Two Columbia University graduate students, Zeqian Li, an epidemiology student at the Mailman School of Public Health, and Brianna Godfrey, a medical student at the Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, are currently in Chile performing field practicums at Universidad Mayor’s Society & Health Research Center (CISS), where they will dive deep into Chilean healthcare.
Upon their arrival, they visited the Santiago Center, where they received an induction to Chile, including an overview of Chilean history and politics. Additionally, representatives from the Pan American Health Organization provided a detailed presentation on the public and private health systems in the country, explaining how they function and their challenges.
The field practicum, known as the applied practice experience – part of their graduation requirements – involves a planned, supervised, and evaluated practice where students explore their areas of interest, gain practical skills, and apply classroom teachings.
A strong partnership
In 2021, Columbia Mailman signed a memorandum of understanding with Universidad Mayor to further develop education and research collaborations in global health. This builds upon the foundation established between Mailman, the Santiago Center, and CISS. Under the leadership of CISS director, Esteban Calvo, who is also the Dean of Universidad Mayor’s School of Social Sciences and Arts and a Mailman faculty member, the “Building Healthier Societies” program was launched in 2018 to promote international research collaboration.
Since then, this collaboration has produced over 30 scientific publications focusing on aging and life course, mental health, substance use, and comparative public policies. It has also secured over US$750,000 in funded proposals to support research collaboration, and facilitated dozens of student and researcher exchanges. This includes nine students who performed virtual internships through a program developed by the Global Centers during the Covid-19 pandemic, which offered Columbia students working and learning opportunities despite travel restrictions. These students worked on topics including migration and Covid-19 in Chile, the effects of alcohol abuse in older adults, social isolation and loneliness, among other subjects.
