welcome to the Truman Global Health group

[Brett Keller]

Hi folks,

Google Groups tells me about 11 of us have joined this list so far, so I thought it'd be nice for us to introduce ourselves to get the discussion going.

I'm Brett Keller, an '07 Truman from Arkansas. I wrote my policy proposal on USAID evaluation policy so have been interested in global health since college. I worked in DC for a bit after graduating and had a hard time breaking into my field of interest, so I decided to go to grad school and 'tech up' a bit. This spring I'm finishing an MSPH (epidemiology focus) at Johns Hopkins and an MPA (economics focus) at Princeton, and along the way I spent 8 months in Ethiopia interning with JSI. 

Starting in June I'll be working with CHAI's Applied Analytics Team, using miscellaneous quantitative methods to help their country offices out on evaluation and research projects. I'll be bouncing around much of sub-Saharan Africa, so let me know where you're based? Cheers,

Brett

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Brett Keller

MPA candidate in Economics and Public Policy, Princeton University Woodrow Wilson School 

MSPH candidate in Global Disease Epidemiology and Control, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health
blog | twitter | (609) 356-4146

[Marguerite Thorp Basilico]

Hello all!  Nice to "meet" you, Brett - congrats on the position with CHAI. If you ever get to Malawi, let me know - the country director there, Thomas Kisimbi, is one of the best bosses I've ever had, and an amazing force for good in national health policy.

My name is Marguerite (Thorp) Basilico, '10 Truman from Colorado, and I'm currently a first year medical student at Harvard. I, too, wrote a global health policy proposal, on using PEPFAR funds to identify and treat malnourished kids in target countries - a policy I might actually reject now that PEPFAR funding is being slowly eroded, for what it's worth, but it seemed worthwhile in times of plenty. It was born out of my time in Malawi with CHAI and Partners In Health, and I went on to write my senior thesis on community organizing, NGOs, and the idea of a "right to health" in rural Malawi. In between college and medical school, I worked for a student AIDS advocacy group and in Harvard's Department of Global Health & Social Medicine. I'm headed back to Malawi this summer to take a look at their new PMTCT policy and the political environment that enabled the change, and hope to continue during my time in school to push the US government to fund health equity at higher levels and with less waste.

I'd love to hear more about the other folks that joined the list! My inbox has no shortage of listserv traffic, but this is one I'm particularly excited about.

Best wishes,
Marguerite

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Marguerite Thorp Basilico
mtbas...@gmail.com
303-718-4117

Join us on Friday, June 14th, 6 PM - NYC

2013 Health GAP Global Health Justice Awards

Honoring Rob Weissman, Laura Whitehorn and Ruth Messinger

For more info, go to www.healthgap.org

[Zak Kaufman]

Hi all,

Greetings from London! 

I'm Zak Kaufman ('07 Truman), currently in the last year of a PhD in Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, where I did an MSc in Epi two years back. Prior to coming to London, I oversaw Research/M&E for Grassroot Soccer's HIV prevention program for two years (based out of Cape Town but supporting sites in Zam, Zim, Malawi, and across SA). I'm currently running two large cluster-randomised trials to assess the effectiveness of Grassroot Soccer programs in South Africa and Zimbabwe. In 2010, I started Vera Solutions, a consulting team that builds cloud and mobile data systems for nonprofits and social enterprises working in health, education, and development - helping organizations better track their services/beneficiaries and streamline their processes (our systems save orgs like EJAF and PSI Mozambique hundreds of person-hours per year). Vera has grown quickly with zero investment - we now have 15 staff between Nairobi, Mumbai, and London and have built systems for 72 organizations, including PATH, The Global Fund, IPA, and Oxfam. We'll be hiring a new group of Fellows soon - I'd love your help in getting the word out!

Drop me a note if you're ever coming through London.

Best,

Zak

ps Brett, long time! Thanks for kicking this off. Marguerite, great to be in touch - send my greetings to your husband! (he and I met at Truman interviews way back when, but I don't think I've seen him since like 2008)

[Brett Keller]

Marguerite -- I may well end up doing some work in Malawi; if so will let you know!

And hey Zak (for everyone else, Zak and I were Summer Institute roommates)! Please do pass along the fellows job description when you've got it. 

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[Marguerite Thorp Basilico]

I'll definitely say hello from you, Zak! Matt is in the depths of an MD-PhD in economics at Harvard - he's taking the econ qualifying exams on Saturday. I'm sure he'll be happy to hear from you. You guys must also know Luke Messac, a fellow '07 Truman, who had been Matt's college roommate and is now in his own MD-PhD in history at Penn (I checked to see he's not on this listserv - maybe I'll ask him to join!). Nice to keep the Truman/global health world small :)

[Zak Kaufman]

For sure. Luke bailed on us at SI, though, to work on the Obama Campaign (understandable). Get him on the listserv!

[Daniel Gastfriend]

Hi all,

I'm Daniel Gastfriend (MA '12), and I'm about to graduate from the undergraduate Woodrow Wilson School program at Princeton. I'll be interning at the inspection panel at the World Bank in D.C. for SI this summer. I'm broadly interested in global development, and I'm most interested in social entrepreneurship, private sector development, and job creation in developing countries as tools for poverty reduction, but I'm also very interested in global health. I'd love it if people used this listserv to discuss topics in international development beyond health.

I'll be working with IDinsight in Uganda starting in the Fall, an organization that combines development consulting with program evaluation and RCT approaches. We'll be working with the Ministry of Health on various treatment programs. If any of you have experience in Kampala, I'd love any advice or reflections you have.

Best,

Daniel

P.S. Hi Marguerite! 

Daniel Gastfriend

Princeton University, Class of 2013

Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs

dgast...@gmail.com

dgas...@princeton.edu

617-840-4407

[Marguerite Thorp Basilico]

Hey Daniel! Whoa, you and Matt will both be at the World Bank this summer!! He'll be really happy to hear that. Maybe you can help keep him from getting sepsis this time around.... :)

[Danielle Bäck]

Hi everyone,

So nice to meet you all! My name is Danielle Bäck and I'm a 2011 Truman from Arizona. This past year, I've been working at St. Joseph's Clinic in Haiti's Central Plateau, overseeing the clinic's public health programs (community health worker, traditional birth assistant training, cholera response, etc) and helping with the management of the organization. I'm also an incoming MS1 at Harvard Medical School, where I hope to become more involved in community solidarity movements, public policy, and international health.

My public policy proposal examined the effects of U.S. foreign policy in Israel-Palestine on public health in the region, and I'm particularly interested in the intersection of medicine, human rights, and public policy!

Looking forward to hearing more from this listserv! 

Best wishes,
Danielle

Danielle Bäck

Global Health Fellow | 2012-2013
St. Joseph's Clinic | Thomassique, Haiti