World AIDS Day 2009

Rushina Cholera, Co-President, is a third year MD/PhD candidate in the department of Epidemiology. After studying public health in South Africa during her undergraduate education, she worked at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases investigating genetic protection against malaria among Malian children. She spent last summer studying antimicrobial resistance patterns at Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe, Malawi, and will eventually pursue a dissertation project in infectious disease epidemiology. Rushina's current aspiration in life is to have a real job in the next decade.

Chris Deery, Co-President, is a second-year MPH student in the Department of Maternal and Child Health. After earning an undergraduate degree in American Studies, he naturally decided to put it to good use and went to Niger, West Africa where he served as a health volunteer with the Peace Corps. Upon return, Chris was hired by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) in its Bureau for Global Health. This afforded him the opportunity to work on international and child health issues while additionally fulfilling a lifelong fantasy of creating the world's largest spreadsheet. Interests: soccer, reggae, hiking, and camel riding.

Liz Greene, Fundraising Chair, is a fird-year MPH student in the Health Behavior and Health Education Department. She has a BA in International Relations and spent a semester abroad in Kenya where she interned with an organization helping to rehabilitate street children. Liz loved Africa so much that she signed up for the Peace Corps so they'd pay her to go back. She spent over two years as a Community Health volunteer in Niger, education rural community members on basic and preventative health topics. During that time she also worked with Plan Niger on a nutrition rehabilitation project. After returning stateside, she was employed by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) in the Office of Population and Reproductive Health. She is now looking forward to raising lots of money for world-saving purposes in her role as Treasurer/Fundraising Chair of the SGHC.

Crister Brady, Narratives of HIV Co-Chair,is an undergraduate senior at UNC majoring in Latin American Studies with a minor in Portuguese. He first became interested in issues of international public health while traveling to Bolivia to work with the Rio Beni Health Project. Crister has since visited the health project in Bolivia four times, both on fundraising journeys with high school students and also interning with the project. He now serves on the Netzer-Brady Foundation's Board, which oversees the project's work. Working in Mozambique for two months in 2005 with a Concern America HIV/AIDS education course exposed Crister to the issues surrounding HIV/AIDS. This interest was furthered during his public health-themed semester with the School for International Training in Brazil in the fall of 2007 and in a course titled Interdisciplinary Perspectives on AIDS offered at UNC. This summer Crister traveled to the Azores Islands and Cape Verde Islands investigating the historial factors leading to the different outcomes in the health of the two island systems.

Matt Avery, Narratives of HIV Co-Chair,is a second-year MPH student in the department of Health Behavior and Health Education. After earning an undergraduate degree in journalism at the University of Florida, he joined the Peace Corps in China on the reasoning that this was preferable to getting an actual job. After working more years than he cares to admit as a teacher of English as a second language, he was hired as a consultant for Family Health International, helping to plan and implement HIV prevention interventions targeting gay Chinese men. This shockingly turned out not to be the shrewd dating strategy he had originally hoped, though it very quickly earned him the nickname Captain Condom. His current aspiration is accordingly to get a cape, as well as through the committee to help widen the resources available at UNC for students interested in the global HIV/AIDS epidemic. 

Anu Manchikanti Gómez, Health and Human Rights Co-Chair,is a fourth year PhD student in Maternal and Child Health. She is passionate about the prevention of violence against women, particularly adolescents, and has conducted research on violence in Colombia, Haiti, Ecuador, Brazil and the United States. During her time at UNC, Anu has conducted global health research at Family Health International and the MEASURE Evaluation project. She spent the past summer in Brazil, struggling to improve her Portuguese and working on her dissertation. (FYI, she is always looking for people to practice Portuguese with!) Anu has been actively involved with the Health and Human Rights Subcommittee for three years and is excited to facilitate a continued dialogue about the intersection of health and human rights.

Erin Pearson, Health and Human Rights Co-Chair, is a first year MPH student in the Department of Maternal and Child Health.  After majoring in the biological basis of behavior (basically neuroscience), Erin left the laboratory for the exciting field of global health.  Erin worked with the Asia Society in China on a project to combat stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS through positive utilization of the arts and media.  Erin has also worked on women's rights issues with Students Partnership Worldwide (SPW) in South India where she focused on intimate partner violence and child marriage.  She continued her work on adolescent reproductive health and child marriage and discovered her passion for research while working at the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW).  Erin is excited about the fantastic speakers that will be participating in the Health and Human Rights series this year!

Miriam Hartmann, Communications Chair, is a second-year MPH student in the Department of Maternal and Child Health. She received her BA in International Studies from UNC and found her way into public health, mostly by chance. She has worked with the Academy for Educational Development (AED) as a Communications and Program Associate in their Global Health, Population, and Nutrition department in Washington D.C. and most recently as an intern for Save the Children in Malawi. Miriam currently works as a Graduate Research Assistant for the MEASURE Evaluation project and hopes to make Southeast Asia her next travel destination!

Jenny Lund, Education Co-Chair, is originally from Edina, MN and a second-year MSPH/PhD student in the Department of Epidemiology. After her undergraduate education in economics and international relations, Jenny worked as an economic consultant in NYC for a variety of health care clients. Through her work experience, Jenny developed an interest in issues related to individual access to health care. This past summer, she was a fellow at the National Cancer Institute where she focused on projects related to the utilization and costs of cancer screening and treatment.

Kat McDougal, Education Co-Chair, is a second year MPH student in the Public Health Leadership Department. Her lifetime goal was to go to veterinary school but as she got involved in mission trips through college that focused on social justice and health concerns in third world countries, she began realizing that the healthcare field provided a better outlet for her "verbalized convictions". She took time off after college and volunteered in a medical clinic in Kenya and in an orphanage and Downs Syndrome school in the Dominican Republic. She spent her summer working with the Instituto de Investigación Nutricional in Lima, Perú on a Responsive Feeding Project and traveling a bit. Her interests include salsa dancing, photography, traveling, being chased by elephants, speaking Spanish, escaping altitude sickness while climbing mountains in Peru, and keeping people from taking life too seriously. Her future plans involve paying off student loans until she dies, contemplating medical school, and working with the migrant farmworker population in NC.

Amber Canto, Service Co-Chair, is a second year MPH/RD candidate in the Nutrition Department. Amber is a Wisconson native and completed her BS in Dietetics with a major in Spanish. Amber spent a summer living and studying in Jarabacoa, Dominican Republic as part of a Public Health Research program, where she studied food habits and customs and the incidence of diabetes and other nutrition related chronic diseases. She loved the Dominican Republic so much she decided to return for a second summer to work as a community development volunteer in Santo Domingo. Amber is excited to share the world of global health with the youth of the Chapel Hill community through the work of the SGHC Service Sub-Committee.

Ali Groves, Service Co-Chair,is a first year doctoral student in Health Behavior and Health Education who has spent a number of years living and working in sub-Saharan Africa on women's reproductive health. She is currently working on a project designed to integrate HIV/AIDS testing into regular antenatal care in Durban, South Africa. Though she loves this project, she retains a soft spot in her heart for the country of Lesotho, where she spent time in her early 20’s teaching English and coaching volleyball at an all girls’ high school. After finishing her Master’s degree in Baltimore, she worked locally, running a Planned Parenthood Clinic in Towson, Maryland. Part of her job included traveling to local high schools to give sex-ed talks to hormonal adolescents. This was so fun she decided to join the Service Committee so she could continue to talk about HIV/AIDS and Global Health with high schools students here in North Carolina.