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On March 19, Erinn Bacchus successfully completed her dissertation defense, Strengthening U.S. Jail Systems’ Response to Infectious Diseases: An Evaluation of the Reaction to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Committee members were Professors Emma Tsui, Naomi Zewde, and Robert Fullilove. Distinguished Professor Nick Freudenberg served as chair. Fullilove, who has been conducting research on jails, prisons, and health inequities and supervising doctoral students at the Columbia Mailman School of Public Health for several decades said, “This was the best dissertation defense I have heard in 30 years,” a sentiment shared by other committee members. After making a few minor revisions, Erinn will deposit her dissertation, and in the committee’s view, provide an important and compelling new voice in the growing body of researchers on the health consequences of incarceration and on the policies that can mitigate the harmful impact.
Just hours after her defense ended, Erinn gave birth to a healthy baby girl. Mother and daughter are doing fine. Freudenberg referred to the phenomenon as, “the Miracle on 125th Street.”
“I can’t begin to describe the surreal experience of achieving two life-long dreams within hours of each other,” says Bacchus. “Pregnancy gave me the motivation to finish my dissertation, but I could not have done it without my wonderful committee, my husband, family and friends, and colleagues. These experiences really highlighted the obstacles women face in fulfilling professional goals alongside becoming a mother, and more so, showed me the resilience and adaptability of women in all their pursuits. I never could have planned it this way, but this is sure to be a story I tell my daughter for years to come.”
