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The first recipients of the Johns Hopkins Global Health scholarships approach international public health from different vantage points, but at the Bloomberg School, they’re all seeking to broaden their public health knowledge in preparation for health careers on a global scale. The Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health awarded nine scholarships to master of public health and master of health science students with a demonstrated interest in the global health field. The recipients were selected in a competitive process open to all full-time students accepted into the MPH and MHS programs. A Global Health Scholarship covers full tuition for the 11-month MPH program and for one year of the MHS program. The awards will be offered on an annual basis. “We are pleased to support these nine promising students in their public health work,” says Thomas Quinn, MD, the Center’s Director. “The Center works to further global health education among the Johns Hopkins community, and these students already have impressive global health experience they can draw from as they complete their studies. We look forward to witnessing all they will accomplish in their careers.” The Master of Public Health scholarship winners are Sarah Henly-Shepard, Allison Lind, Lillian Aaca Okui, Garima Pathak, Shomik Ray, and Tara Suntoke. The Master of Health Science scholarship winners are Rita Czako, Attia Goheer, and Michael Rozier. The Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health was launched in May 2006 to facilitate and focus the extensive expertise and resources of the Johns Hopkins Institutions, together with global collaborators, to effectively address and ameliorate the world's most pressing health issues. In addition to brokering collaboration among existing global health programs in the schools of Public Health, Medicine and Nursing, the Center also works to educate students on global health issues, both in the classroom and in the field. Master of Public Health candidates
Home Country: USA Focus at Hopkins: Humanitarian assistance/international disaster relief and development Goal: To bridge the gap between sustainable development and disaster relief initiatives around the globe, by incorporating a multidisciplinary approach to eliminating inequities in public health; improving access to food, water and education; increasing human security; and ensuring ecologically and culturally sound development. Through her professional and volunteer work in both the United States and Brazil as an educator and emergency response team member, Henly-Shepard has worked with a variety of populations: migrants, the homeless, mobile underserved populations, and residents of both urban slums and small agricultural communities. Having extensive experience in both temporary emergency situations and longer-term initiatives, she has always focused on understanding and helping the most vulnerable populations, who face additional barriers to accessing services due to language, economic and cultural differences. Henly-Shepard is continually motivated by “the power of united communities and daring individuals willing to make positive changes in their lives,” and by people dedicating their lives to finding creative and effective solutions to improve the safety, health and well-being of people all over the world.
Home country: USA Focus at Hopkins: Child and adolescent health with an international focus Goal: To improve child survival internationally through the implementation of sustainable health care programs While volunteering as a pediatric nurse coordinator in Belize City’s first center to provide care and support for children and families affected by HIV/AIDS, Allison Lind realized that to be fully effective, the fledging center would need to develop an infrastructure, write program policies, obtain medical supplies and hire staff to sustain its work. As she learned on the fly and filled in the center’s gaps the best she could, she was inspired to expand her education to learn how best to establish sustainable health care programs, train health care professionals and implement policy to improve the health of children internationally.
Home Country: Uganda Focus at Hopkins: Epidemiology and biostatistics Goal: To be a champion of women and children’s health As a fourth-year medical student studying public health, Lillian Aaca Okui volunteered at a rural hospital in eastern Uganda. She came to see that clinical medicine alone wasn’t the answer for the patients she treating, including over 200 children sick with malaria each day. Okui wanted to work with public health professionals in Uganda to understand the root of pressing health problems in order to implement effective prevention and intervention strategies. To that end, Okui played a key role in launching an HIV/AIDS clinic in Kumi Hospital in Uganda, which now serves over 500 patients, most of them women and children.
Home Country: India Focus at Hopkins: Population, family and reproductive health, TB-HIV, and health management Goal: To contribute to the development of health systems in TB-HIV, and family and reproductive health in India, improving access to quality health care across all sectors, especially to the underprivileged Garima Pathak was first exposed to the health disparities in the rural, tribal areas of central India during field-postings when her husband was beginning his career in public service. “A strong public health delivery system and correct health practices like clean drinking water could save many more lives as compared to curative services,” she says. At the Bloomberg School, Pathak hopes to acquire the knowledge and skills to return to India and make a lasting impact on the health of her country. For inspiration, she looks to “the Indian women for their indefatigable spirit and to Mother Teresa for her strength and determination, and the hope she had for public service.”
