Major: MCB Immunology

Year: Senior

Practice Experience: For my practice experience, I worked with the environmental non-profit organization EcoSwell, located in Lobitos, Peru. EcoSwell is a super multifaceted organization that’s focused on sustainable development, with projects ranging from healthcare to renewable energy. I personally was an intern through their public health initiatives program. With the help of local doctors, I conducted a research project on the social factors that contribute to the spread of COVID-19 in the northern regions of Peru. I also was in charge of purchasing medical supplies to donate to rural medical posts located in areas harshly affected by COVID-19.

GPP Elective Courses Taken: Anthro 115 (Medical Anthropology); Ethnic Studies 159AC (The Southern Border)

Activities: Global Medical Training @ Berkeley, Project REACH, Cal Climbing

About Me: Hi everyone! My name is Rebecca and I’m a fourth-year MCB Immunology major. I am originally from Portland, Oregon so I love hiking, climbing, mountaineering, and all things outdoors. I’m also a big fan of hammocking, reading good books, and buying cute house plants that I’ll inevitably kill. Academically, I’m super interested in epidemiology and the role that economic inequalities play in the spread of diseases. While preparing for my PE, I took language classes through Berkeley’s Spanish department, so if you have any questions about language barriers during your PE, Berkeley’s language programs, or questions about anything else GPP or life related, I’d love to chat about it! I’m excited to meet you!

Major: Political Science

Year: Senior

Practice Experience: I am currently interning with the Bread Project in Berkeley, CA. They are a nonprofit that provides bakery training and job skills to low-income individuals in the Bay Area. I have been working mainly in the job sector, working to provide job leads to recent graduates. In addition, I have assisted with general office work, preparing food boxes for graduates, and compiling contact information for the organization.

GPP Elective Courses Taken: ETHSD 159AC, The Southern Border
SOCIOL 137AC, Environmental Justice: Race, Class, Equity, and the Environment

Activities: I am a member of the Delta Phi Epsilon foreign service fraternity, the Phi Alpha Delta pre-law fraternity, the Cal ACLU, and the Transfer Coalition on campus.

About Me: Hey everyone! I’m Harmony and I am senior studying Political Science. I transferred to Berkeley from the Santa Rosa Junior College in the Spring of 2019. My academic interest is the intersection between politics and law, specifically humanitarian and international law. It took me a long time to figure out my area of interest, so I am happy to talk with any students who may be experiencing the same difficulty. In addition I am happy to talk with transfers who are concerned or have questions about declaring a minor, or any other students who may be interesting in GPP! I’m so excited to get to meet you all!

Major: Public Health

Year: Senior

Practice Experience: Before the Shelter-in-Place was enforced, I used to intern at City of Berkeley’s Ann Chandler Public Health Center. I worked to create educational material to present to low-income communities in Berkeley about STI prevention. Originally, the plan was to present this information in person and have nurses also screen those who would like to be tested so that it is convenient for these communities to be informed and tested for free. However, as we all got to learn more about COVID-19, we changed the plan to make the information more accessible remotely. I created a few banner ads on STI prevention. However, not long after I wasn’t able to continue the work even remotely because of funding issues and the situation with COVID-19.

GPP Elective Courses Taken: PB HLTH W108 – Women’s Health, Gender And Empowerment, AFRICAM 142AC – Race and American Film

Activities: Health Worker Coordinator for Unit 2

About Me: Hello! I am Jennifer Choi. My passion for public health stems from the field’s appreciation for interdisciplinary studies. I am greatly interested in understanding how health disparities arise and how the current interventions in place impact the community. Currently, as a residential hall Health Worker Coordinator, I strive to promote the best health practices. I particularly love meeting new residents. My favorite memories with my residents are playing sports, eating together, and watching movies and analyzing them as if you were a famous movie critic! My (virtual) door is always open to new conversations. You can always stop by to ask me questions. In fact, I probably will ask you more questions! When you meet me next, let me know your answer: if you put chia seeds on chocolate, is it healthy?

Major: Conservation and Resource Studies

Year: Senior

Practice Experience: For my practice experience, I worked with a Blum Center organization called CARES (Community Assessment of Renewable Energy and Sustainability). While CARES is involved with a huge variety of projects centered around co-design and sustainability with Native American communities, I chose to focus on education. During the school year, I spent my time with CARES developing a decolonial STEM curriculum for California indigenous youth. I then spent two summers at the Pinoleville Pomo Nation, and one summer at Big Sandy Rancheria, delivering the curriculum and helping out in the community where I was needed. Working with CARES gave me a great opportunity to understand the relationships between the university, tribal nations, and the federal government in the complicated context of indigenous sustainability.

