Lucienne Veilleux Matthews ’17 Helps Improve Health Outcomes for Communities
By Damon Markiewicz
Lucienne Veilleux Matthews ’17 enrolled at Springfield College with a clear goal of pursuing a career in the health sciences. Throughout her time on campus, she formed strong connections with her professors—relationships that not only enhanced her academic development but also opened doors to new academic and professional opportunities.
“When I started as an undergraduate, I initially planned to pursue a career in direct patient care,” explained Veilleux Matthews. “Some of my first Health Science and Sociology courses, including Introduction to Public Health with professor Pam Higgins ’83, G’84, and Sociology courses with professor Susan Joel, expanded my point of view to the systems level. I started to understand how upstream changes and interventions can help improve community health outcomes and address inequities.”
Currently a state government public health senior consultant for BerryDunn - Assurance, Tax, and Consulting, Veilleux Matthews chose the Public Health major because of the potential to effect change at a large scale, and improve health outcomes for communities. Her career has provided opportunities to learn about different places and cultures. Veilleux Matthews has been able to travel to many different areas in the United States and assist a variety of different people. She recently relocated from New Hampshire to her firm’s Oahu, Hawaii, office in an effort to better support their clients in Hawaii and in Guam over the next several years.
“In my current role, I work with state and territorial public health and human services agencies on a wide variety of projects,” explained Veilleux Matthews. “On a typical day, I am working with governmental public health leaders and program personnel from around the country to help them achieve a goal or improve the way they operate and serve their communities.”
Many of her projects include strategic planning, conducting community or state health assessments, providing business process improvement support to help agencies operate more effectively, and providing technical support to help improve public health programs. On a daily basis, Veilleux Matthews manages projects, conducts research, drafts or reviews reports, and analyzes data.
“Every day is different, and we are always working creatively to best meet the needs of our clients and help them solve problems in order to carry out their work,” explained Veilleux Matthews. “My favorite part of my job is working on a team with other passionate public health and human services professionals. I enjoy getting to work with such a diverse range of clients from all over the United States, and plan out a variety of ways we can support and positively impact our clients and their communities.”
Since her days as a student, Veilleux Matthews has maintained a commitment to live out our Humanics philosophy. She understands that there is a responsibility that comes with earning a Springfield College degree, and that includes a duty to help make the world a better place.
“A degree in Public Health can open the door to many different types of roles and career opportunities,” explained Veilleux Matthews. “Whether you’re interested in working in policy at any level, community health improvement programming, research, or epidemiology, choosing to focus on Public Health as an undergraduate prepares students for that work and provides the background they will need, either to pursue an advanced degree or begin working in the field.”
Even for students who want to pursue clinical or direct patient care roles, establishing a background in public health can give providers knowledge in individual, population, or systems-level factors that influence health outcomes.
“We need the next generation of public health professionals to be ready to take on all challenges, and continue the work of addressing gaps in public health infrastructure and services,” explained Veilleux Matthews. “I think Springfield College graduates are especially ready to take this on because of the campus culture. There has always been an emphasis on empathy and community connectedness. I am proud to carry my Springfield College education with me into the world.”
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