Alumni Directory Display

Colleen is a double alumna of George Washington University’s Milken Institute School of Public Health, where she graduated with an MPH in Community-Oriented Primary Care in 2019.  During her undergraduate years, she volunteered at Children’s National Medical Center as a social services advocate for families. Colleen spent time in Kenya in 2016 studying urbanization, health, and human rights, and completed a research project there on the management of HIV and tuberculosis. As a graduate student, she worked in staff training and development for GW Campus Recreation, where she was responsible for the hiring and training of over 100 student employees. Colleen also worked with GW’s Honey W. Nashman Center for Civic Engagement and Public Service as the Program Coordinator for Civic House, a first-year living learning program for students interested in getting involved in the DC community. As a registered EMT, Colleen volunteered over 500 hours on an ambulance for a local fire department, and regularly taught community CPR classes in Maryland. Colleen was the recipient of the Academic Excellence in Public Health award in 2017, as well as the Nashman Prize for Community-Based Participatory Research in 2019 for her study on knowledge and perceptions of youth sports-related concussions in a local non-profit. She is excited about returning to Africa and continuing her commitment to public health as the Integrated Primary Care Support Fellow for Integrate Health in Kara, Togo!

Anchal graduated from Princeton in 2016 with a B.A. in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, and a Global Health and Health Policy certificate. Her interests in the health of people, animals, and the environment were fueled by her first visit to the Mpala Research Centre in 2014, where she worked on a Nature Conservancy-funded rangeland rehabilitation and animal health project. She spent half of 2015 at Smithsonian field stations in Panama, conducting independent research on tropical ecosystems. This led up to her senior thesis, which examined the microenvironmental factors determining the distribution of an insect vector of Chagas disease. As an intern at the Indian Institute of Health Management, she researched the long-term sustainability of Human Milk Banks in Rajasthan and helped conduct community surveys to assess the impact of nutritional interventions. At Princeton, she was an editor for the Public Health Review, worked with university administration to improve mental health policies through the Mental Health Initiative, and proposed and led a civic engagement trip through Princeton’s alternative break program. Anchal looks forward to working at the intersections of science, conservation practice and outreach at Mpala this year, and to learning more about the savanna ecosystem, its wildlife and its people.

A recent graduate from New York University Abu Dhabi with a major in economics and a concentration in finance, Gaurav aspires to use his education and internship experience in the private sector to find data-driven solutions to empower communities in the developing regions of the world. His prior professional experiences include business strategy and research roles at Emaar Properties (Real Estate), Integra Ledger (Blockchain) and Mukta Arts Limited (Entertainment). He has academic and professional experiences in several countries including the USA, Spain, Tanzania, the UAE, India, and Nepal. Passionate about diversity and inclusion, Gaurav is very curious about other cultures and wants to meaningfully travel the entire world while responsibly engaging with local communities. Apart from impact work, Gaurav writes songs, plays the guitar, and makes travel videos on YouTube.

Alumni Update:

Joaquin currently works for the New Zealand government’s export promotion and business development agency, accelerating New Zealand exporters’ journey to bigger, better, faster growth in international markets.

Fellow Bio:

Joaquín is a recent graduate from Georgetown University where he majored in Finance and International Business. His career path and interest for both business and international development have led him to varied professional experiences, from interning at Google helping content creators monetize their websites and apps to spending a summer in Nicaragua optimizing donor data strategies for an education nonprofit. Most recently, he worked at Citibank’s Government Affairs team at the intersection of public policy, financial inclusion and financial technology regulation in Latin America. While at Georgetown, he actively led the Georgetown Global Consulting student organization providing pro-bono consulting services to microfinance institutions and NGOs across the globe. Joaquin will earn a MicroMasters certificate in Data, Economics and Development Policy from MITx before embarking on his PiAf fellowship year with the West African Rice Company (WARC) social enterprise as a Junior Consultant in Freetown, Sierra Leone. Joaquín is originally from Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Ahyeong graduated from Messiah College with a BA in Sociology and Anthropology and minor in Psychology. Her passion for diversity steadily grew as she became exposed to different cultures at an early age. As an international student, she dedicated herself to bringing diversity to the campus through various involvements. As a research assistant at the Office of Institutional Research, she conducted an independent research project regarding prospective international students’ recruitment process in efforts to increase the total international student enrollment. During her academic career, she pursued various cross-cultural experiences. In Ecuador, she participated in the Street Children Project, assisting children with the development of academic and social skills, building nutrition and hygiene awareness, as well as learning English. In Rwanda, she participated both in an internship and independent research project related to child malnutrition and the role of agriculture in rural nutrition. In Fiji, as a field researcher, she explored the sociological impact of clean water and focused on sustainability efforts to maintaining clean water systems. Ahyeong is grateful for the opportunity to work with Nyaka AIDS Orphans Project as a Monitoring and Evaluation Fellow and looks forward to being part of the Nyakagyezi community.

