Annika Hogan, a Master of Public Health (MPH) candidate at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health, is in Chile studying the role of social support among Haitian migrants living in Santiago, Chile and Tijuana, Mexico.
Hogan is performing her applied practice experience (APEx) – one of the core requirements for graduation from Mailman - with Universidad Mayor’s Research Center on Society and Health (CISS, according to its acronym in Spanish), where she is working under the direction of CISS’s Teresita Rocha-Jiménez.
“This is a larger study that already has several interesting articles published on it but my work specifically focuses on understanding how social support acts as a protective factor against poor mental health outcomes in this population,” she says. “My work has included conducting a literature review, running quantitative analyses, creating a presentation for the International Society of Critical Health Psychology in Rancagua, and preparing a manuscript.”
During her free time in Santiago, Hogan says she has been able to try a variety of cuisines such as Peruvian and Chilean, and to “rediscover my childhood love for dancing by taking weekly bachata and salsa classes, and travel to see more of Chile.”
In June 2021, Mailman signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Universidad Mayor to further develop cooperation in the areas of education, research and other activities that they deem mutually beneficial, building upon the foundation established between Mailman, the Santiago Center and CISS. Under the direction of its Director and Mailman faculty member, Esteban Calvo, CISS kicked off the “Building Healthier Societies” program in 2018 to promote international research collaboration. Hogan’s APEx at CISS is part of that program, which receives cohorts of Columbia students each year.
