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OVERCOMING GLOBAL CHALLENGES 2020-2021 JOHNS HOPKINS BLOOMBERG SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH Health equity. Social justice. Improving health systems so they work better for people around the world. These are driving passions that unite the sixteenth cohort of Sommer Scholars. And these are the things that the world needs now more than ever as we face the global crisis of COVID-19. Laura Haskins brought her expertise in oncology nursing to cancer centers in Haiti and Rwanda, training other nurses in delivering high-quality care. As an analyst for the Australia Treasury Department, Emily Stirzaker saw how economic and social policy decisions affected the health of millions, and how critical health economics and data were to these choices. Chao Long, a plastic and reconstructive surgery resident, helped build Nepal’s first skin bank, recognizing the gap in attention to surgery in the global health response. These Sommer Scholars are continuing their public health journeys at ORTY DIRECTCULOM THE FAFR DIRECTCULOM ORTY a unique moment in history. The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare the inequities in our systems. It has also shown us, like never before, the importance of public health practitioners who can bring evidence-based authority and guidance to their work. With the School operating virtually, we have moved our Sommer Scholars leadership activities online. While COVID-19 public health safety measures prevented me from hosting a welcome party at my house for this year’s scholars, I have been amazed at the passion and dedication to making a difference that I see in the scholars through my screen. As a future public health lawyer, Prashasti Bhatnagar will use her training to build systems that make health care an affordable and accessible human right for all. As a future pediatric hematologist and oncologist, Jeffrey Edwards will use his skills to help not only his individual patients, but to also effect systemic change. The virtual space in which we are living has also opened new opportunities for connection. We held a virtual alumni happy hour with over 90 current and former Sommer Scholars logging in from Geneva to Nepal. And we have been able to invite public health leaders from around the world, such as Doctors Without Borders president Christos Christou, to our intimate conversations on leadership. The formidable challenges of this year have impressed upon me the urgency of our mission in training and supporting this amazing group of scholars to bring their talents to the world. 1 From the Faculty Director 10 Chao Long 20 Emily Stirzaker 2 Melanie Bechard 12 Hannah Maniates 22 Alumni Caitlin Kennedy, PhD ’09, MPH ’04 4 Prashasti Bhatnagar 14 Emily Pantalone 26 Alfred Sommer, Dean Emeritus Associate Professor, International Health Sommer Scholar Class of 2006 6 Jeffrey Edwards 16 Paul Rebman 28 About the Program 8 Laura Haskins 18 Sandra Smiley 2020-2021 2020-2021 Sommer Scholars 1 MELANIE BECHARD FROM: Ottawa, Canada DEGREES: BS, Physiology and Psychology, University of Western Ontario, 2011; MD, University of Toronto, 2015 PURSUING: MPH “ THE EMERGENCY ROOM IS A BAROMETER OF A SOCIETY’S WELL-BEING.” “The emergency room is a Federation of Medical Students, licensure to improve physician possibility of being able to impact the WORKING UPSTREAM barometer of a society’s well-being,” a two-year position in which she mobility in underserved regions. upstream determinants of health in a she says. led other trainees in lobbying the With an MPH, Bechard hopes more profound way.” A physician in pediatric emergency To help break the troubling cycle, government for public housing to continue to influence health far medicine, Melanie Bechard finds Bechard turned to advocacy. A improvements and universal beyond the hospital through immense gratification in treating first-generation college student, she drug coverage. policy to improve the health of problems ranging from a stubborn credits her parents with imparting a While working as a senior disadvantaged populations. splinter to life-threatening illness. strong sense of justice early on that pediatrics resident at the Hospital “While I look forward to fixing At the same time, she says that shaped her world view. for Sick Children in Toronto, she many fractured bones and resolving it’s incredibly frustrating to see many Bechard got involved in public served on the Board of Resident countless migraines throughout my of the same problems over and policy issues in medical school, Doctors of Canada, including a term career,” she says, “I am excited at the over—problems caused by systemic becoming the vice president of as president. There, she and her societal issues that don’t have Government Affairs of the Canadian colleagues advocated for national easy solutions. 