The Global Health Academic Concentration
Follow UC San Diego School of Medicine's GHAC students around the world.
My GHAC summer research in Ecuador as part of the ESPINA project was an incredible professional, academic and personal experience! I began working with Dr. Suarez during the school year to help with a project related to pesticide exposure and inflammatory biomarkers as part of the ESPINA project. My interest in Dr. Suarez’s research was … Continue reading Exploring Quito: Culture and Science in Summer Research
One of the best things about having a summer birthday is that I always am surprised by where the next year takes me. This year, I got to spend my 25th birthday in Ecuador, making it one of my best yet. To have a day I would remember for a lifetime, I decided to hike … Continue reading Hiking Volcán Cotopaxi: My 25th Birthday Experience
After completing my first year of medical school, I returned to Nepal for my GHAC research project. Throughout the 26-hour journey, I felt immense gratitude for the opportunity to conduct research in my home country. There’s something uniquely powerful about revisiting the home and the familiar alleys you grew up in. It instantly reminds you … Continue reading Summer Back Home – Nepal
Hello from Bogotá! I am writing this blog post on my way back home from an incredible summer in Ecuador during my 7-hour layover in Colombia. I came to Ecuador with GHAC to work on the ESPINA project (Exposición Secundaria a Plagucidias en Niños y Adolescentes). This project is under the direction of Dr. José … Continue reading Exploring Health Impacts of Pesticides in Ecuador
I have been working at two local shelters (work closely with Jewish Family Services and Catholic Charities) in San Diego that serve as the Asylum Clinic. For background, an individual who is seeking asylum is a person who has left their country and is seeking protection from persecution and serious human rights violations in another … Continue reading The Asylum Clinic – San Diego
The first two weeks of my border health rotation were spent at the Red Cross in Tijuana. According to the 2000 U.S. National Census, approximately 49 percent of residents living in a border town are Hispanic, mostly of Mexican origin. They mix with people of other ethnic groups throughout the border region, including non-Hispanic whites, … Continue reading Border Health Rotation at Red Cross in Tijuana
I was born in Guatemala and raised in Southern California. Growing up, I remember my mom always telling me, “En la casa hablamos Español, en la escuela puede habalr Ingles,” which translates to, “At home we speak Spanish, at school you can speak English.” In my early childhood, I remember struggling with both languages. There … Continue reading Found in translation
When I joined the GHAC program, I knew that I wanted to travel to Sub-Saharan Africa. I was eager to understand more about the region, and to have an opportunity to learn from physicians, fellow students, and patients there. Fortunately, I found a project working with American physicians Dr. Sierra Washington and Christy Zachek, and … Continue reading Mapping maputo
The city of Stockholm has a silence to it. Created by quiet streets frequented primarily by pedestrians, ancient buildings that seem to absorb sound into their storied bones, and a light breeze that ruffles the numerous green trees and carries excess sound away over the Baltic Sea. A peaceful place to call home, especially during … Continue reading Endless days of summer
I spent this summer studying maternal death at Hospital Central de Maputo. The project is centered around maternal death, with a particular focus on postpartum hemorrhaging (PPH) and the introduction of cryoprecipitate therapy at Hospital Central de Maputo (HCM) in Maputo, Mozambique. After working with Dr. Von Drygalsi and Michael Glazier to create data collection … Continue reading A Study of Maternal Mortality