Learning More about my Future in Global Health

Global Health Forum

April 19, 2017

Responding To: Georgetown Reflects on CUGH 2017: "Healthy People, Healthy Ecosystems: Implementation, Leadership, and Sustainability in Global Health"

Learning More about my Future in Global Health

Jacqueline Kimmell

From Friday, April 7 through Sunday, April 9, I was able to attend the Colloquium of Universities for Global Health Conference in Washington, D.C. As a senior graduating from Georgetown with a degree focused in global health (I’m a science, technology, and international [STIA] affairs major in the Walsh School of Foreign Service, concentrated in biotechnology and global health), this conference was incredibly helpful for me to think about what future paths I might want to take in the field and what degrees I might want to pursue. One of the most valuable aspects for me career-wise was to be able to speak with the deans and/or admission representatives from the top graduate programs in global heath (at Stanford, Harvard, Duke, and others) and distinguish the differences in their programs. As a STIA major, I feel like I’ve been able to take a variety of coursework in a wide array of fields related to global health, and this experience has made me much more thoughtful about what approach to global health might work best for me (ex. more clinical, more international affairs-focused, or more based on fieldwork).

The panels were also generally quite interesting. While some of panels based on a broad theme—for instance, humanitarianism in global health—tended to be a bit too theoretical for my taste, most of the more focused panels were fascinating. In particular, I loved the panel on the Global Virome Project. This project is focused at identifying and sequencing every viral threat in the world which might be able to infect humans though zoonosis. They believe this might be possible within the next 10 years. I loved this panel because the idea is so innovative and could have such an amazing impact on reducing pandemic threat, but also because the speakers were so obviously passionate about their work. The moderator introduced each panelist with a long list of their incredible achievements, as well as with an embarrassing fact about them which created a jovial environment hard to accomplish when discussing pandemic threats.

I also greatly enjoyed a panel focused on how to achieve success as a woman in global health. The panelists pointed that, despite the fact that women vastly outnumber men in getting advanced degrees in global health, most of the leadership roles in the field are held by men. This situation is obviously reflective of a great many sectors in the United States, but is even more dire in global health. While disparity is often discussed, I haven’t heard many tangible steps about how to improve it. This panel was able to present these steps. The panelists noted the importance of getting female mentors as a young woman, how to hold your ground in meetings, and why you need to nominate yourself for awards and achievements. Beyond these surprisingly concrete steps, I was also just impressed by the panelists who were so well-spoken and successful and have achieved so much while also juggling children and families. These women, and the whole conference, were a great comfort to me as I enter the post-Georgetown world armed with an undergraduate degree in global health. It seems like there are great jobs to do and important work to be done.

Jacqueline Kimmell (SFS'17) is an undergraduate studying science and technology in international affairs in the Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown.