Robbie Parks, Assistant Professor of Environmental Health Sciences at the Mailman School of Public Health, visited the Santiago Center, Universidad del Desarrollo (UDD), and Universidad Católica (UC) from March 4–7, 2025. Both universities are renowned for their strong programs in environmental health, epidemiology, and public health.
At UDD, Parks met with faculty and researchers from the Center for Epidemiology and Health Policies (CEPS) to explore potential collaborations and joint research initiatives. Discussions included access to CEPS’s electronic health records, examining how these records intersect with phenomena such as climate change, wildfires, floods, and power outages, as well as establishing student exchange opportunities between Mailman and UDD. Additionally, UDD invited Parks to serve as a guest lecturer in their graduate courses, a role that may be extended to other Mailman faculty.
At UC, Parks met with Vice President of International Affairs Lilian Ferrer and Sandra Cortés, a Public Health and Epidemiology expert and faculty member at UC’s School of Public Health. UC offered Parks access to electronic health records to support his modeling and comparative analyses between Chilean and U.S. scenarios. The university also expressed strong interest in facilitating graduate student exchanges, inviting Mailman students to visit its Medical School and arranging reciprocal visits for UC students to Mailman. Moreover, UC invited Parks to serve as a guest lecturer in a class taught by Ferrer at the UC Medical School. These initiatives build on a Memorandum of Understanding signed by UC and Columbia University at the end of 2023, coordinated by the Santiago Center and UC’s Vice Presidency of International Affairs, to advance research and collaboration across disciplines—prioritizing climate change and global health.
Park’s visit represents a significant milestone for the Santiago Center’s mission to forge public health collaborations with leading Chilean universities. The Center looks forward to partnering with Parks, Mailman faculty, and Chilean institutions on future public health initiatives.
