During the Joint School of Public Health’s Celebration of Excellence on April 24, 12 students and three alumni were inducted into the Alpha Kappa chapter of the Delta Omega Honorary Society.
Delta Omega is a national honor society for public health, which recognizes academic excellence, encourages leadership and service, and helps public health students build their professional network.
“While all inductions are special and the culmination of years of hard work, this one is especially poignant because it is the first time that students from both Ƶ and Norfolk State University were inducted into the chapter,” said Brett Sierra (M.P.H. '15, D.H.Sc. '20) assistant professor in the department of health behavior, policy and management and director of the Master of Public Health program at Ƶ.
Due to the school’s joint Master of Public Health program, the chapter was re-chartered in Spring 2026 to represent both Ƶ and Norfolk State University. As with all Delta Omega chapters, only the most competitive students, up to 20% of the cohort are selected in their last semester of study. Alumni of the program are also eligible to apply.
This year’s inductees are:
- Mackenzie Reynolds (Ƶ)
- Faustina Osei (NSU)
- Janaya Belcher (NSU)
- Millicent Ayisi (NSU)
- Cynthia Joyce Davis (Ƶ)
- Kaitlynn Tucker (Ƶ)
- Damaris Makonga (Ƶ)
- Muhammad Elzahaby (Ƶ)
- Tara McFadden (Ƶ)
- Gianna Hannum (Ƶ)
- Katie Jones (Ƶ)
- Carlos Aleman Cortez (Ƶ)
Alumni
- Melody Johnson (MPH ‘17)
- Josh Edwards (MPH ‘14)
- Tracey-Alexis Dixon (MPH ‘14)