After completing her Masters, Tonji Durant joined South Carolina’s Department of Health and Environmental Control (now South Carolina Department of Public Health). She worked as an adolescent family planning Health Educator. The position allowed her to practically apply approaches to improve infant and maternal outcomes among teen mothers. This experience motivated her to earn a PhD. Experienced in both domestic and global public health, Tonji spent 10+ years working in global health settings (Africa, Asia, Caribbean) and 15+ years supporting US domestic public health programs (HIV, Violence, Workforce).
Tonji worked across technical areas – applied epidemiology, surveillance, and monitoring and evaluation, public health program Science (human subjects, scientific ethics, etc.), and health education.
She is a University of South Carolina (BA, MA, PhD) graduate. She completed the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) fellowship. She’s from Sumter, South Carolina, USA – Gamecock City.