GPP Elective Courses Taken: NATAMST 102: Critical Native American Legal and Policy Studies
ESPM 151: Society, Environment, and Culture

Activities: Student Representative on the Conservation and Resource Studies Committee, Math and Science Educator

About Me:  Hi! I’m Camille (she/her) from Oakland, California in Huichin, Ohlone territory. I am a Conservation and Resource Studies major with a focus on colonial origins of science and social constructions of biology. I declared GPP in my freshman year and I have a lot of advice on choosing a practice experience and elective courses, so please come to me with any questions! I had a difficult time finding my major and my place at Cal, so I’m also here to talk with anyone about navigating our university in general.

I spend far too much time reading fantasy novels, baking, playing music, exercising, and gardening. I advocate for an equitable and sustainable future for all people, and hope to find community work in my future careers. I am thrilled to have the opportunity to talk with more GPP students about GPP, UC Berkeley, book recommendations, decolonial educational practices, or delicious food, so come say hi!

Major: MCB Immunology

Year: Senior

Practice Experience: For my practice experience, I went to Mumbai, India for a summer as part of the Berkeley Global Internships Program! I worked at an NGO called Doctors for You, which provides medical service and community healthcare to populations in crisis. I was interested in a lot of different projects, but my favorite was helping design a research study to investigate why malnutrition recovery differs between traditional slums and slum resettlement colonies in Mumbai.

GPP Elective Courses Taken: Public Health 118: Nutrition in Developing Countries, Undergraduate Interdisciplinary Studies 196: Global Citizenship

Activities: Volunteer for the Covid-19 IGI-FAST Study, Research Assistant at the Robey Lab, Member of the California Golden Overtones, Former Chief of Staff in the ASUC Senate

About Me: Hi! My name is Shraddha and I’m from San Jose, California. A few of my favorite things include singing, hiking, reading, beaches, sci-fi movies, road trips, and making to-do lists! I’m super excited to be a GPP Peer Advisor this year. This minor has enriched my experience at UCB and has helped me develop a clearer worldview. I’m really interested in studying diseases and how human factors (such as poverty) aid in their transmission. My experience in Mumbai taught me a lot about what healthcare looks like when dealing with some of the poorest urban populations in the world. I always love conversations about poverty and society, but if you have any specific questions/interests (such as classes to take at Berkeley, living and working abroad, healthcare NGO’s, India, or the GPP minor in general), I’d be happy to share my personal experiences and advice. I look forward to meeting you all!

Major: Public Health

Year: Senior

Practice Experience: For my practice experience, I worked in Berkeley with the Suitcase Clinic which focuses on creating community with and providing services to underserved and unhoused folks in the bay area. While many of their operations were limited due to COVID-19, I was working to expand Suitcase Clinic’s work and relationships with other organizations in Berkeley. I got to spend most of my time coordinating and participating in weekly outreach to people experiencing homelessness, particularly in larger encampments, who are chronically underserved. When I wasn’t doing outreach, I was working on political advocacy, or on smaller social media and communications projects. Even though this wasn’t the PE I planned, I still really loved what I was doing, and really enjoyed the opportunity to learn from and work with folks who’ve been working tirelessly in the community for years.

GPP Elective Courses Taken: ESPM 163AC//SOCIOL 137AC: Environmental Justice – Race, Class, Equity and the Environment, SOCIOL 127: Globalization and Development, PBHLTH 150B: Introduction to Environmental Health Sciences, PBHLTH 150D: Introduction to Health Policy and Management, PBHLTH 181: Poverty and Population, ECON C171: Economic Development (enrolled for Fall 2020)

Activities: Suitcase Clinic, The Public Health Advocate, CHAOS, resource navigator and intern in the Department of Community Health and Engagement at UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital

About Me: Hi All! My name is Nirali (she/her) and I’m from Tustin, California. I’m a public health major and I’m really interested in community organizing, policy, and environmental health and justice. I’m still trying to figure out where exactly in the public health sphere I want to end up, but being in GPP has given me a lot of tools to think critically about any work I might end up doing and I love to talk to folks about it! In my free time, I can usually be found hiking, biking, or wandering the aisles of Berkeley Bowl. I also love to read and am always looking for new podcast recommendations. If you want to talk GPP, recipes, the uncertain future, or anything in between, please drop into my advising hours! Can’t wait to meet you! 

