#  Member Spotlight - September, 2026

![](https://kpha-ky.org/_resources/images/news/2026/2026-09-15-spotlight.webp)**Megan Million**
EKU Bachelors of Public Health student.

 **Introduction**
KDPH Lung Cancer Screening Program Intern. EKU Public Health Honors society, Eta Sigma Gamma (ESG) President.

 **Professional Background**
I am a bachelor of public health undergraduate student at Eastern Kentucky University. I am also on a pre-professional pre-medical track and working towards a minor in substance use prevention. My goal after graduation this Spring is to apply to and attend Medical school along with the possibility of pursuing a Masters of Public Health degree as well. Along with my educational experience at EKU, I am also an intern with the Kentucky Department for Public Health in the Lung Cancer Screening Program working under Program Lead, Nirvana Nawar and program epidemiologist, Savannah Hardin, to promote lung cancer screening, decrease the number of late stage diagnosed Lung cancer cases and to promote education, funding, and access to/for Lung cancer screening across the state of Kentucky. As an extracurricular to support public health, I am also the president of ETA Sigma Gamma (ESG) at EKU. This is a public health honors society that works to promote public health initiatives on campus and in the local community. It also works to help students network with public health professionals, practice public health work, learn more about the career field, and improve students’ professionalism and impact in public health. Our student organization has done a lot of work with volunteering and community outreach, we have also hosted many traveling events on campus to promote different health concerns, such as mental health, relational health, and healthy physical activity/nutrition. Getting to help leads this organization along with the other executive members is very fun and encouraging to my future in healthcare.

 **KPHA Involvement**
I have been a KPHA member for 2 years and attended the KPHA state conference this past Spring for student day and to hear from different public health professionals in different sessions over the 3 day period.

 **Personal Insights:**
As an aspiring physician, I’m passionate about public health because, while in simple terms as a physician my goal is to make patients better when they are sick or injured, in public health my goal is to keep patients from being sick or injured in the first place. Public health is such an important role in health care and as a physician I want to be able to use my background and knowledge in public health to make better informed decisions for my patients. I want to improve their health outcomes by not just treating the health condition right in front of me, but also to understand and address the underlying factors that may have contributed to it. Learning through my classes about the upstream issues that affect the downstream health outcomes of Kentucky residents has made me even more motivated to improve health across the state.

 ![](https://kpha-ky.org/_resources/images/news/2026/2026-09-15-thumbnail-1.webp)**Accomplishments & Recognition**
I have received two collegiate awards from EKU college of Public Health for “Outstanding Junior in Public health” my first year at EKU, Spring 2025, (I was a junior in credits based on AP and dual credits in high school, but a freshman overall) and the “Outstanding Service and Leadership” award this past year, Spring 2026 for my work as the ESG President and for the service and leadership events focused on through out the year. Outside of my pathway in public health I have also received another collegiate award as a Resident Advisor at EKU and was named Dean Crocket Distinguished RA of the year in Spring 2026. While my job as an RA was initially unrelated to health, I was able to use my position as an opportunity to continue to promote health initiatives on campus by creating bulletin boards and hosting events that promoted health outcomes for the residents on my floor and in the building. Examples being a bulletin board about healthy relationships, another about safe drinking habits, another about safe sex and STI/Pregnancy prevention and support access and yet another about mental health resources on campus and reduced stigma measures. I also applied to, was accepted and this past spring completed the Kentucky Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) scholars program. I attended their biennial annual conference, received a recognition for the program and a scholarship towards education in a health field.

 **KPHA & Public Health in the Future**
I have seen efforts made by so many public health professionals and upcoming public health professionals, their is no doubt that leaders in public health fields and healthcare fields in general are the most passionate about the work they are doing. I’m not sure what is coming in the future of public health but I know that passion and dedication will remain and great work will be done, I’m very excited to see what the future of KPHA and Public Health will look like!

 **Personal Interests, Hobbies, Future Goals/Aspirations**
For Hobbies and interests outside of public health and my education, I love playing tennis and was 1st seed doubles on my high school’s tennis team. I now just play for fun and have recently learned how to play pickleball (I’m not very good at it yet though!) I’m an avid reader, I love crafting things and I love watching movies and sit coms too! I also live on a farm in North/Central-ish Kentucky where my family raises and sells beef cattle. I very much enjoy working with our livestock and helping with farm work. I also just love that we get to live on such beautiful land and love being outside on our farm as much as I can!

 **Advice and Tips**
My favorite thing about public health and KPHA is how much communication and passion their is in the field and among professionals no matter how different, we are all hosting one main goal to improve the health of the public and eventually save lives! If I had advice to give to members or professionals I would say to hold on to that passion and let it fuel whatever work you are in! I would also say to talk to as many people as you can both in your field and other fields because you never know when a connection you make will impact something else later on! I know that is advice I will be taking and hope others do too!