works is having some sort of outlet, which usually begins with having fun. Whether that be playing a game socially, snuggling up to a book, or spending time in nature, anytime you are taking a break for your self can be rewarding for your body and your mind.”

Anything else you’d like to share?

“I believe that the public health field is growing so quickly and I cannot wait to see where it takes us!”