SPH Snapshot: 2019 Summer Practicums.

Audrey Foxx, right, completed her practicum with the Uganda Village Project in eastern Uganda, where she educated communities to make informed health decisions on water access and sanitation, HIV, malaria, and family planning.

Many households in the Idinda Village lack basic sanitary facilities. Through data collection and analysis, education, and community mobilization, Audrey worked to increase the number of tippy taps (hand-washing facilities) available to families in this village.

Kiki Swanson, center, completed her practicum in Thimphu, Bhutan at Khesar Gyalpo University of Medical Sciences of Bhutan and Jigme Dorji Wangchuk National Referral Hospital. She conducted data analysis and helped advance the implementation of Bhutan’s health referral database.

During her practicum, Kiki traveled to Punakha, Bhutan to visit a Basic Health Unit, which is a health facility that treats minor ailments, assists in deliveries, and works to improve sanitation activities within the community.

Rafik Wahbi, center, completed his practicum at Health Resources in Action, where he worked alongside the Massachusetts Department of Public Health on a funding initiative that will be used to address the root causes of racial and health inequities through policy, systems, and environmental change approaches.

Rafik also designed and taught a hip-hop writing class in the substance use disorder division at the Suffolk County House of Correction (HOC). Across the street from the HOC, used needles lay discarded on the ground, reflecting the ongoing challenges associated with injection drug use among many individuals before and after they are incarcerated.

As a Pulitzer Center Student Fellow, Pallavi Puri spent the summer in India to write an article and develop a multimedia piece on the occupational hazards concerning workers—mostly women and children—who make hand-rolled cigarettes called bidis.

Pallavi traveled to several parts of India, including Karnataka, to meet with bidi rollers and learn about the challenges they experience in an industry that is largely unregulated.

Juliana Jacobski, left, and Jori Fortson, completed their practicum with the CDC's Dr. James A. Ferguson Emerging Infectious Diseases Research Initiatives for Student Enhancement Fellowship Program. Juliana focused on data collection and analysis at the CDC in Atlanta, Ga., while Jori conducted community-based participatory research at The John Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Md.

Juliana tested more than 4,000 human serum samples from Uganda for antibodies reactive with typhus group rickettsiae, to determine nationwide prevalence and identify factors that could lead to an increased risk of exposure and disease development.