India Trip Student Bios

Name: Kyden Creekpaum
Degree Program: Master of Public Health/Juris Doctorate
Department Affiliation: Health Policy & Management
Hometown: Tulsa, Okla.
As Press Secretary on the successful congressional campaign for now-Congressman Dan Boren of Oklahoma, Kyden dealt with health issues ranging from Medicaid, veterans' health benefits and access to care via community health centers to environmental quality at one of the nation's worst superfund sites. Though he has traveled widely in Europe, East and Southeast Asia, this is his first trip to India. He said he is excited to learn about the provision of high quality care in extremely resource-poor settings.

Name: Sachin Jain
Degree Program: Master of Public Health
Department Affiliation: International Health
Hometown: Chicago, Ill.
From surveying the homeless in inner-city Chicago about barriers to health care to founding a cataract surgery program in rural Tanzania, Sachin has been working to increase access to needed health services and strengthen health care infrastructure in resource-poor populations internationally. His primary interests include infectious disease prevention, promoting health as a human right, and eliminating health disparities. He said he plans to one day combine his clinical and public health training to advocate for underserved communities in North India, East Africa and the United States.

Name: Lindsay Kim
Degree Program: MD/Master of Public Health
Department Affiliation: Epidemiology & Biostatistics
Hometown: Dunwoody, Ga.
With a background working on children's environmental health issues through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Children's Environmental Health Network, Lindsay is currently at the Bloomberg School to further investigate the role of the environment and health, especially regarding childhood asthma in urban inner cities. Lindsay said she hope to practice internal medicine and later work in environmental health and risk policy through a government agency.

Name: Yung-Ting Kung
Degree Program: Master in Public Health
Department Affiliation: Population and Family Health Sciences
Hometown: Santa Clara, Calif.
Yung-Ting is interested in the sexual and reproductive health of migrating populations, especially women and vulnerable groups. She worked on health and women's rights issues in West Africa. She said she is looking forward to learning more about these topics in India.

Name: Sachin Patel
Degree Program: Master of Public Health
Department Affiliation: Health Policy & Management
Hometown: Cary, N.C.
As a fourth-year medical student from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Sachin spent a lot of time pondering how every case that came to the hospital emergency department reflected a problem in larger systems. He is interested in learning how to wield health policy and organizational knowledge to optimize health care systems. Among the many things he's looking forward to during this trip, he said, is the chance to see a factory-model for eye care at the Aravind Clinic and the opportunity to enjoy three weeks of Indian cuisine.

Name: Leah Sirkus
Degree Program: Master of Health Sciences
Department Affiliation: International Health
Hometown: Herndon, Va.
Leah's focus is on pediatric, vaccine-preventable diseases. She is interested in the issues surrounding vaccine introduction and delivery in developing countries. This summer she conducted research on pertussis hospitalizations in the United States in children under the age of two.

Name: Jenny Truong
Degree Program: Master of Health Sciences
Department Affiliation: Population and Family Health Sciences
Hometown: San Diego, Calif.
With a primary focus on adolescent health, Jenny is interested in sexual and reproductive health, child and adolescent development and gender issues. She worked on these issues this past summer at the Maternal and Child Health/Family Planning Center in Ho Chi Minh City, Viet Nam.

Name: Stacie Waldman
Degree program: Master of Public Health
Department Affiliation: International Health
Hometown: Stony Brook, N.Y.
Stacie's primary interest is in the development and sustainability of public-private partnerships for health. She is currently working on a project in South Africa on multi-drug-resistant tuberculosis. Stacie's interest in public health developed during her semester abroad experience in Nepal during college where she studied the perceptions of mothers on their children's health. She said she plans to use this experience in India to learn about the way Aravind Eye Hospital works with the hope that she and her husband (an otolaryngology resident) can one day duplicate Aravind's success at ear, nose and throat surgical hospitals in less developed countries.