Please join us in welcoming Jenelle Merzon to the Go Folic! family. Jenelle comes to us from Tuoro University, where she is earning her Masters in Public Health degree (MPH). She will be interning with Go Folic! through January 2015, working on creating a multi-pronged SFDPH-wide event in conjunction with next year’s Folic Acid Awareness Week, scheduled for January 5, 2015 through January 11, 2015. As Jenelle will also become a regular contributor to this blog, we promise to keep readers updated on our 2015 Folic Acid Awareness Week plans as they take shape.
In the meantime, here is Jenelle in her own words…
I was born and raised on the central coast in San Luis Obispo, California. I attended the University of California, Santa Barbara and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Communication and a minor in Exercise Physiology. I have always had an interest in the human body and a passion for staying healthy through exercise and proper nutrition. These passions led me to physical therapy.
The experience I gained while working in physical therapy set my foundation for pursuing a Masters of Public Health. I will receive my MPH in December 2014, with an emphasis in Community Public Health, from Touro University, California. I have volunteered and worked on many different community health projects, ranging from coordinating health promotion events to being a research assistant at Touro University. While at Touro University I worked on studies that focused on improving MPH student’s health competencies and skills. I am very excited for the opportunity to begin my internship with the GoFolic! Project within the Department of Public Health, San Francisco.
I am much more than just school and work! You can commonly find me training for marathons, snowboarding, or attempting to train my dachshund puppies. Most recently you’ll notice that I love being a newlywed with my husband, Andre. I would probably be most known for being goofy, a vegetarian for 20+ years with no real reason why, and taking trips around the world.
Go Folic! Be Healthy! 
Wow!! What a well rounded amazing lady Jenelle is!!! Beautiful inside and out this makes me beam with pride to see where you are professionally and know you will help so many ladies with your commitment to health, nutrition and beauty. Keep up the good work!
Jenelle is quite an amazing and talented young woman! She will be leading the way to improved lifestyles both in the United States and abroad. Public Health is getting a new, beautiful, brilliant young mind changing and improving the way we live and feel!