Volunteer Name: Abigail Pira
Background: BS Psychobiology
Title: GHO Research Educator
Sector: Research & Technical Training
Projects: NETHIPS & Income Generator Training
Achievements: NETHIPS Certificate of Recognition
-Why-
As a pre-med student striving to work globally with indigent populations, volunteering with WAMM was the perfect opportunity to be immersed in a new culture and learn about the lifestyles and values of a group of people I had never learned about before. The main reason I chose to volunteer with WAMM was because of my personal beliefs that international aid in underdeveloped countries should be rooted in providing education and strengthening local capacities, tactics that are exactly in-line with WAMM’s approach.
-How-
I am a Minnesota born and raised first generation Filipino American. As the daughter of an allopathic family practice physician, it’s no surprise medicine and the sciences have always intrigued me. After completing my high school career at Hopkins High School, I relocated to Northern California to attend Santa Clara University where I majored in Psychobiology and minored in Spanish. My time spent studying and volunteering abroad in San Salvador, El Salvador made me realize my calling to global health and working with minority populations. Since then, I’ve worked very closely with Latin American children and non-native speakers of English. Once I graduated, I moved back to Minnesota and snatched up the opportunity to get clinical research experience in the Emergency Department of a Level 1 Adult Trauma Center. After spending an amazing summer in Freetown, Sierra Leone, I’m once again back in the Midwest. Currently, I’m teaching ESL classes for the Minnesota Literacy Council and applying to medical school!
-What-
Projects:
Partners:
Media:
Abby's Blog
Abby's Flickr Album
YouTube
Biggest Accomplishment
Strengthening NETHIP's Data Collection & Management Systems
My biggest accomplishment was revising NETHIPs’ data collection and management system. The project required me to create a new system that maximized the organization’s existing tools while successfully teaching them how to use this system through bi-weekly instructional sessions.
7.6 million
children die under the age of 5 every year.
World Health Organization: A Global Review of The Key Interventions Related to Reproductive, Maternal, Newborn and Child Health
