Lamar Johnson is currently a fourth year medical student at Meharry Medical College in Nashville, TN. His career interests include completing residency in Internal   Medicine/Pediatrics and possibly a fellowship in Adolescent Medicine. His father was in the air force and he moved around a lot as a child, but he calls San Antonio, TX home. He graduated from Howard University in Washington, DC with a BS in Biology.   He’s always been deeply invested in helping those who need it most, and the field of global health allows him to do this while also feeding his hunger to travel and learn about different cultures. He will be volunteering at a clinic in Roatán, Honduras called Clínica Esperanza. He loves working with children of all ages, so in addition to providing medical care with the clinic, he will also be visiting schools in the area to perform eye exams and do vision screenings. Ultimately, his goal is to have a career that incorporates providing primary care, teaching medical students, and traveling abroad at least once every year to continue to serve underserved populations.

Johan Zulkarnain Kasim completed the Graduate Program in Development Economics. Through one of his global health courses, he had the opportunity to take part in the 2019 International Global Health Case Competition in Emory University, Atlanta, representing Vanderbilt University. He worked on several projects related to cigarettes tax policy and child nutrition, while he was in the program. Upon completion of his degree, he went back to his office as Fiscal Analyst in the Ministry of Finance of Indonesia. He hopes he can formulate a better fiscal policy to improve health quality in Indonesia.

Ashley Hill is completing her M.Ed. in International Education Policy and Management at Peabody. While at Vanderbilt, she has engaged in global health through the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health's Student Advisory Committee (SAC). Through her work with SAC, she was able to work on the Global Health Case Competition committee and co-chair the 2020 Global Health Symposium. She also found interesting ways to merge her interest in global health with her international education coursework - one of her favorite projects to date is a blog that encompasses articles on international education, global health, and economic and human development within the continent of Africa. Ashley completed a summer practicum in Ghana with an organization that provides tuition-free education and improved health services to rural communities. In addition, she aided in program implementation and improving the financial stability of an organization in Guatemala through Project Pyramid. She hopes to work within the continent of Africa, with a focus on monitoring and evaluation.

Frances C. Knight completed the certificate in global health while working on her graduate degree in biomedical engineering at Vanderbilt. While her Ph.D. research focused on the development and characterization of nanoparticle-based pulmonary vaccines for protecting against respiratory infections, her work on the global health certificate provided a means to connect her lab research to potential applications in public health. The certificate's courses allowed her to gain an understanding of the practical aspects of implementing new technologies and interventions in low-resource settings, and led her to become interested in global health policy development. 

Rian Djita is a Fulbright student from Indonesia (2018-2020) pursuing his master's degree at Peabody College of Education and Human Development (Vanderbilt University) by majoring in International Education Policy and Management. Outside of education policy, Rian’s interests include program evaluation and improving access to health care, particularly in difficult contexts, leading him to pursue the Graduate Certificate in Global Health Global Health Certificate through the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health (VIGH). During his time at Vanderbilt, he worked as a Research Assistant at Peabody on the Policies for Action research project with Professor Carolyn Heinrich that aims to address the health and education needs of vulnerable children in Tennessee. In spring 2020, he received a research fellowship from Columbia University’s Center for Public Research and Leadership to research schools with students from low-income households. He plans to pursue a Ph.D. upon graduation in International Education Policy / Comparative Education.