The Duke Global Health Institute sponsored the third annual GH TRIPS conference Monday, during which students exchanged and reflected on their summer fieldwork experiences.
The Global Health Transitions, Research, Insights, Presentations, Service event held in the Levine Science Research Center, featured presentations made by undergraduates, graduate students and third-year medical students. The conference was a chance for students to share and reflect on their experiences as well as to find ways to stay involved in global health at Duke.
“Students looking to earn a Global Health certificate have a fieldwork requirement,” said Sumi Ariely, student projects coordinator for DGHI. “The work has a global reach. We target less developed countries, but we have a good handful of programs here in Durham, including a [tuberculosis] clinic.”
After introductions made by Ariely and Dr. Michael Merson, director of the Global Health Institute, the participants and audience divided into small groups to present and discuss their experiences.
Jackie Ndirangu, a master’s student in the Global Health Institute, presented her summer work in Haiti, which involved evaluating the effectiveness of the human papillomavirus vaccine on the island. The questions that drove Ndirangu’s research were both biological and cultural, focusing on the medical and societal implications for her findings.
The attendees in each group session also contributed to the discussion. President Richard Brodhead asked Ndirangu about how she dealt with telling Haitian women that their counterparts in more developed countries had easier access to the HPV vaccine. Ndirangu responded that many Haitian women understand they do not have the same financial resources, highlighting the extent of the global health inequity that many students addressed in their work.
Some projects, however, did not focus on current public health concerns and instead sought to provide a basis for future research.
Senior Brian Clement interviewed a group of refugees who were forcibly expelled from Bhutan in 1988 and were shuffled between Nepal and India. Clement tried to document the different memories of the refugees to make an archive that would later become part of the Duke library system.
“We walked around the camps with Nepali translators,” Clement said. “They were very open with us, and it helped because many children didn’t know about their parents’ experience.”
Each project had an academic and community service dimension, Ariely said. Students looking to participate in the program have different avenues for pursuing their interests. They can either participate in existing programs—which are often based on a faculty member’s research or a community partnership— or they can formulate their own project proposals.
“We look at a variety of things when it comes to student proposals,” Ariely said, pointing to the quality of the proposal, previous experience of the student and the impetus for the work as some of the key criteria in considering proposals.
Ariely also said the TRIPS committee assesses the level of mentorship a student would have in a future project.
“There may be lot of opportunity on the ground, but without a good mentor in relation to the culture or the health needs of the area, it would be difficult for the students to engage with their target community.”
Students do not have to create new programs to pursue their own interests, but can also build on preexisting ones.
Prior to starting their fieldwork, students prepared in several ways. They were required to undergo cultural sensitivity training, which included language training and meeting natives of the areas where they planned to conduct their work.
The TRIPS conference concluded with a reflection session for all the participants.
“The students constantly reflected on personal and academic lessons throughout their experience,” Ariely said. “That’s what really makes it academic service learning.”
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.