Jeff Trites

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I am currently working as a Public Health Analyst for the Vermont Department of Health (VDH). My work primarily supports the Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse Programs. My day-to-day work typically consists of responding to data requests, writing data briefs, and performing any general data analysis and research related to drug and alcohol use/misuse across the state of Vermont. Additionally, half of my time goes toward working as an evaluator for the Strategic Prevention Framework for Prescription Drugs grant. This grant is aimed at preventing the misuse of prescription opioids among youth and young adults in Vermont through various media and outreach programs. My role as an evaluator is to determine how effective any grant-related programs have been and to engage with stakeholders to determine what is needed to achieve any desired goals over time.

Before being hired as a full-time employee at VDH, I was an intern in the Oral Health program. I spent most of my time writing data briefs with the aim of explaining the connection between oral health and overall health. This internship was done as part of my graduate work at the University of Vermont where I earned a Master’s of Science in Biostatistics.

During my time as a mathematics/economics double major, I learned many valuable lessons and skills, and the foundation I built at Saint Mike’s has helped immensely in my career and academic endeavors. In particular, my background in programming has been the most useful part of my undergraduate experience and is a skill I cannot recommend highly enough to someone considering a career in statistical analysis or any quantitative field.

In addition to my work at the Department of Health, I also work at the Durick Library on the weekends, so feel free to stop by if you have any questions!