Breanne Lott, MPH, and Katey Redmond, MPH, graduate students from the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health are recipients of the Fulbright U.S. Student Research Program award to conduct public health research with host institutions in Nigeria and Namibia, respectively.
Lott and Redmond are part of a group of over 2,100 U.S. citizens who will conduct research, teach English, and provide expertise abroad for the 2019-2020 academic year through the Fulbright U.S. Student Program. Recipients of Fulbright awards are selected on the basis of academic and professional achievement, as well as their record of service and leadership potential in their respective fields.
Lott, a third year doctoral student in health promotion sciences, will head to Calabar, Nigeria in December for 9-months to work with the Cross River Health & Demographic Surveillance System Office at the University of Calabar.
Cervical Cancer is the second leading cause of cancer mortality in Nigeria. Lott will collect primary data from urban and rural sites in Cross River State.
She looks forward to continuing her research on cervical cancer, building on
a summer research fellowship experience studying cervical cancer in Ethiopia.
“I’m interested in exploring the barriers and facilitators to implementing cervical screening programs, from the perspectives of multiple stakeholders,” said Lott.
Redmond is off to Namibia this month where she will spend the next 9 months studying community perceptions of Tuberculosis (TB) – the fourth highest cause of death in the country. She will be based in the capital city of Windhoek, where she will conduct focus groups in rural areas in collaboration with University of Namibia’s College of Nursing.
Redmond has worked with TB patients before while a Peace Corps Fellow in South Africa in 2015-2016.
“Five young mothers died of TB in the community where I served,” said Redmond. I tried to help the host organization address concerns, and struggled to find community-level interventions beyond medical treatment for TB and opening windows, which was not a feasible option during winter when TB transmission was highest.”
Redmond hopes the project builds on Namibia’s efforts to address TB and provides additional primary intervention ideas that communities can use before people develop TB.
Redmond graduated from the UA Zuckerman College of Public Health with a Master of Public Health with a concentration in Family and Child Health, Global Health in 2018.
Both Lott and Redmond received Fulbright guidance from John Ehiri, PhD, MPH, MSc, professor and chair of the Department of Health Promotion Sciences at the UA Zuckerman College of Public Health and a Fulbright Scholar alum. Additional application support was provided by the UA Peace Corps Coverdell Fellows program, the UA Office of Fellowships and Community Engagement, and a summer fellowship application support program offered by the UA Graduate College.
Since its inception in 1946, the Fulbright Program has provided more than 390,000 participants – chosen for their academic merit and leadership potential – with the opportunity to exchange ideas and contribute to solutions for shared international concerns.
