Despite my best attempts, I fell off the blog bus over the last couple of months. Oh well; it’s been a hectic, challenging, and at times emotional transition out of my day-to-day role with Partners In Health and into the world of academic research. But, I’ve also had a great time officially transitioning into my work as a research assistant with the Lancet Commission on NCDIs and Poverty.
The work with the Lancet Commission is progressing well. We are about ready to submit our IRB application (yikes…) for a study that includes a large scale survey of undergraduate and graduate students interested in or currently studying global health along with a semi-structured interviews with key faculty, administrators, student-organization leaders, and activists.
Building off of some of the theoretical work considered earlier, we seek to answer three interrelated questions:
- What are the primary factors motivating students to choose to study global health?
- What types of formal academic programs, student-driven organizations, and other global health activities are emerging to meet this demand?
- What opportunities do these programs, organizations, networks present for future collective action?
More on this research plan soon.
Additionally, the Tufts course, “The Right to Health: Problems, Perspectives, and Progress” is coming to a close next week! It’s hard to believe how quickly a semester goes. But, it was a great time and huge honor to get to participate in developing and leading this course with a group of 13 amazing Tufts undergraduate students and Prof. Fernando Ona. I’m looking forward to writing some synthesis / debrief posts soon.
Now that I’ve gotten settled into the work with the Commission and that the semester is ending, I plan to devote more time to this space.
Lots more to come!