The Power of Education
ALBANY, N.Y. (September 24, 2021) - Husband/wife MPH graduates Mena and Mirna Hanna know firsthand the power of education—and have one mission: to create a better life for their children. They worked tirelessly to get to where they are today, and recently walked the graduation stage together after earning their Master of Public Health degrees.
“We were raised as Coptic Orthodox Christians, and our families have always instilled strong morals and work ethics highlighting that through God, education and hard work, success is achievable,” Mena and Mirna explain.
Mena, a clinical lab scientist originally from Egypt, came to the United States at 15. His parents, who spent most of their paychecks to send him and his siblings to private school, knew that education was the way Mena could secure a good future.
“Life was hard. I had to work full-time and attend school to help my family. My childhood memories, as the older brother, are bills, work and responsibilities that many kids my age didn’t experience,” Mena says. “I graduated high school knowing I needed a degree that I could graduate with quickly and help my parents.”
Mena enrolled in the clinical lab sciences program at Rutgers University, and as he worked towards his license, he met his wife, Mirna —now a clinical pharmacist— who came to the United States from Egypt at 10 years old and started working at 13 to help make ends meet for her family.
“My parents had nothing when we came here. I remember going with my mom to clean houses in rich neighborhoods and realizing how our life was different,” Mirna says. “My mom always told me that they came to America for me and my brother and that if I study hard, I can create a better future. That really stuck with me. I worked hard in school and received a scholarship for college. I couldn’t afford housing or food in college and was working 4 jobs to survive.”
As Mirna worked towards her Doctor of Pharmacy degree at Fairleigh Dickinson University School of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, she helped Mena apply to every job they found online— and even waited outside during his first interview. He got the job.
“It was no dream job," Mena says. “I was working as a medical technologist, overnight shift, in a busy New York city hospital laboratory. But I took every overtime opportunity, worked all the holidays and within a year, I was promoted. My wife always pushed me to do more and knew that I was capable of more.”
Mena completed his first Master’s degree in Health Administration in 2015, hoping to move into an administrative role. Soon after, he became a director of laboratory services at Quest Diagnostics Laboratories, overseeing multiple hospital laboratories and clinics.
The support was reciprocated: Mena motivated Mirna to excel in pharmacy school.
“We had our exams on Mondays, so I spent most weekends studying while Mena took care of our daughters,” Mirna says.
As they worked to enhance their careers, they decided that to continue to grow as healthcare professionals, they needed to better understand how their work affects the public.
“When we found the MPH program at UAlbany, we quickly realized that this is what we needed to continue to grow in the healthcare field,” says Mirna. “Mena faced public health issues every day in the lab and I, as a clinical pharmacist, didn’t have the tools necessary for me to truly make a larger impact.”
As MPH students, Mena and Mirna learned how to make decisions that affect entire communities and how to utilize their unique set of skills to promote health in populations.
“It was challenging for us because Mirna was pregnant, we had two daughters under the age of five, and were working full-time, as well,” says Mena. “However, we supported each other and stood by each other so we could both succeed and still take care of our girls. We spent many nights working on assignments and projects. We had a great advisor— Dr. Kirkwood, the Director of Online Education— and she guided us through the entire program. Since we were not traditional students, Dr. Kirkwood was supportive and a great resource for us as an academic advisor as well as a mentor. For us, the best part of the program is its practicality. We were both able to use what we learned at work.”
Their newly acquired set of skills were highlighted during the Covid-19 pandemic. Mena utilized skills he learned in the Public Health Leadership course to manage and direct Covid-19 testing during a time of shortages and uncertainty. He was recognized for his leadership during the pandemic by Quest Diagnostics Laboratories and was named an “Inspirational Leader MVP” in 2020. Mirna utilized the tools she learned in the Program Development and Planning course to design and implement a Covid-19 vaccination program that served Passaic County, New Jersey. She also took on a role as Assistant Professor at several colleges.
“I wanted to give back to the community by inspiring students to see the power of education,” says Mirna.
Mena graduated in 2020 and Mirna graduated in 2021, but because of the Covid-19 pandemic, they walked at graduation together in 2021.
“The day we walked the graduation stage together while listening to our girls cheering us on, was the day we both realized that we did it. We started from the bottom and climbed the ladder together,” says Mirna. “All of the sleepless nights working on assignments after work and all of the sacrifices that we made to see that day were all worth it.”
Mena and Mirna plan to continue to enhance their professional careers while serving as role models to their children. Their main message: pursue educational opportunities and persevere through the hard times. “Knowing that I have a partner on my side that shares my ambitions has made this journey more attainable,” says Mena.
“We are a family that believes in the power of education and knowledge and are grateful for being able to live in the land of opportunity and freedom,” says Mirna. “We will continue to instill the same morals and work ethic we were taught to our 3 girls, for them to continue to work hard towards the American dream.”