Grant Klausen
Grant is a junior at U of O majoring in Human Physiology and minoring in Chemistry and Global Health. He is also the Director of Events for the Students for Global Health Club on campus and is involved in a biochem research lab. This summer, Grant will find himself in Accra, Ghana on the Service and Learning GEO Global Health program.
Grant shared some information about his involvement in planning the Western Regional Global Health Conference that will be held at U of O in April:
“This year, our club was selected to host the 15th annual Western Regional Global Health conference here at the University of Oregon. As the director of events, I have been heading on the orchestration of this conference, which has been the best part of my college experience so far. It has proven to be the perfect way for myself and the rest of the Students for Global Health to educate and act within both with the local community, and the greater western United States. Coming in to college I was totally undecided on what I wanted to pursue. After joining the Students for Global Health, and working with many faculty members in the center for global health, I have found what I am most passionate for. The Center for Global Health and the Global Health Minor have been the perfect communities and organizations to allow me to foster my passions, and offer me all of the resources and opportunity I need to succeed.”
Riley Shaffer
“My name is Riley Shaffer and I am junior working towards a double major in International Studies and Spanish as well as a minor in Global Health. Locally, I have been able to foster this interest in global health through the student led organization, SGH, as well as through my community health internship with United Way.
And, globally, to further explore my passion for global public health, I have had the privilege of spending the past 10 weeks in India interning with the organization: Child Family Health International. This program has allowed me to understand diverse public health challenges, programs, and initiatives from both a grassroots perspective as well as large scale government interventions. I have spent my time in Delhi, Pune, and Mumbai focusing respectively on public health and community medicine, maternal and child health, and infectious diseases and hospital medicine. Here, I have been able to engage with leaders of various NGOs related to health improvements — learning about their missions, implementations, and outreach. Additionally, I have spent time in multiple (TB/pediatric/HIV/etc) clinics, mobile health camps, and hospitals talking to doctors and observing care to better understand the burden of both communicable and non-communicable diseases. This trip has motivated me to pursue a higher education in relation to global health with the greater ambition of working with the World Health Organization!”
