From Bedside to Big Picture: Redefining Courage and Purpose in Public Health

“Do it scared.”

That was the advice Quisha Umemba wished she could have given her younger self — and the perfect motto for a career built on fearlessness and purpose. Her story reminds us that in public health, courage often comes before certainty. From bedside nursing to community health advocacy, Quisha’s journey with Umemba Health captures how taking bold, sometimes uncomfortable leaps in your career can lead to the kind of impact no textbook could ever teach.

In this blog, we explore her path from clinical nursing to public health, how she discovered the social determinants of health firsthand, and why her story reflects a broader movement of nurses stepping into public health leadership.

Unlikely Beginnings

Quisha’s career didn’t begin in policy or prevention; it began at the bedside. Before ever becoming a nurse, Quisha dreamed of becoming a doctor and then a medical examiner.  

Like many aspiring nurses, she wanted to work in the ICU because she believed that was where the most skilled professionals worked. Despite her beliefs, she found a lack of bedside manner  and, more importantly, a lack of opportunity to build genuine human connections with her patients and their families.

Her experiences began to shift when she left the controlled environment of hospital medicine and stepped into long-term care. There, she encountered a different side of healthcare — one defined not by machines or monitors, but by people’s lived experiences. It was in this setting that she truly began to understand the social determinants of health and how much a person’s circumstances shape their well-being. 

“There’s a textbook way to do things,” she said, “but you’ll never do things the textbook way.” That realization marked a turning point: health wasn’t just about procedures or prescriptions; it was about people and their circumstances.

Seeing the Whole Picture: The Power of Social Determinants

At an endocrinology clinic, Quisha helped patients manage diabetes. She noticed that many struggled not because they lacked discipline, but because they faced challenges beyond the clinic’s reach. 

This insight mirrored what public health research has long shown: that medical care accounts for only about 20% of overall health outcomes, while social, behavioral, and environmental factors make up the rest (Hood et al., 2016). The World Health Organization identifies key social determinants of health such as income, education, employment, social support, and access to safe environments, all of which strongly influence life expectancy and quality of life (WHO, n.d.). 

Understanding this motivated Quisha to pursue a Master of Public Health — a decision that gave her what she calls a 360-degree view of healthcare. Her experiences teach us that seeing patients as whole people isn’t just compassionate — it’s evidence-based.

The Leap of Faith: Leaving Nursing for Public Health

For Quisha, stepping fully into public health meant sacrifice. She sold her home, left Arkansas, and took a pay cut to join a local health department in Texas for a chance to work closer to the kind of community-level change she believed in.

“I knew I couldn’t take a $15,000 to $20,000 pay cut in Arkansas,” she explained. “But when I saw that Chief Nurse position in Texas, I just packed up everything and went.”

That leap of faith transformed more than her career; it redefined success. What she lost in salary, she gained in purpose by joining a growing movement of professionals who traded traditional healthcare roles for public health impact.

In fact, recent analyses by the American Public Health Association note that the nursing-to-public-health pipeline is expanding as more clinicians seek careers focused on prevention, health equity, and systems-level leadership (American Public Health Association, 2013; Institute of Medicine (US), 2011). Nurses bring invaluable communication and care coordination skills to community health — skills that, as Quisha shows, can change entire populations when applied beyond the bedside.

Leading with Vision: The “90-Day Girl” Mindset

In her role as a public health leader, Quisha quickly became known for her decisiveness and drive. “If I need something for my team or community, I don’t have the patience or luxury for it to go through endless approvals,” she said. Her colleagues nicknamed her the “90-day girl” for her ability to turn ideas into action.

This hands-on, adaptive leadership style highlights a key truth: public health progress often depends on people willing to move before it’s comfortable.

When she later transitioned into consulting — helping diabetes programs go digital — Quisha demonstrated that same agility. Even when partnerships dissolved or projects shifted, she continued building solutions that met people where they were.

Her drive to move quickly and act decisively would soon take on a new form. After years of building programs within public health systems, Quisha began to imagine what she could accomplish outside them. That same “90-day girl” mindset — turning ideas into action without waiting — became the foundation for her next leap: the creation of Umemba Health, a venture that redefined how she approached education, leadership, and community impact.

A Broader Reflection: Courage as a Public Health Competency

Public health careers rarely follow straight lines. They bend and pivot, shaped by both personal conviction and community need. Quisha’s decision to leave nursing for public health wasn’t an abandonment of clinical care .  was about expanding it.

Her story echoes a larger truth: our field depends on professionals who are willing to cross boundaries between disciplines, take risks in service of purpose, and “do it scared.”

As we confront complex challenges from chronic disease to inequity, the next generation of public health leaders will need the same mix of fearlessness, empathy, and systems thinking that defines Quisha Umemba’s career.

Key Takeaways

• Courage precedes clarity. Sometimes the boldest career decisions happen before the path is clear.
  
• Nurses are vital to public health. Their firsthand understanding of patient realities makes them natural advocates for social change.
  
• Leadership is action. Whether in a clinic, classroom, or community, moving with purpose matters more than waiting for certainty.

Written by: Balraj Gill, BA, MSc