Helen grew up in Ames, Iowa. She graduated from Syracuse University in 2008 with a Bachelor of Science in Child and Family Studies and worked as a Lead Teacher at an early childhood education center following graduation. She is a third year dual Medical Doctorate (MD) and Master of Public Health (MPH) student. During her year of MPH training, Helen is working as a Graduate Research Assistant for the Master of Public Health Program. Helen is enjoying learning about all areas of public health and is particularly interested in the fields of pediatrics, maternal and child health and health policy. She serves as Co-President of the Pediatrics Interest Group and as a VP for the American Medical Association-Iowa Medical Society Student Organization at the Carver College of Medicine. She has recently begun volunteering for the Mobile Clinic. Helen enjoys cooking, spin classes, listening to public radio and traveling to visit family and friends around the country. 
I arrived home from India last Friday night. Our final week continued to be a really great
experience. We met with an NGO that serves as a support group for the MSM (men
who have sex with men) population and a group that provides testing and STI
prevention for sex workers. Both of
these visits really added a lot to our trip and shed light on yet another
aspect of the culture and the country.
We were also able to visit the National Institute for Research in
Tuberculosis. This is funded largely by the
Indian Government but also collaborates with the WHO and the NIH. It was really cool to hear about the research
being done there on improving treatment modalities for those with TB and with
HIV and TB co-infection.  |
| Celebrating Pongal |
We also travelled to one of the rural villages. Villages there are much larger than I had
imagined, about 3500 people lived there and they had their own health clinic,
school and businesses, such as grinding spices which were sold there and in the
city. Our last days fell on a holiday
called Pongal. This is a Southern
Indian, multi-day celebration of the harvest.
Our host in Chennai very kindly invited us all to her home and taught us
about the holiday. One of the traditions
is to boil rice and milk in a pot over a fire and when it boils over everyone
makes a lot of noise by cheering and using noisemakers.
We wrapped up the trip by presenting our projects at the American
School in Chennai. Finally we all got
packed up and took our long flights home.
Overall this has been a great experience and I would encourage anyone
considering doing a Winterim in India to do it.
Coming back and starting the semester right away is a challenge but it
was absolutely worth it. 
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