Faith originally was born in Korea and grew up in Northern Virginia. She graduated from Dickinson College with her interdisciplinary self-developed major in Global Health in 2016. Faith is passionate about intersectionality between public health and international development. During her time at Dickinson, she explored her academic interest in public health through field research and research assistantships domestically and internationally from Pennsylvania to Japan. She studied abroad in Yaoundé, Cameroon and lived with a Francophone family. In Cameroon, she conducted two field research projects in maternal health, exploring the attitudes, knowledge, and perception on family planning and contraception among Cameroonian women in urban and rural areas. As a service trip leader, she went back to Cameroon in January 2016, working closely with local elementary schools. She is looking forward to exploring a different region of Africa and immersing herself in South African culture. She plans to get her master’s degree in public health after working a few years with public health organizations.

Alumni Update:

Christiana is currently a first-year Ph.D. student in the Political Science department at Stanford University, where she studies identity formation and public goods provision with a focus on the Global South.

Fellow Bio:

Christiana is a Woodrow Wilson School major from San Antonio, Texas. At Princeton, she was a writer and blogger for American Foreign Policy magazine, an Outdoor Action leader, and a member of Terrace Club. She earned a certificate in Near Eastern Studies, and studied Arabic for four years. During her time at Princeton, Christiana worked at Human Rights First in New York City, and studied abroad in Egypt, Turkey, and Jordan. In Rwanda, Christiana looks forward to learning Kinyarwandan (and possibly French), meeting new friends, and traveling a bit throughout the region.

Fellow Bio:

Becca Pass ‘02 joins PiAf as the program officer nutrition for the United Nations World Food Programme in Dakar, Senegal. Her background is in environmental health and international affairs and she is particularly interested in the intersection between the health of humans and the health of the environment. She is currently awaiting publication of an environmental health chapter that she co-authored in a maternal and child health textbook. At Princeton, Becca earned a degree in English and a certificate in American Studies and spent a semester abroad at University College, London. She was a founding member of the university’s triathlon club, belonged to the Cap and Gown Club, and enjoyed coaching soccer for elementary school children in Trenton. After graduation, Becca spent a summer at an intensive language program in France before beginning a Project 55 fellowship in Harlem. At the Urban Education Exchange, she wrote curriculum materials for 3rd-5th graders and helped create marketing materials for the rapidly growing organization. The experience led her to health care consulting at Computer Science Corporation’s Global Health Solutions, where she worked on management consulting and software implementation projects with hospitals, medical centers, and medical schools across the country. After 2 years, Becca left CSC to finish her premedical requirements while earning her Emergency Medical Technician license and working in a genetics lab. She spent last year at Columbia University pursuing her MPA in environmental science and policy from the School of International and Public Affairs.

Aly graduated with a BA in Peace and Conflict Studies and Psychology. She studied abroad in Rwanda and Uganda through SIT’s Post-Genocide Restoration and Peacebuilding Program. To culminate the semester, Aly conducted an independent study project on trans-generational memory and the process of post-genocide storytelling in Rwanda.  Her theses for both Peace and Conflict Studies and Psychology tied back to her research and experience in Rwanda, analyzing collective memory and the psychology of evil, respectively. After graduating from Swarthmore, she interned at the African Community Center of Denver, where she worked on the community outreach team and with students in the Colorado Youth Refugee Scholarship Program. She then served a year as an AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer at the Meskwaki Food Sovereignty Initiative (MFSI) in Iowa. As the Food and Culture Education Coordinator, she focused on capacity building, developing curriculums and workshops, working in the community gardens, and ensuring that MFSI’s projects respect, preserve, and rebuild the tribe’s traditional beliefs and practices. In her free time, Aly loves playing soccer and hiking and is looking forward to exploring the national parks in the region.