The Center for Health and Wellbeing (CHW) at Princeton’s School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) has selected six students as Class of 2023 Health Scholars. All of them will receive financial support for travel and research to pursue internships and senior thesis research that relate to domestic and international health care and health policy.

A small group of juniors is selected for the program annually through a rigorous application process focusing on both academic performance and plans for work and research on health policy issues.

“These students represent Princeton University’s best and brightest scholars in the field of global health,” stated Gilbert Collins, director of global health programs and associate director of CHW.

Scholars are supported for two years, engaging in fully funded health-related internships or independent research during the summer following junior year and then writing senior theses with a health policy dimension. They may also participate in health policy seminars and lectures, broadening their understanding of global health challenges while interacting with distinguished speakers and visitors. 

The Health Scholars initiative is part of CHW’s Global Health Program (GHP), which offers the opportunity for undergraduates to earn a certificate in Global Health and Health Policy while exploring the world’s most pressing health issues through academic study, innovative research, and experiential learning.

Meet the Class of 2023 Health Scholars:

• Nannette Beckley ’23, a SPIA concentrator pursuing a GHP certificate, plans to analyze how various community engagement measures can decrease maternal mortality rates among Black women. Her research will focus on five to ten different initiatives in predominantly Black communities across New Jersey, New York and Pennsylvania.
• Cecilia Kim ’23, a Chemistry concentrator pursuing a GHP certificate, plans to research one of the following topics: (1) increasing access to essential medicines and vaccines for improving child and maternal health in East Asia and the Pacific, or (2) addressing racial disparities in medicine use and access in the United States.
• Reed Leventis ’23, an Ecology & Evolutionary Biology concentrator pursuing a GHP certificate, plans to explore patterns of spillover in Australia, with a focus on farming practices that bring livestock and fruit bats into close contact. His research could prove helpful in preventing new viruses from infecting the human population with zoonotic disease.
• Aliha Mughal ’23, an Anthropology concentrator pursuing a GHP certificate, plans to examine how trauma experienced during the Cambodian genocide and the migration out of Cambodia to communities in the United States has affected Cambodian American health.
• Chloe Searchinger ’23, a SPIA concentrator pursuing a GHP certificate, plans to study the quality of life for children and young adults who have undergone corrective surgery for congenital heart defects in Uganda. She hopes this research will identify sociocultural determinants of health and points of intervention for improving this population’s quality of life.
• Sydnae Taylor ’23, an Anthropology concentrator pursuing a GHP certificate, plans to investigate how intercultural practices of care have or have not been integrated into the formal health care systems through ethnographic research. Her goal is to demonstrate how a holistic approach to care within diverse communities could effect positive change.

The Center for Health and Wellbeing is an interdisciplinary center within SPIA, which seeks to foster research and teaching on the multiple aspects of health and wellbeing in both developed and developing countries.