School of Social and Political Science

Background

I am a first-year PhD student in Global Health Policy at the University of Edinburgh. My doctoral research focuses on the role of public health and epidemiological reasoning in the making of COVID-19 policies in the Czech Republic. In my interdisciplinary research, I examine scientific knowledge in policymaking as well as the context of historical developments of understanding of public health and epidemiology.

I earned my BA from Yale University with distinction in my major, History of Science, Medicine and Public Health. During my time at Yale, I was selected as a Global Health Scholar and designed and conducted an original research project on hookworm epidemiology with the Noguchi Memorial Institute at the University of Ghana. I then completed my Master’s of Public Health with the Yale School of Public Health in Epidemiology of Microbial Disease.

Prior to commencing my PhD in Edinburgh, I’ve lived and worked in Scotland since 2019, as a project worker focusing on promoting active transit in Inverness, and later as a healthcare scientist in epidemiology with NHS Scotland.

My interests in global health include infectious disease, social determinants of health, and planetary health.

Supervisors

Dr. Sudeepa Abeysinghe
Dr. Lukas Engelmann

Education

• Yale University (2012 – 2016): Distinction; BA History of Science, Medicine and Public Health (concentration in Global Health); Global Health Scholars Program
• Yale School of Public Health (2017-2018) - Master of Public Health (concentration in Epidemiology of Microbial Disease)

Conferences, Presentations and Seminars

• "Socialist epidemiology: health and the Hygiene Service in socialist Czechoslovakia," Paper presentation for Socialist Governmentality workshop, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Sep 2023)
•  “Everything you wanted to know about Global Health but were afraid to ask,” Visiting lecture for Summer School of Medical Law, Charles University Faculty of Law (Sep 2018)

Teaching

• Population Health and Health Policy - Undergraduate Tutor, School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh (2023)
• Global Health: Challenges and Responses - Undergraduate Tutor, Global Health Program, Yale University (2018)
• Media and Medicine in Modern America - Undergraduate Tutor, History of Science, Medicine and Public Health, Yale University (2017)
• “Global health 101”, “Global health and climate change”, “Contagion” – volunteer summer school tutor, Discover Summer Academy (2018-2023)

Awards and Scholarships

• 2022-2023 - School of Social and Political Science PhD Scholarship; (also awarded: College of Arts, Humanities and Social Science Scholarship)
• 2018 - Wilbur G. Downs, M.D., M.P.H. Outstanding Thesis Prize in Global Health
• 2012-2016 - Sotirovich–Franklin Scholarship, Yale University
• 2015 - Linck Fellowship, Yale University
• 2015 - Richter Summer Fellowship, Yale University

Research Positions

Research Assistant, The Epidemy Lab, University of Edinburgh (Jan 2022 - Dec 2024)

Research assistant for Tabulating Epidemics, an ERC funded project which advances the recent scholarship in the medical humanities on the material conditions of medical knowledge, including the research team’s developing work on formal practices in epidemiology.