My Last Graduate Application Ever!....I really mean it this time....

As some of you may know, Scientist is graduating (God-fucking-willing) with his Ph.D. in Immunology. Essentially this means he's sort of keeping an eye out for jobs in his field. Right now he's looking for stuff in Iowa, but he's also found a postdoctoral position at Emory University in Atlanta.

Now, one of the many reasons why I adore this man is because he's so considerate....and he adores me. When he first started looking for postdocs he said that, upon finding one, the first thing he did was check out to see if said university (postdocs are always with universities) had a college of public health. If not, he wouldn't considerate it and it was taken off his list of possible post doc positions. Isn't that nice? See what I mean about him adoring me?

Anyway, so he found this fabulous post doc at Emory. It's not just any old post doc where he'd spend the majority of his day conducting experiments: this position matches postdoctoral fellows to historically black colleges and allows them to teach hard sciences there. It wouldn't be full time teaching (I think he'd only be teaching 1/3 of the time and the other 2/3s he'd be doing research), but it would be enough so he'd get good experience. Scientist is not wild about spending his life locked up in a lab, killing mice and analyzing results. He's much more interested in teaching--he's got some experience at doing this and, given his disposition, I think he's much more suited for it. I'm in full support of him going after this post doc.

And it also doesn't hurt that Emory has an unbeatable program. Seriously. I know I've said that various schools I've applied to have had great programs, although not all of them have been in public health (remember I applied to Carnegie Mellon--and didn't get in-- along with Marquette--and did get in, but not with a fellowship--for non-profit management), and it's true, but this one....Is fabulous.

The Center for Disease Control--the mecca of all public health organizations--is in Atlanta. Emory does a tremendous amount of HIV/AIDS research. The Global Health program offers students the option to go overseas and conduct a research project. It's in the south!

So, of course, now I'm all excited about applying to this program. Yes, I know, I've already been accepted to the U of I program but, well, I might as well give it a shot. Besides, I doubt I'll get in....although, my stupid fucking math GRE score looks a lot less ugly now that I have a B+ in Biostats to put next on my transcript.....Still, I won't get in. I have to try though.

When I e-mailed a former Peace Corps volunteer at Emory (did I mention they have a Master's International program with PC?) she told me that they would pay close attention to my essay, and, incidentally, that my GRE score was just one tool they would use to measure my 'aptitude'.

So, as dorky as this is, here is my essay. Tell me all what you think (NOTE to those of you who read my Carnegie Mellon essay--it is very similar but not identical, especially the further you read).

Challenges in Healthcare

“Your Russian is excellent, really. You barely have an accent at all,” said the slightly plump, middle aged sex worker. I blushed. I always blush whenever someone compliments my Russian, because it makes me uncomfortable. Secretly, though, I love it.

I was gathering my things after meeting with a group of orphans at Unitus, an NGO located about 3 hours south of the small town in Ukraine where I served for two years as a Peace Corps volunteer, when I met this woman. Up to that point, my day had been spent showing these children pictures of America and answering their questions. By chance, however, I soon found myself in a meeting with a group of sex workers who quickly piqued my interest in the perils they face, specifically the threat of HIV/AIDS. I wasn’t aware at the time that this serendipitous encounter would influence me beyond my service in Ukraine.

That sex worker, like the other nine or ten sex workers that gathered at the center that day, was one of many that Unitus had educated about HIV/AIDS and STDs through their outreach program. My extensive knowledge of Ukrainian culture and Russian also provided me with the opportunity to work with Unitus for about a year and a half, translating a 16 page report from Russian into English, in addition to meeting with the orphans.

My experience with Unitus was beneficial to me on both personal and professional levels. It opened my eyes to the explosive infection rate of HIV/AIDS in Ukraine (both the highest and fastest growth in Europe), along with instilling a personal sense of urgency regarding the prevention and treatment of this disease in the United States and the developing world. My work at Unitus led me to co-chair Peace Corps Ukraine’s HIV/AIDS Working Group committee, which focuses on helping volunteers educate Ukrainians about HIV/AIDS. I served as a liaison between the working group and Peace Corps administration, helping recruit other volunteers to assist with different projects across Ukraine.

The challenges that the healthcare field now faces, both internationally and domestically, are enormous and frightening. How do we prevent further infection? How do we identify those at risk? Where do we choose to allocate resources—to areas within the U.S., or to developing countries with much higher infection rates? My interest in public health lies here--where home and abroad meet-- in educating and designing prevention programs for implementation both overseas and for non-English speaking communities within the U.S.

Both international and domestic communities challenge the public health system in unique ways. Working within immigrant communities in the U.S. is often more complex than working with at risk individuals in communities where English is the predominant native language. As a Peace Corps volunteer, I discovered that working abroad can be both incredibly rewarding and endlessly frustrating. Working around cultural taboos and mores while simultaneously providing accurate, clear information about HIV in a foreign language can seem nearly impossible. Both immigrant and communities overseas often pose additional challenges such as illiteracy and unemployment that impact the design of STD and HIV prevention programs aimed at high risk individuals within those communities.

In addition to creating prevention programs in the U.S. and abroad, government and grass roots organizations must be equipped to deal with more than medical issues to effectively combat the spread of HIV. All too often programs targeting the international community fail to understand cultural responsiveness to issues both directly and peripherally related to HIV/AIDS. This is an understandably complicated task for any NGO, or employee of an NGO, to undertake. As a Peace Corps volunteer, I needed to learn about Ukrainians’ attitudes towards a whole host of issues like drug use, contraception, and homosexuality in order to better understand the spread of HIV in Ukraine. I then used that knowledge to correct common misperceptions about prevention of infection. By implementing programs that strive to understand immigrant communities and their perceptions of issues related to HIV/AIDS, we can better treat those already infected as well as better prevent further spread of the disease.

My education at the Rollins School of Public Health will focus on the study of design and implemention of more effective programs to meet the needs of underserved communities Over the next two years, I hope to strengthen my project management skills in order to be better able to create culturally appropriate prevention programs. While at Emory I plan to expand my knowledge in areas such as needs assessment, reproductive health, and infectious diseases affecting immigrant communities and the developing world. There are also other areas of the public health sector in Atlanta, such as the CDC, where I would like to explore the possibility of assisting in research projects.

One of the most attractive features of the Global Health Program at the Rollins School of Public Health is the overseas experience that students are encouraged to undertake while pursuing their Master of Public Health degree. I believe this experience will benefit me enormously by providing the opportunity to return to Eastern Europe and use the knowledge I have gained at Emory to design and execute an STD and HIV prevention program in a small community. While a Peace Corps volunteer in Ukraine, I had not fully acquired the skills needed to influence the way Ukrainians viewed reproductive health or how to protect themselves from contracting HIV. I view the overseas experience as an opportunity to use the skills I will develop at Emory to make small changes in the attitudes of the people like those who I lived and worked with for two years in Ukraine. After completing my project abroad, I hope to use what I learned to grow as a public health professional as well as give me the opportunity to identify the additional skills I will need to develop in the future.

Completing the Global Health program at the Rollins School of Public Health will provide me with the appropriate tools to make a significant contribution towards solving the immense healthcare problems that international and immigrant communities now face. Ultimately, upon graduating from Emory, I hope to be better equipped with the knowledge, experience and skills to help women like that sex worker, who unknowingly set me on this path towards a career in public health.