Date December 18, 2023

Alumni Spotlight: Jonathan Macomber ’18 MPA

By Nancy Kirsch

Shifting career focus and his Watson MPA Policy-in-Action experience led Jonathan Macomber to a policy analyst position with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Jonathan Macomber, a 2018 graduate of Brown's Master of Public Affairs (MPA) program, initially envisioned pursuing a career in nursing. However, during his first semester at Rhode Island College's nursing school, he developed a deep interest in healthcare policy and shifted his major to healthcare administration. "Of all the policy levers you can pull," said Macomber, "I feel that improving healthcare has the most positive downstream impact."

Just as his undergraduate studies shifted his career focus, so too did Macomber's MPA studies. "I entered the MPA program interested in a position with a local or state government. However, my Policy-in-Action Project showed me that I was better suited to a role with the federal government," said Macomber, who now serves as a policy analyst with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Division of Cancer Prevention and Control.

For his MPA Policy-in-Action Project Macomber served as a project analyst in the office of then-Governor Gina Raimondo. While working with the governor’s office, he single-handedly created an online interactive map for the Rhode Island Summer Food Service Program that identified correlations between health indicators and food security status.

Through his Policy-in-Action experience, Macomber discovered that he enjoyed being a tiny cog in a big wheel. "Not many people like that kind of work, but it appeals to me. At the CDC, I'm able to separate the forest from the trees and fulfill my niche responsibilities to a much larger entity," he explained.

“ The key skill I took from my MPA was the ability to take in an enormous amount of information all at one time, identify what is pertinent, and build deliverables from that information. Much of my work at the CDC is very similar to the work we did at Watson. ”

Jonathan Macomber MPA Class of 2018

Macomber said he appreciated the team-taught economics and statistics course that introduces MPA students to the program. "Each day we approached a new skill set or problem set to cover. The faculty managed to break down complex problems in a very succinct and easily digestible fashion," said Macomber. "The key skill I took from my MPA was the ability to take in an enormous amount of information all at one time, identify what is pertinent, and build deliverables from that information," he said. "Much of my work at the CDC is very similar to the work we did at Watson."

Macomber entered the MPA program after four years as a combat medic with the United States Army, where he supervised a squad of eight soldiers. During his 2011 deployment to Afghanistan, his unit (4th Brigade, 10th Mountain Division) treated more than 1,000 trauma patients. Older than many of his MPA colleagues, Macomber was drawn to Brown's MPA program for several reasons: the one-year academic calendar, the summer economics/statistics training and Brown's reputation as a well-respected Ivy League institution.

During the course of his MPA studies, Macomber conducted research on the migration of Syrian refugees into Germany. "I appreciated that Germany could remove political labels and perspectives to focus only on the policy, the problem, and possible solutions. In the United States, so many issues are viewed through the lens of divisive partisan politics."

Outside of classes, Macomber valued office-hour conversations with the program’s wide range of faculty and distinguished practitioners. "There are a wealth of [programs and speakers] and people to learn from at Watson and Brown as a whole," he said.

Now able to put aside his former COVID-19 response-related obligations at the CDC, Macomber plans to focus on strengthening partnerships between his CDC policy team and public health stakeholders, including cancer hospitals, state public health agencies and medical associations. "We are continuing to build strong relationships [with entities] outside of the federal government. I’m excited to work in this space in 2024," said the recently promoted Macomber who now envisions a lifetime career at the CDC.