1. What is your field of interest, and can you explain your Fulbright project?
As a public health practitioner, with training in global health and the social behavioral determinants of health, my broad interests are in community empowerment and health equity. For the past 20 years, I have also focused on adolescent risk and protective behaviors associated with interpersonal violence and teen dating relationships.
During my sabbatical year in 2008 I received a Fulbright-Pai Fellowship to travel to India as a visiting scholar within the Department of Community Medicine at Manipal University, now known as Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE). MAHE is a highly regarded private university in southwest India with a well-established medical college and hospital. I shared an office with other Community Medicine faculty and, from day one, was welcomed and treated like a valued member of the department.
My responsibilities included: providing lectures to students on public health in the USA, i.e., how it is structured and practiced/its successes and challenges; facilitating discussions with faculty and administrative leadership on how to more fully/formally integrate public health into the academic curricula; co-mentoring students; participating in university and local conferences; and immersing myself in the culture and community at MAHE. I was also able to explore research ideas around healthy and harmful dating relationship dynamics during my sabbatical.
2. What was the most rewarding aspect of being a Fulbright Scholar?
My life, both personally and professionally, has been forever changed as a result of the enriching and immersive educational and cultural experiences I had while being a Fulbright-Pai Fellow at MAHE.
The transformation is based more on the cumulative exposures and experiences rather than by a singular event. It is always edifying to extricate oneself from one’s cultural milieu (both civically and professionally) and explore it afresh from a more distant vantage point, through the lens of another culture or even as an expatriate. Thanks to the Fulbright program I have a greater appreciation for the freedoms that are my birthright, as an American citizen, and deeper appreciation of the strengths, as well as the shortcomings, of the U.S. public health system (my professional sphere). Professionally, I believe my pedagogy, research and writing have been enhanced and inspired by my experiences and insights in India. My ability to more (dis)passionately and objectively critique various systems of public health, discuss the relationships between development, freedom and social justice are more finely tuned.
Having completed my Fulbright Fellowship, I feel more strongly than ever that it is my civic and moral responsibility to be an ambassador of goodwill for my country; to strive to be the best I can be, to uphold the principles for which my country was founded. I feel a renewed commitment to work for tolerance, peace and social justice. The Fulbright program has catalyzed this spark and India has burnished the inward light that will continue to inspire me. My interactions with faculty and students at MAHE undoubtedly broadened my understanding of the public health issues that affect our global community. I returned as a more insightful and sensitive teacher/mentor/researcher as a result of my Fulbright experiences. And, I went on to develop ongoing collaborations. I also published an important article with colleagues at MAHE on merging public health case studies of community based service learning practices from India and the U.S. It was semi-titled “Borrowing from the East to strengthen the West.” I cannot sufficiently express how grateful I am for the Fulbright opportunity- it has forever enriched my life! Of note, in 2009 MAHE created a Department of Public Health and then launched its very own Prasanna School of Public Health in 2017.
3. What inspired you to start this process of becoming a Fulbright Scholar? Have you always been interested in international research?
I am consciously and ethically committed to engaging in global public health efforts. I have been fortunate to have had numerous opportunities to live and work outside the continental USA while both pursuing my graduate studies, participating in global health initiatives, and conducting research.
My MPH degree was in International Health from the University of Hawaii and I traveled to Bali, Indonesia to collect data for my thesis, which was on the integration of nutrition education into the primary health care program in Bali. Post-graduation, I also lived in Grenada, West Indies where I was employed by the Grenada Food and Nutrition Council and participated in numerous educational, community-based and research endeavors to build upon the assets and strengths of local communities in efforts to enhance their health and well-being. These illuminating experiences well-positioned me to explore a Fulbright Scholarship as my sabbatical year was approaching at UMD.
4. What was the most surprising thing you discovered during your Fulbright experience?
The openness and graciousness of everyone I encountered while in India was heartwarming and much more than I expected. Regardless of where I went, whether it be in rural communities or urban housing developments, people would openly express warm wishes, offer hospitality and extend authentic kindness in ways that touched me profoundly. There was so much generosity of spirit and graciousness in offering me a meal, a place to sit, opportunities to engage in conversation and cultural events, invitations to visit people’s homes or travel with them to sacred pilgrimage sites.
What also surprised and inspired me, continuously, was the extent of the campus-community partnerships and commitment by MAHE to collaborate with surrounding villages and urban communities to establish programs to enhance the health and well-being of its members.
