Gabriella Farland is UO alumni who majored in International Studies and got a minor in Global Health. She was least featured in 2019. Over three years later, the program is excited to check in with Gabriella and their current endeavors pursuing a Masters of Public Health at Columbia University in New York City.
Gabriella answered a few questions about her current pursuits and some of the lessons she took away from the Global Health program.
Why did you decide to pursue an MPH at Columbia, and what do you hope to learn there?
I decided to pursue my MPH at Columbia for several reasons. I really like the small cohort design which facilitated collaboration and analysis of health issues alongside peers from all departments within Mailman. Additionally, I was drawn to the work the faculty were doing and excited to be a part of cutting-edge, innovative public health research. Lastly, I wanted to get my MPH within the department of Sociomedical Sciences at Mailman. This department provided the perfect focus for my passion of prevention and control of disease through an interdisciplinary social science approach to addressing social determinants of health. Through the certificate of Health Promotion, Research, and Practice I have been learning to design multi-level interventions to target health promoting behaviors and prevent poor health outcomes. I hope to learn to create innovative, equitable, sustainable health programs to address the most prevalent issues facing our communities today.
What was your biggest takeaway from the GH minor at UO?
The GH minor was the first time I was exposed to the field of public health. I didn’t know what a career in public health looked like, let alone that it existed at all. It helped me see that health encompasses more than traditional medicine, and the social determinants of health have a huge role in the health and quality of life of our populations. The GH minor also provided me with a global lens through which to view different health issues. I see the interconnectedness of health problems between nations and the value in cross cultural comparisons for how to approach these issues.
How can you apply the topics you’ve learned about in GH classes to work outside the classroom?
The topics I learned about in GH classes were extremely applicable in my internships and work outside of the classroom. I worked with international populations, and it was helpful to know about the social determinants of health, prominent global health issues, and variety of strategies for approaching public health issues on a global level. I really enjoyed taking a lot of the historical and theoretical concepts learned in my GH classes and applying them to real-world experiences.
How has the pandemic affected your feelings about working in heath promotion and disease prevention?
The pandemic has shed a light on the field of public health unlike anything I have experienced in my lifetime. There is a new sense of urgency placed on the field, especially in regards to health promotion and disease prevention. I have also seen how politics and misinformation can undermine many public health initiatives. The pandemic has shown me the importance of understanding structural inequity and how we need to address this when designing public health interventions. Additionally, we need to understand the beliefs and norms of the communities we are designing programs for and specifically design strategies that account for these factors. This has been clear with vaccine hesitancy and masking in the US.