Public health graduate students earn competitive global internships

• Doctoral student Paul Fleming and master’s student Jennifer Velloza, both studying health behavior and health education, received the prestigious UNC- FHI 360 Fellowship. The yearlong program permits selected students to work with FHI 360’s researchers in global health topics such as HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases, and reproductive, maternal and adolescent health.

• Doctoral student Jennet Arcara and master’s students Alexandra Collins, Florence Masese-Amandi, Taylor Snyder and Arianna Taboada, all studying maternal and child health, received IntraHealth-UNC Summer Fellowships. These students will work directly in programmatic and cross-cutting technical areas with IntraHealth International experts during the summer.
• Maternal and child health doctoral student Angela Parcesepe received the inaugural MEASURE Evaluation Fellowship, a yearlong program of engagement in research activities. MEASURE Evaluation is the United States Agency for International Development’s flagship project for supporting improvements in monitoring and evaluation in population, health and nutrition worldwide.
• Chelly Richards, master’s student in health behavior and health education, will work with Freedom from Hunger and local microfinance institutions in Peru this summer. Richards will support development and integration of services such as health education and health financing with public and private health providers. Richards’ internship is supported by Sheila Leatherman, MSW, research professor of health policy and management, through a Gillings Visiting Professorship.
• Amy Handler, master’s student in maternal and child health, will work with Stop Hunger Now, a Raleigh-based organization that conducts a meal-packaging program to support school feeding efforts around the world. This summer, Handler will conduct formative research on Stop Hunger Now’s programs in a Central American country and support implementation of a monitoring and evaluation pilot system.

Dr. Peggy Bentley

“We appreciate that these opportunities are made available to our students because global internships are few and often difficult to secure,” said Margaret (Peggy) Bentley, PhD, Carla Smith Chamblee Distinguished Professor of Global Nutrition and associate dean for global health at UNC’s public health school. “Mentoring and continuing education provided through these opportunities will prove invaluable hands-on learning experience that will not only expand the students’ research skills, but also will make important contributions to specific research studies.”

Each year, the School’s Office of Global Health works to establish institutional partnerships to identify internship opportunities for students who wish to pursue careers in global health.

For more information about these and other global internship opportunities, please contact the Office of Global Health at ogh@unc.edu or (919) 843-0230.