Scholar Profile

Mariko Rooks

Health Policy

Biography

Mariko Fujimoto Rooks is a public health practitioner specializing in historical and contemporary health disparities and community health interventions. Based out of Southern California, Mariko serves as an epidemiologist for the CDC Foundation's Understanding and Preventing Drowning Initiative and manages statewide water safety research in partnership the California Department of Public Health. Mariko also serves on the California Water Safety Coalition's Board of Directors.

Previously, Mariko served as the director for USA Water Polo's Equity FLOWS (Furthering Opportunities in Water Safety) Program, which designed funding mechanisms and evaluation to increase aquatic skills development for marginalized communities. Mariko also served as adjunct professor for Loyola Marymount University's African American Studies department from 2023-5, during which she used Milken Scholars Travel funding to publish two manuscripts focused on Jamaican LGBTQIA+ archiving and stories. Mariko also maintains an ongoing research fellowship with Prof. Carolyn Roberts studying medicine and the trans-Atlantic slave trade at Yale. A longtime member of the Japanese American community, Mariko was recently inducted into the Japanese American National Museum's "30 Under 30 Community Changemakers" cohort.

Mariko graduated Yale's dual-degree BA-MPH program with a Masters' in Public Health in Social and Behavioral Sciences with a Concentration in U.S. Health Justice (2022) and cum laude from Yale College with a double major in the History of Science, Medicine, and Public Health and Ethnicity, Race, and Migration (2021).

High school:  Culver City High School

Degrees

News and Highlights

12/12/2018 Mariko Rooks (MS '17)

Representation Matters: Mariko Rooks, MS ‘17, was one of the winners of the inaugural Tsai City Arts and Media Innovation Award! Her project will examine the experience of mixed Asian students and debut in March 2019. Mark your calendars!