It was amazing to see the extent to which community-centric efforts were a foundational component of the primary healthcare infrastructure in India. An example is the creation of various categories of community health workers (CHW), such as Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHAs), Auxiliary nurse midwives (ANMs), and Anganwadi or rural childcare Workers (AWWs). These trusted frontline health workers live within their communities and are trained and employed as part of the public health infrastructure to ensure acceptance of public health and community medicine programs/services. I truly believe the USA would benefit greatly from many of these structural and programmatic endeavors.
5. How have you carried forward your experience overseas now that you've returned home?
When I returned to UMD, I was so determined to expose students to the insights and enriching experiences I gained while in India that I developed a winter study abroad program. This program: "East Meets West: Contrasting Public Health Priorities, Pragmatics and Polemics in the U.S. and India" has become a yearly tradition, beginning with its inception in 2010. In doing so, I will effectively "pay it forward" and facilitate the gift of India to my students.
The course I created is designed for students who are interested in public health in a global context, and exposes them to policy and programmatic frameworks for the delivery of public health services in both the USA and India. Class discussions and daily field trips, facilitated by professors and practitioners in India, explore the organization and practice of public health in India. Students explore global public health and its complexities through a combination of in-class instruction, lively discussion with MAHE students and faculty, and field trips to community-based programs. Students visit, and are guided by community leaders, to schools, villages, Ayurvedic and Allopathic clinics/hospitals, worksites and community settings where public health is practiced, including a pre-school, water treatment plant, dairy pasteurization cooperative. This program is primarily based in Manipal, but excursions and site visits are made to Udupi, Malpe, Karkala and Mangalore in Karnataka State and Munnar, Fort Cochin, Ernakulam and Alleppey in the state of Kerala. Cultural activities are embedded in the experience including a formal Indian cooking class, overnight on a traditional Kerala houseboat and viewing of Indian dance performances.
In addition, at UMD, I participated in a research effort led by Dr. Dina Borzekowsi to assess the impact of Galli Galli Sim Sim (the Indian version of Sesame Street) on the literacy, numeracy, health and socioemotional development of preschool children in India. My participation on the team was largely based on my familiarity with Indian culture, along with qualitative methodology expertise.
6. For other Terps that are interested in becoming Fulbright Scholars in the future, what advice do you have for them?
The Fulbright Scholars program provides an unparalleled opportunity for students to immerse themselves in another cultural context, participate in programs–both academic and community based–and immeasurably expand their cultural humility and appreciation for the richness of our global community. I encourage any interested student to be strategic, persistent, productive in reaching out for information, advice, mentoring and assistance in all phases of the application process. In the early stages of considering a Fulbright, it is also important for students to spend critical time authentically appraising their interests/intentions, strengths and assets, what they hope to gain, how they hope to contribute to the global community and how the Fulbright experience fits in with their career plans.
7. How and why did you choose your partner institution?
Practicalities are always of consideration when planning future endeavors. Factors that went into my decision-making regarding where to apply for a Fulbright included the length of stay, the discipline in which I would be affiliated, and the ability to teach and engage without formal training in a language I had limited competency.
As a parent, with one child still in high school and a husband with a demanding private medical practice, it was essential that I identify an overseas opportunity that was no longer than six month’s duration. Also, given that I was interested in traveling somewhere in southeast Asia it would be necessary that English was spoken, or an interpreter readily available. Finally, I was committed to finding an opportunity within the field of public health. The Fulbright-Pai Visiting Scholar Fellowship at MAHE met all these criteria. The Fulbright listing for MAHE had a specific focus on public health, was for 4 to 6 months, and English was the language in which teaching was conducted. During my application process, I had the good fortune of meeting the registrar of MAHE, Dr. Vinod Bhat, who had traveled to Washington, D.C. for work. Over lunch we discussed the Fulbright Fellowship–both MAHE’s needs and my desires–and our relationship began to build immediately. The registrar reinforced that my Fulbright would complement the strategic plans at MAHE to further expand public health training, allow me to pursue some of my research interests, expand my cultural sensitivity and competence while immersing myself in the local community.
Importantly, I wanted an immersion experience where I would be learning and living in a local Indian community as much as I would be sharing my expertise and culture while abroad. From the first day that I arrived at my host institution, MAHE, I engaged in local cultural customs and this was greatly appreciated and valued by my academic peers and all community members that I interacted with. This was foundational to the richness of my experience, and enhanced my understanding and capacity to collaborate in this new cultural context. This sensitivity is an ongoing skill set that I have been developing over time, while studying, working and living overseas in Grenada, West Indies, Bali, Indonesia, and even while at the University of Hawaii for my graduate MPH.
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