mmoiforay
| Forum role | Member since | Last activity | Topics created | Replies created |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Member | Aug 28, 2016 (10 years) |
- | 1 | 0 |
- Forum role
- Member
- Member since
Aug 28, 2016 (10 years)
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Bio
McCay Martin Moiforay was born in Freetown, Sierra Leone and migrated with his parents to Baltimore, Maryland in 1980, where he was raised. He is the eldest of three children, all of whom are all college graduates. He is proud to be the son of a deaf father, who attained his Master’s degree and is a retired Baltimore City school teacher for the deaf, and a mother, who works as a mental health quality assurance officer in Baltimore. Graduating from Baltimore Polytechnic Institute in 1995 under the science curriculum, the health field was an inevitable destiny for him. Although, completing college immediately after high school was not the path McCay took, he received his first public health research opportunity from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Beginning in 1999 as a behavioral research assistant, in 2007 he became a clinical research coordinator with Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology. He began pursuit of his undergraduate degree in 2004 and received a BS in Health Education from Morgan State University in 2008. These humble beginnings really prompted his faith in knowing through Christ all things are possible.
McCay’s public health interest is in using public health strategies and promotions, while integrating faith-based initiatives, in order for holistic healing to occur. His past public health experiences has opened his eyes and heart to the existence of health disparities specifically within the city of Baltimore. It has been the personal testimonies that fired his interest in health promotion and community building. What he enjoyed most about working in public health is the opportunity to serve the underserved populations in the community while at the same time, learning from the community. It really has been a reciprocal approach and he has learned to learn from anyone in order to help everyone. Working in public health is very exciting and during the course of his career, his interest has evolved to include various health disparities affecting diverse populations. He looks forward with great enthusiasm to his next steps in public health as God guides him along bearing his personal cross.
McCay wants to make people smile again. He wants hope to be reactivated within the people he comes across regardless of the population. His volunteer work with church leaders in the fight against HIV/AIDS here in Baltimore showed him how important community engagement is in order to displace fear and stigma towards those affected or infected with HIV/AIDS. Health education is a necessity to all regardless of socioeconomic status and is indispensable for empowering individuals and communities. Health education can foster a compassionate understanding that social determinants can play a significant role in the prevalence of HIV/AIDS. Cultivating a mindset of ‘love thy neighbor as thyself’ helps to bring healing from rejection and social exclusion and foster a conducive atmosphere for healthy behavior and ultimately, decrease in HIV/AIDS and other diseases as well to create an atmosphere for deliverance from behaviors that lead to contracting HIV/AIDS. His experiences here allowed his passion for public health missionary work to come alive again and through this, he hopes to make his contribution to the field. Upon graduation, McCay plans to continue his public health endeavors with faith-based communities. He also plans to empower others, using narrative qualitative skills to depict various personal, social, and public health journeys. He has no desire to save the world, but keeps his focus on one soul at a time, in order to do the will of God in the public health field.
John 15:16 You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that you should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
Romans 12:1-2
A Living Sacrifice
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world,[c] but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.