Major: Integrative Biology

Year: Senior 

Practice Experience: Unfortunately, my PE has been postponed due to the pandemic, but I am hopeful that I will get the opportunity to follow through with it before I graduate. I am set to work with the Development of Women and Children Center (DCWC) Community Hospital in the Kavre district of Nepal. The hospital’s mission is to bring accessible, affordable, sustainable, and high quality healthcare services to this rural region. During my time with DCWC, I will collaborate with the medical team to assess the efficiency of the hospital’s services and current organization model (e.g. how patient histories are recorded and how patient flow is measured), and from there, we will create an extension plan for the hospital to help achieve our goal of expanding from a 15-bed hospital to a 50-bed hospital. Additionally, we will travel through the region to hold health seminars on various topics including personal hygiene and reproductive health. I am looking forward to learning from an inspiring group of individuals who are committed to the values of the organization and dedicated in their service to marginalized communities.

GPP Elective Courses Taken: IntegBi 140 – Biology of Human Reproduction; Integbi 117/LF – Medical Ethnobotany (with Lab)

Activities: SAGE Mentorship Project, Yoga Instructor

About Me: Hello! My name is Morgan, and my pronouns are she/her/hers. I am a fourth year IB student from Palos Verdes, California. (Fun Fact: If you’ve ever seen the television show “Awkward,” it is based on my hometown!) I discovered the GPP minor freshman year thanks to my RA and immediately recognized that I wanted it to be a vital part of my education and experience at Cal. As an aspiring physician, I feel that this minor could provide a unique and insightful perspective into the medical field. I wanted to focus not only on medicine itself, but also on how it affects various communities with economic, political, and social disparities.

Outside of school, I practice yoga which I’ve taught for two years now. It’s given me some much needed balance and relaxation. I also enjoy dancing. I spent the majority of quarantine teaching myself the choreography to all fourteen and a half minutes of Shakira and JLo’s Superbowl Halftime performance. I also enjoy hiking (best hikes so far were Half Dome in Yosemite and the Trans-Catalina Trail), reading, going to the beach, and listening to music (my current playlist includes H.E.R, everything on Beyoncé’s new album, Fleetwood Mac, and Jai’Len Josey).

I am so excited to get to know you all this year! Whether it’s for schedules, logistical questions, discussions about GPP or being Pre-Med, book/movie/music recommendations, debates about a “Hot Take,” or if you are just looking for someone to chat with, I am always all ears. See you all soon, and take care of yourselves!

Major: Media Studies

Year: Junior

Practice Experience: I wasn’t able to attend my intended PE with a Microfinance Org from Oakland, but I was able to be involved within the GPP Summer Study. Within the course, I pursued the question of nutritional accessibility within my city, Lynwood. I interviewed various individuals (volunteers for food drives, recipients of food drives, and organizers of food drives). From this information, I was able to change the perception I hold of these resources and further ways to introduce or amplify these certain resources within low-income communities.

GPP Elective Courses Taken: ESPM 163AC/Sociology 137AC: Environmental Justice – Race, Class, Equity, and the Environment; Public Health 150B: Introduction to Environmental Health Sciences; Public Health 150D: Introduction to Health Policy and Management

Activities: BCEC Digital Marketing Director, Co-founder of MomsBest, and cat owner.

About Me: What’s up! My name is Brian Vasquez and I am a third-year majoring in Media Studies. I’m from Lynwood, a city in LA in between South Gate and Compton. My career interests lie in Business/ Marketing but also empowering low-income communities by offering educational resources. I enjoy chasing the bag and going on food adventures to explore the East Bay. Some topics we can discuss are Microfinance, college-ready educational resources, growing up in a low-income community, and how to tackle the very best of your college experience. From conspiracy theories to everyday hobbies, I’m always down to discuss whatever’s on your mind!

Major: Environmental Economics and Policy

Year: Senior

Practice Experience: For my Practice Experience, I worked with the Community Assessment on Renewable Energy and Sustainability (CARES), a Blum Center Research Project in two California Indigenous communities. Along with a team of GPP students, we created and taught culturally responsive STEM curriculum.

GPP Elective Courses Taken: NATAMST 178: Topics in Native American History, PUBPOL C103: Wealth and Poverty

Activities: Berkeley Model United Nations (BMUN), Student Environmental Resource Center (SERC), and Berkeley Environmental Economics and Policy Students (BEEPS)

About Me: Hello! I am Sarah Xu and I am from Albany, California. I have a wide range of interests including international environmental policy, development practice, education equity, and clean energy policy. In my free time, I love to explore the Bay Area by public transportation, drink copious amounts of coffee, and engage in long winding conversations. GPP has been such a pivotal and important part of my college career and I am so excited to meet new students who are interested in the minor!