2 Sommer Scholars 2020-2021 Ottawa, Canada 3 A HEALTH SYSTEM FOR ALL The summer after her sophomore year at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Prashasti Bhatnagar experienced severe heart palpitations. Her doctors recommended cardiac monitoring. But following that advice proved challenging. PRASHASTI As an international student from India, she needed to carefully manage her finances to pay for the BHATNAGAR monitoring device and medical care. However, doctor after doctor couldn’t tell her how much her college FROM: New Delhi, India insurance plan would reasonably cover—if anything. DEGREES: BS, Sociology, University of Unsure whether she could afford the expense, Minnesota Twin Cities, 2018 Bhatnagar delayed care, a decision that categorized her as a “difficult patient” in the eyes of her health PURSUING: MPH/JD care providers. “Within two weeks, I went from being a pre-med student with extensive knowledge of medical sciences to another Brown noncompliant patient who didn’t know what was right for her,” she says. Bhatnagar’s experience with health inequity reminded her of her uncle’s story. He lost his battle with muscular dystrophy when she was just a year old, she says, due to a U.S. health care system that didn’t allow heart transplants for non-citizens. Bhatnagar’s and her uncle’s experiences with health care in the U.S—delayed treatment and ultimately death—changed her life plan. “ A ROBUST PUBLIC HEALTH EDUCATION FROM JOHNS HOPKINS WILL SET THE FOUNDATION FOR ME TO BUILD JUST SYSTEMS OF CARE.” Instead of applying to medical school, she decided to enroll in a combined law and public health program at the Bloomberg School and Georgetown Law, and will graduate with an MPH/JD in 2022. “A robust public health education from Johns Hopkins will set the foundation for me,” she says, “to build just systems of care that support historically disenfranchised communities and make health care an affordable and accessible human right for all.” 4 Sommer Scholars 2020-2021 H Street Corridor, Washington, D.C. 5 JEFFREY “ MY PROFESSORS ENCOURAGED ME TO THINK OF EDWARDS LANGUAGE AS THE CAPITAL WITH WHICH PEOPLE FROM: Arlington, Texas EXCHANGE CULTURE. DEGREES: BA, Neurobiology, 2015, ” Harvard College; Medical student, Stanford University School of Medicine, Graduation anticipated 2021 PURSUING: MPH What started as a method of child “My professors encouraged me to Later, at Stanford University oncologist, helping break down BREAKING BARRIERS TO care became a genuine interest in think of language as the capital with School of Medicine, he traveled to barriers to care for his own patients MEDICAL CARE the tenth grade when he shadowed which people exchange culture,” he Sudan to study barriers that prevent and throughout the world. a neurosurgeon colleague of his remembers. “How do you understand patients with rheumatic heart “As a physician, I can have a At age six, Jeffrey Edwards became mother’s. By the time he entered people unless you understand their disease from receiving limited impact based on my patient fascinated with medicine when he Harvard College, he had decided to language?” necessary care to prevent life- census,” he says. “However, would accompany his mother to follow her footsteps into pediatrics. Edwards studied in Kenya threatening complications. this effect can be magnified by her pediatric nurse practitioner Edwards majored in neurobiology, between his junior and senior year, At the Bloomberg School, public health efforts to cause night classes. but also delved into some other developing a culturally relevant early Edwards is studying obstacles systemic change.” interests. In a Swahili class, he fell in childhood development curriculum to medical care, particularly in love with the language and culture of with a local NGO composed of resource-poor populations in the U.S. East Africa. community members with HIV/AIDS. and globally. He hopes to practice as a pediatric hematologist and 6 Sommer Scholars 2020-2021 East Campus, Baltimore, Maryland 7 LAURA HASKINS FROM: Portage, Michigan DEGREES: BS, Health Science, Purdue University, West Lafayette, 2009; BSN, Nursing, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, 2011 PURSUING: MPH/MSN “IF WE WANT TO IMPROVE GLOBAL HEALTH IN A SUSTAINABLE WAY, WE NEED TO INVEST IN NURSES.” Haskins also sought out oncology nursing classes and realized that with more public health to nursing,” she says. “If we want AN INVESTMENT IN NURSES community in the Oncology Nursing collaborating with the local cancer training—in implementation science, to improve global health in a Society, an international organization team on quality improvement program evaluation, and medical sustainable way, we need to invest in When Laura Haskins graduated for cancer nurses. Through the projects at its rural teaching hospital. anthropology—she could better nurses and build them up.” nursing school, she wasn’t sure how Society, she learned about a job that After nine months, she joined a larger serve her nursing colleagues to bring her passions for nursing, seemed a perfect opportunity to cancer center in Rwanda, mentoring and patients. oncology, and global health together. merge her interests: a nurse educator local oncology nurse educators to Haskins is now pursuing a dual But with that goal in mind, she position at a cancer center in Haiti ensure sustainability.

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