At Gettysburg College, students discover their greatest passions and graduate inspired to leave the world better than they found it.
After Christian Whitsel ’21 graduated from Gettysburg College, his passion for advocacy and patient care led him to work at the oldest public hospital in the United States, now serving as a critical care nurse practitioner at NYC Health + Hospitals/Bellevue.
In 2019, Whitsel’s road to serving homeless, undocumented, and incarcerated patients in New York City began. Through the Gettysburg College study abroad program, the public policy and health sciences double major participated in the Council of International Educational Exchange Global Institute in Berlin, Germany—the core memory of his undergraduate experience.
“Being able to take courses in global health and comparative healthcare systems was invaluable in shaping my understanding of how different countries approach healthcare delivery,” said Whitsel, who also minored in peace and justice studies. “This experience definitely broadened my perspective on public health.”
He later secured an internship at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where he focused on nutrition, physical activity, and obesity. During his senior year, he gained firsthand experience in patient-focused care by working as a psychiatric aid at WellSpan Gettysburg Hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There was an epidemic within COVID of people suffering from depression and anxiety,” Whitsel said. “The hospital saw a dramatic increase in people seeking psychiatric care.”
Both of those experiences led Whitsel to deciding he wanted to pursue a patient-focused career, while maintaining the public policy perspective he gained at Gettysburg College.
His advisor, Public Policy Chair Anne Douds, who co-chairs the College’s new public health policy major alongside Health Sciences Chair Amy Dailey, shares his passion for equity. Douds oversaw Whitsel’s capstone project, which examined whether telehealth policies established during the COVID-19 pandemic would be beneficial for long-term implementation.
“Prof. Douds takes a very strong interest in helping students get opportunities in their specific field,” he said.
In 2022, Whitsel earned his Residential Nursing (RN) certification from Yale University. He then received his Master of Science in Nursing, Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner, also from Yale, two years later. He worked as an RN in Connecticut Hospitals before transitioning to the Big Apple in August 2024.
Whitsel believes his background in public policy, specifically his knowledge of the social determinants of health—non-medical factors that influence a person's health and well-being, such as income, education, social support, and access to healthcare—has prepared him to be a more passionate caregiver. He encourages Gettysburg College students to pursue internships that allow them to find what he calls “their policy passion,” while also determining what they’re not interested in as well.
As a nurse practitioner, a role he believes not many people fully understand, Whitsel’s current “policy passion” is advocating for nurse practitioners to have a more universal scope of work. He believes such a policy would benefit patients in rural areas who suffer from limited access to health care.
“Nurse practitioners have the opportunity to make a lot of impact,” he said. “We are key players in increasing equitable care and addressing healthcare shortages.”
According to the CDC, “rural residents face higher risks of death due to factors like limited access to specialized medical care and emergency services and exposure to specific environmental hazards.”
Whitsel is doing his part to make a difference in the lives of those in need, but he acknowledges that he is only one person. He was excited to learn his alma mater, Gettysburg College, recently announced a public health policy major.
“Having doctors with public policy experience and having specialized knowledge in public health will make one a lot more marketable when applying to jobs,” he said.
Students interested in solutions-based approaches to mitigating public health challenges will benefit from this new degree’s rigorous, interdisciplinary, applied approach. Students majoring in public health policy can pursue diverse career paths at community and societal levels in government agencies, nonprofits, hospitals and health care organizations, and nongovernmental agencies, as well as graduate study in the field.
“I think there is a very strong need for people with a disciplinary foundation in healthcare, public health, and policy,” he said. “Having the public policy experience combined with the specialized knowledge in public health will make one a lot more marketable when applying for jobs.”
Jumpstart your career in public health policy through Gettysburg College’s new major.
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By Alex J. Hayes
Photos courtesy of Christian Whitsel ’21
Posted: 03/19/25