Source: School of Public Health
Growing up in the Springwells neighborhood of southwest Detroit, Esther Guerrero can see the freeway from her backyard. She hears train whistles from nearby railroads mixed with boat horns from the shipping docks. Factory smoke from the Marathon plant and Zug Island hang in the air she breathes every day.
“We’re neighbored by factories,” Guerrero said of her childhood home, where she still lives. “I didn’t really understand the impact of that environment until I started studying public health.”
Now, as she prepares to graduate with her Master of Public Health degree in Health Behavior & Health Equity from the University of Michigan School of Public Health, Guerrero has transformed her lived experience into fuel for change. She’s also earning a certificate in Maternal and Child Nutrition with a focus on health communications—skills she’s already putting to work in Detroit.
