November 24, 2025 | Erin Bluvas, bluvase@sc.edu
Master of Public Health in Epidemiology alumna Emma Boswell is the eighth member of the Rural Health Research Center in the last decade to be invited to join the National Rural Health Association’s Rural Health Fellows Program. As a member of the 2026 cohort, Boswell will join the ranks of the most promising individuals being trained to become the nation’s next rural health experts and leaders.
“Emma’s enthusiasm for rural child health is contagious, and I am delighted she was chosen for such a prestigious fellows program so early in her career,” says Elizabeth Crouch, who co-directs the Center along with Peiyin Hung – both associate professors in the Arnold School’s Department of Health Services Policy and Management (HSPM). “I look forward to seeing the impact she makes in our field.”
Boswell has been an integral part of the Rural Health Research Center since she joined the team as a research associate after her 2023 graduation. In 2024, she transitioned into a graduate research assistant position when she enrolled in the Ph.D. in HSPM program.
“The last few years with the Rural Health Research Center have been absolutely incredible,” Boswell says. “Dr. Crouch and Dr. Hung are fantastic mentors, and we have a really wonderful team of people at the center who are excellent at their jobs, passionate about rural health, and just genuinely great people.”
This supportive mentorship and research environment has built on the rich experiences Boswell had as an undergraduate student and during her master’s program conducting research with Arnold School faculty members and becoming involved in maternal and child health academic and student organizations. She believes that these collective opportunities have made her a stronger researcher and better leader.
Working closely with Crouch – one of the nation’s leading experts in rural child health – Boswell has been developing her own expertise in the subject. She is particularly interested in the intersection of rural children and other populations, such as children with disabilities and children of color.
“I’m so grateful to the National Rural Health Association for giving me the opportunity to join the Rural Health Fellows Program, and I’m really looking forward to meeting and working with the other fellows,” Boswell says. “They typically pick a group of fellows who have a wide array of experiences in rural health, so this is going to be a wonderful opportunity to connect with people who are doing different work in different rural communities. I also hope that this program teaches me how to be a better advocate and public health communicator because research shouldn’t happen in a vacuum. It should be person- and community-centered with an emphasis on making real change, and I hope that the fellowship will help me become stronger in making that bridge between research and the real world.”