CGH Senior seminar

Few of us have ever experienced a year quite so uncertain and strange as the last one. About a year ago, the US and much of the rest of the world "went on lockdown" as a result of the expanding COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, here at Macalester we have adapted to the new ways of living and learning during the pandemic, and that includes students in our Community and Global Health (CGH) concentration.

This year's group of graduating CGH seniors were interested in issues of public health, health equity, and social justice long before the pandemic. Some of the projects are more directly related to the COVID pandemic, like Aidan Keefe's work in COVID testing in Rockford, Illinois, or Giselle Cohen's research project on epidemic modeling. Many students worked to address problems of hunger and food access that have been exacerbated by the pandemic, including Gabriel Berman through his work at Meals on Wheels in Berkeley, California; Camille King, at Open Arms, a nonprofit that delivers meal to critically ill Minneapolis residents; and Aubrey Hagen, who conducted an honors thesis project on food justice in the Twin Cities.

Notably, several of our seniors took advantage of Macalester's vibrant urban location to do internships with organizations focused on community-based health promotion (Maya Hajny Fernandez, Community Health Improvement Partnership; Nora Lewis, Neighborhood Healthsource), hospice care (Anna Kleven, Accentcare-Fairview Hospice), environmental health (Rachel McCaffery, Twin Cities Clean Cities Coalition), and public health research (Jamie Thompson, Global Health Scholars Internship at the University of Minnesota).

CGH students have also had an international impact. Both Elijah Levy (Medshare) and Jane Servin (Imaging the World) worked to improve access to life-saving medical equipment and supplies in low-income countries. And though the COVID pandemic put a damper on many study abroad plans, some of our seniors were able to complete internships or research projects as part of their study away experiences in Jordan (Aliya Mahmoud), Chile (Finn Odum), and Thailand (Veronica Vasquez).

Other CGH concentrators remind us that public health is wide-ranging and includes issues of child development (Emelie Beattie, The Island Lab in New York), mental health (Nita Senesathith, Columbia-WHO Center for Global Mental Health), and neurogenerative disease (Tenzin Dothar, who worked at a lab in Copenhagen, Denmark). Others fight passionately to protect access to contraception, abortion, and sexual/reproductive health services, by helping organizations like Planned Parenthood Minnesota Action Fund (Leah Dreyfus) and Just the Pill (Isabel Meyer-Mueller).

All in all, our graduating CGH seniors have a lot to be proud of, and I know they will continue to make a difference in the world after Macalester.

Sincerely,

Eric D. Carter, Director, Community and Global Health Concentration

Associate Professor, Geography Department, Macalester College

March 10, 2021