This past May, Christina Hecht walked across the stage at a graduation ceremony at Florida State. Armed with a Bachelor’s degree in Nutrition, Christina was ready to take on the world. In the end, it would be her minor in Information Technology and her certificate in Health Informatics that took her across the sea to the United Kingdom.

Today, Christina lives in London while working for the Safe Sociable London Partnership. As an Alcohol and Data Project Intern, she works on projects that reduce alcohol-related harm at the local and regional level in London.

“Alcohol related harm is a significant public health issue in London as it costs capital and negatively affects health, wellbeing and inequalities,” shared Christina.

During her time there, she wrote an in-depth review of the London boroughs statement of licensing policies. In her review, she worked to identify innovation and the best practice in the boroughs to better inform local authorities of methods that will improve their local policies.

“Businesses need a license to sell alcohol and each borough has a local policy that governs licensing of premises to sell alcohol,” said Christina. “It’s called a Statement of Licensing Policy.”

How does the Health IT Certificate take a girl across the sea? Christina says it was the classes that challenged her to consider the role in technology can have on improving healthcare. In the healthcare field, she says it is essential to have knowledge of how information technology can be used and how to apply it across various health related fields.

“Health informatics is a growing field and the certificate gives me valuable transferable skills and sets my resume apart from my peers,” she said. “I would highly recommend the certificate to anyone with an interest in working in a health related field. Technology is becoming an important tool and the knowledge gained can help one understand the benefits of these tools and the challenges healthcare will face in the future.”

The Health IT Certificate is available for any students enrolled at Florida State, either degree seeking or non-degree seeking.