A Window Into Another World: Student Blogs Offer Insight On Culture, Challenges And Public HealthHave you ever snorkeled in Indonesia, eaten Korean food in India or ran off the side of a cliff to hand glide over Rio de Janeiro? All this while conducting research for HIV/AIDS in Bali, fighting bureaucracy from Chennai, or working as a research assistant at a University in Chile.
This summer Theodore Hufstader, Dan Goldman and Ryan Chopra, all students at the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health, are doing just that. And the best part about it all – they’re letting us in on their journeys.
Through a new blogging site (http://www.uic.edu/sph/students_blogging) that began this summer at UIC SPH, you can follow the three students abroad as they discover the challenges of working for improved public health in unfamiliar surroundings and reveal the joys of their personal experiences.
Adrienne Dellinger, UIC SPH alumna and academic coordinator for the school said the blog, which has received over 100 hits since it was established in June, helps keep everyone in touch with the important global research UIC SPH students undertake.
“The blogs allow the students to share an invaluable piece of their education with fellow students and the public health community. They provide insight into both the personal and academic experiences inherent with engaging in public health abroad. This allows others to understand the variety of public health issues affecting people and environments across the globe,” Dellinger said.
Hufstader and Goldman are Master of Public Health candidates in health policy and administration, and Chopra is working on his PhD in epidemiology and biostatistics. The three share information on corners of the world few of us will ever get to see.
In Lombok, Indonesia, Goldman is teaching female sex workers about HIV/AIDS prevention and helping to educate those living with the disease. Chopra is working at a hospital in Chennai, India to improve laboratory capacity and investigate several parasites within the region, and Hufstader is in Santiago, Chile, analyzing existing data related to the stigmas, perceptions and beliefs surrounding HIV/AIDS among Chilean men.
Hufstader perhaps sums up the blogging project best when he writes, “The UIC School of Public Health created this blog as a way to connect students’ work abroad with the campus community in Chicago. As I am new to blogging, please bear with me as I try to paint for you, the reader, my global public health experiences as not only a graduate student learning the ropes in research, but as someone taking his first steps in a new place, space and culture.”
While in Chile, Hufstader is working as a research assistant at La Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in the School of Nursing. Together with Lilian Furner, UIC SPH alumna and principal investigator on a project called Mano a Mano (Hand in Hand), they explore “how ideas of masculinity are formed; how they are produced and acted upon; and how they affect the sexual behaviors of men and their perceptions of HIV/AIDS,” Hufstader said.
“It is a multi-faceted project with a diverse population sample (men, women and health workers). I am working on the research that focuses on an intervention tailored to Chilean men,” he added.
Hufstader admits learning numerous lessons in public health practice apart from his research focus, particularly because when he arrived in May, there was an outbreak of flu porcino, or pig flu.
“Actually, with such high numbers of people reporting to medical centers, the Ministry of Health made an announcement a couple of nights ago on the evening news asking for any health personnel . . . to come in and help relieve the ever-growing burden of patients,” he wrote. “Here in the office, my co-workers are saying that it is a truly historic time to be in Chile and working in health, because the health system has never experienced something of this magnitude.”
Though his work with HIV/AIDS patients is of great importance, Hufstader’s blog is not all serious.
“I found a pair of running shoes!” he wrote. “Seriously though, I am a giant in South America and was lucky to find anything. I celebrated my new shoes by taking a run up El Cerro San Cristobal, which is located on the Northern side of Santiago. I would describe its size as maybe… a foothill to the Andes Mountains? A bluff? Not as tall as climbing 3000m mountain, but much larger than a hill. The run had some amazing inclines, and because the path wraps around el cerro, you get incredible 360 degree views of Santiago and the Andes.”
Amidst his work finalizing patient questionnaires and meeting with medical practitioners to improve laboratory capacity and investigate the epidemiology of several enteric parasites within the region, Chopra, too, writes lightheartedly about his experiences with India’s cuisine and culture.
“I’ve probably tried nearly every Korean restaurant in Chicago, and none of them really compare to the food here. For 300 rupees (about $6) you get an outstanding assortment of (unlimited) side dishes, and the entrees are typically big enough for two people to share,” he wrote.
From Indonesia, Goldman’s excerpts may even help those considering public health studies, as he reveals personal thoughts on his future.
“I still love what I am doing, and wake up excited to go to work every day,” he wrote. “I only hope I have this feeling when I actually start my career. I continue to be exposed to new issues, ideas and faces every day. I honestly thought that I knew everything there was to know about HIV and AIDS before coming here. How naïve I was. Whether it’s talking to current sex workers or making home visits to people living with HIV/AIDS, there is always a good chance I’ll learn something new.”
And so will his readers.
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