Student Named 2020 Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting Fellow.
Master of Public Health student Kayla Hui has been named a 2020 Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting Fellow.
A second-year student studying health communication and promotion, as well as maternal and child health, Hui will use this opportunity to bridge her passion for storytelling, public health, and social justice as she pursues an investigative project this summer on the mental health impact of exploitative and discriminatory labor practices among Chinese immigrant truck drivers in the United States.
“Trucking is a dangerous job, filled with long hours and intense labor,” says Hui, who was inspired to pursue this project by her father, who is Chinese American and a former truck driver. “My father worked long days with no overtime or holiday pay, and no health insurance, which affected his ability to seek health services to manage his depression. I am excited to receive this fellowship and opportunity to amplify the stories and similar experiences of Chinese and Chinese immigrant truck drivers.”
The Pulitzer Fellowship program is part of a long-standing collaboration that the School of Public Health has shared with the College of Communication and the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting through Boston University’s Program for Global Health Storytelling. Pulitzer fellows explore the intersection of journalism and public health while developing a multimedia project on an underreported health crisis. BU students who enroll in the Global Health Storytelling course are eligible for the $5,000 fellowship. This year, Hui was selected along with COM student Sofie Isenberg.
Hui also recently won the Troublemaker Scholarship from The Slants Foundation, a volunteer-driven organization that provides resources, scholarships, and mentorship to Asian Americans who aim to take unconventional approaches to address social issues by incorporating activism into their art. Hui will be able to use the $500 scholarship to support her Pulitzer project.
“I hope my project will push people to have conversations about the intersections of people’s identities and how it impacts their health while empowering and uplifting the voices of Asian communities and communities of color,” says Hui.
An avid visual journalist, Hui has also amplified the voices of marginalized groups through her photography. Last fall, she created a 400 Years of Inequality photo series, which captured the identities of people of color in Boston, and shared personal stories to highlight racial injustice in America and beyond. She also participated in a week-long Instagram Takeover of the SPH Instagram account with MPH student Grace Robbins last summer to document her practicum experience conducting qualitative research on the dietary beliefs and practices of Indigenous lactating women in Guatemala.
Hui currently serves as the communications coordinator for the SPH Students of Color for Public Health organization, and is also the health communications program assistant for BU’s Wellness and Prevention Services. After graduation, she plans to pursue a career in health communications, consulting, or as an analyst, where she can continue to highlight how the social determinants of health impact the wellbeing of populations.