Home Country: India Focus at Hopkins: Research methodologies, health policies, health systems and health system reforms, and health economics Goal: To be able to complement public health practices and management sciences with the objective of finding lasting solutions to critical public health and development problems. A management professional, Shomik Ray has worked in the health sector for the last 10 years, assisting public health managers and practitioners by providing technical assistance and support in capacity building. Through his work, Ray realized that while the major problems in public health are science-based, they all pose management challenges. He believes the two fields of knowledge must be combined. With an MPH degree, Ray aims to effectively address public health issues in his home country at both levels. His motivation is the commitment of health workers who implement health programs for the public: “They are the unsung heroes who brave the weather and all odds and make all efforts to reach out and serve, in spite of all the faults in planning, shortcomings in execution, and lethargies in recognition.”
Home Country: USA Focus at Hopkins: Epidemiology with a focus on infectious diseases Goal: To use evidence-based approaches to address public health needs—specifically those related to HIV and infectious diseases—in resource-limited settings, and to use my experience in laboratory sciences to help build capacity in developing countries, particularly to improve on-site diagnostic testing capabilities. While in graduate school studying the molecular mechanism of HIV infection, Tara Suntoke was always drawn to the bigger picture: the effect of HIV on people’s lives, how the epidemic was changing in different parts of the world, and how access to care and treatment affected that dynamic. One evening, she attended a lecture given by science writer and public health advocate Laurie Garrett. “She described emerging infectious disease outbreaks around the world, and the amazing detective work that ultimately leads to identifying the agent and containing the disease,” Suntoke recalls. “She depicted public health as a world that combined science, data analysis, policy, communication and compassion.” Suntoke soon realized that her real interests extend beyond cellular and molecular biology, and into the realm of public health. Master of Health Science candidates:
Home Country: United States, first generation Hungarian-American Focus at Hopkins: Global Disease Epidemiology and Control Goal: To embark on a biomedical research career within an organization committed to achieving and promoting global health. Rita Czako volunteered at a local free medical clinic in her hometown during her undergraduate years, and the sad medical histories she witnessed there motivated her to pursue a career “with the potential to affect the lives of those in need to access better health technologies.” A summer spent in rural Equador as part of a Tropical Disease Workshop cemented her interest in public and global health. Czako believes “that the translation of scientific advances into effective international interventions and public health policy is equally as important as scientific progress to improving the overall health of the world’s population. My desire is to be able to facilitate this process by lending the expertise my scientific background will grant me to provide assistance in the design, development, and implementation of effective and feasible infectious disease prevention and control programs.”
Home Country: United States Focus at Hopkins: Human Nutrition Goal: To develop programs designed to decrease the incidence of obesity and diabetes thought dietary change. Attia Goheer had always enjoyed observing food behavior and wondered what factors influence a person’s food decisions. She hopes to parlay this hobby into a career through her studies at the Bloomberg School of Public Health, where she is excited to be able “to learn from amazing professors at the top of their field.” Goheer has spent time working with Progressive Maryland, a non-profit organization that helps working class families lobby for a living wage bill that requires contractors to pay their employees enough to live above the poverty line without depending on food stamps. Her efforts with the organization were rewarded when this initiative was signed into Maryland law earlier this year.
Home Country: United States Focus at Hopkins: International Health – Health Systems Goal: To manage an NGO with an emphasis on caring for refugee and displaced populations, and to explore the areas of population-based bioethics and the intersection of health care and human rights. Michael Rozier is focused on providing for those with few resources. He has even experienced that lifestyle for himself, having participated in a 30-day pilgramage where he traveled from Baltimore to St. Paul, MN with only $35 in his pocket by relying on the generosity of others for shelter, food, and transportation. His volunteer work has benefited a community center, a covenant house, a prison, a hospital, a nursing home, a center for people with disabilities, and a school. Rozier is interested in “how we can bring our research-driven universities into more direct contact with the poor. Public health provides a forum in which several different fields can come together to address the most pressing health issues.” |
BA, Latin American Studies and Public Health, University of Texas-Austin
BS, Nursing, Saint Louis University
Bachelor of Medicine, Makerere University
Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery, GR Medical College
Postgraduate Diploma in Business Management, Specialization in Human Resource Management, Indian Institute of Social Welfare and Business Management
BS, Department of Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University
Bachelor of Science in Biology, University of South Carolina
Bachelor of Science in Psychology and a Bachelor of Arts in Anthropology from University of Maryland, College Park
Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry with a minor in philosophy, Saint Louis UniversityDid You Know? | |
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