The Global Health Academic Concentration
Follow UC San Diego School of Medicine's GHAC students around the world.
In Amman the buildings are dense, piled on top of each other, no spaces in between - evidence of a city that grew out of necessity. During the day the sight can be overwhelming, but at sunset the repetitive architecture reflects back a pink light that captures the city and you can feel a collective … Continue reading learning & Surveying compassion in Jordan
Nick Rice and one of the health screening teams in the shelter’s vaccine clinic Beginning my undergraduate medical education in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic made much of what I was learning about the practice of medicine seem abstract. Unlike other years where first-year medical students began their ambulatory care apprenticeships (ACAs) in … Continue reading Vaccine Hesitancy in San Diego Asylum Seekers
This summer, I have been working under the guidance of Dr. Sarah Averbach and Dr. Anita Raj of UCSD’s Center on Gender Equity and Health to study measures of contraceptive decision-making and their associations with contraceptive communication and use in rural India. I was both excited and nervous to take on a project within my … Continue reading Making Connections
Training with UCSD research team on campus to learn blood and sputum processing techniques so I can successfully collect samples in TJ This summer, I am conducting a clinical study at Tijuana (TJ) General Hospital’s Clinica de Tuberculosis in TJ, Mexico to improve the accuracy and usability of a prototype assay which was designed to … Continue reading Teamwork in Tijuana
My name is Dhruv Puri and I am a rising second year medical student. A little about myself: I was born in Stockholm, Sweden and raised in Austin, TX. My mom was born and raised in Sweden as well, and my dad is from India. I studied Molecular and Cellular Biology at UC Berkeley and … Continue reading My mentors in Mozambique
A year ago, research to me was synonymous with pipettes, microscopes, and long days on my feet. A year ago, I was checking my email frequently to make sure my GHAC acceptance wasn’t an accident or mistake. A year ago, I had no idea what I was capable of doing or what was ultimately possible … Continue reading Who run the world? Girls
This summer, I planned to do a retrospective analysis on self-managed abortion in India. Self-managed abortion occurs when a person performs their own abortion without clinical supervision. It is sometimes also referred to as self-induced abortion or even DIY abortion. Various methods of abortion fall within this quite broad categorization, including herbal remedies, blunt force, … Continue reading A Remote Analysis of Self-Managed Abortion in India
We are approaching the end of summer break! The end of my first year of medical school was bittersweet because of the pandemic, but the entire year was absolutely amazing! I did not get to celebrate properly with my classmates, but I am very lucky and excited that a lot of my friends stayed at … Continue reading Surfing, hiking and research
I first became interested in the idea of psychological resilience while assisting with clothing distribution at a refugee camp in Greece as I saw camp residents demonstrate drastically different responses to the collective trauma that they had suffered in the Syrian Civil War and the long journey through Turkey and across the Mediterranean. While some … Continue reading Roots of Resilience in San Diego’s Somali Community
Hi! My name is Ana Skomal and I’m a rising MS2, currently in the summer of my MS1. A little background about myself: I was born and raised in south San Diego near Chula Vista. I’m a Mexican-American woman and a native Spanish speaker. My mom immigrated from Mexico when she was in her 30’s … Continue reading The Ecuadorian Andes from my Computer