For this DLSPH alumna, winning a prestigious 2025 Arbor Award is a “full circle moment”
March 6/2026
Gabriella Luongo graduated from DLSPH in 2019, but as an alumna, she made a concerted effort to keep the DLSPH community connected — volunteer service which recently earned her a 2025 Arbor Award.
By Ishani Nath
Gabriella Luongo was initially intimidated by the prospect of moving across the country and enrolling in the Master of Public Health in Health Promotion program at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health (DLSPH). Would she like Toronto? Could this program help her build a meaningful career in public health? Was this the right move?
Luongo’s undergraduate research supervisor, Rochelle Tucker, who completed a graduate degree in Health Promotion at the University of Toronto, provided the answers and the encouragement she needed. “The mentors I spoke with were critical in helping me realize I could do this,” says Luongo, who went on to graduate from DLSPH’s Master of Public Health in Health Promotion program in 2019. As a DLSPH alumna, Luongo organizes alumni initiatives, including co-chairing the Public Health Sciences Alumni-Student Mentorship Program, where she also participates as a mentor answering questions much like the ones she used to have.
In recognition of her outstanding volunteer efforts as a member of our DLSPH alumni, the University of Toronto recently awarded Luongo a 2025 Arbor Award. These awards are one of the university’s highest honours and recognize individuals for their “exceptional and longstanding volunteer service.” (Nominations for the 2026 Arbor Awards are now open. For more information and to submit a nomination, please visit the Arbor Awards website.)
Luongo certainly fits that description.
“I began volunteering as a teenager within my Italian community, and I quickly came to appreciate how meaningful and rewarding even small contributions could be, and the tangible impact they had on those around me,” says Luongo. “Throughout my post-secondary education, being involved is how I built community, no matter how big or small the community was, I could find a place where I belonged.”
As a graduate student, Luongo was active within the DLSPH community, serving as the Co-President of the Public Health Students’ Association and Co-Chair of its annual conference. “Staying involved allows me to feel connected to the spaces and places I am a part of, and to meet and learn from new people. It ultimately led to such an enriching experience in my post-secondary education that coursework alone would never be able to replace,” says Luongo.
For instance, Luongo explains that volunteering allowed her to develop soft skills, like organization, oral and written communication, project management, collaboration, conflict management, managing meetings, and setting expectations and timelines — all skills that she has since applied to her doctoral studies and career.
Luongo is now a Senior Data Analyst for Indigenous Services Canada, but she continued to lead and organize events, sharing her experience with mentees and alumni, through the Public Health Alumni Association, now called the DLSPH Dean’s Alumni Advisory Council.
“I do whatever I can to help folks figure out what their next stage is because I remember being in those situations; being really nervous and leaning on those mentors and people I met along the way who were willing to take my call and answer all these questions,” she says.
When she learned she would be receiving a 2025 Arbor Award in recognition of her efforts, Luongo was at a conference in Paris, France — a mark of how far she’s progressed in her career, which was propelled in part by the volunteering she did along the way.
“For me, volunteering reinvigorates that passion to keep doing what you’re doing,” she says. “It felt like a full circle moment.”
Looking back, Luongo says one of the biggest reasons she came to DLSPH was for her program’s practicum placements and the school’s vast network and industry connections. Thanks to that encouragement of her undergraduate mentor and mentors she met at DLSPH like Catherine Mah, Luongo was able to pursue public health and find meaningful work in her field. She now shares her experiences, milestones, challenges and successes with her mentees and fellow alumni.
“I have a career that I didn’t think was even possible,” she says.
Nominations for the 2026 Arbor Awards are now open! For information on how to nominate an outstanding U of T volunteer for this honour, the eligibility criteria and the nomination form, please visit the Arbor Awards website. Nominations close on Friday, April 24, 2026.