Alumni

Following graduation, Benjamin N. Duke Scholars venture out into the world on

different paths, taking with them the knowledge, experience, and insight gained from four years at Duke.  Some move directly into employment in the non-profit or for-profit arena, others take the next step towards advanced degrees, several are awarded fellowships or post-graduate awards, and a few embark on their own entrepreneurial adventure.  We have alumni engaged with research at different levels and in different fields, from the Center for Global Development to the Duke Human Vaccine Institute.  Many alumni are enrolled in medical school or law school at prestigious institutions such as Yale, Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, and the one a few miles down the road, UNC-Chapel Hill.  B.N. Duke Scholars have also been winners of Fulbright and Truman Scholarships.  No matter what path they take, whether they work with an investment firm, an environmental advocacy organization, Teach for America, or are starting their own clothing line, they apply the same passion, commitment to social justice, and sense of civic responsibility and community that made them BNs in the first place.  No matter how far away their paths take them or how much time passes by, they will always be connected to Duke and to the Carolinas, thanks to the vision and funding of The Duke Endowment.  We take pride in their accomplishments and look forward to celebrating all that the future holds for them.

SPOTLIGHT ON AN ALUM

Catching Up with Maggie Savage,Class of 2009

in her own words . . .

The past year following graduation from Duke has been an incredible learning experience. I currently serve as a Health Literacy Consultant, at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark, as a part of the Global Health Corps. Global Health Corps places cross-cultural pairs of fellows in organizations both in the United States and Africa to work on issues surrounding global health equity. Currently there are 22 fellows, representing six countries.

My partner fellow, Richard, who is from Malawi, and I began our work this year by performing an assessment of the health literacy environment of the University Hospital. There is no denying that working in the urban public hospital in Newark that we are serving a population that is at high risk for having low health literacy. University Hospital delivers the highest proportion of uncompensated care in the state, has the busiest level 1 trauma center, and is incredibly hard to navigate. We looked at everything from how patients and providers interact to how easily one can navigate the physical layout of the hospital to how educational materials and forms are written.  It is exciting to know that some of the work we are doing will help facilitate easier access and improved delivery of health information.

Following that assessment and subsequent recommendations for change, Richard and I hit the ground running on building consensus around the importance of health literacy. We have been able to train over 300 staff members (nurses, techs, therapists, and some doctors) on principles of clear health communication and we are right on the verge of rolling out a patient education campaign to encourage patients to ask more questions and become more involved in their own care. It has been incredible to see how much the leadership of the hospital has jumped on board with our work and through the development of new working groups and committees, that this work will hopefully be sustained long after GHC fellows leave. Lastly, we just submitted a grant to expand the patient education program at the hospital, which will include a small patient education and resource center right in the lobby of the hospital. It is strange to think that there is only a little bit of time left in this experience.

Being a part of the Global Health Corps community has been an incredible experience and I am excited to say that I will be staying in the extended GHC family for next year. I just recently accepted a position as the Chapter Support Director for FACE AIDS. FACE AIDS was founded four years ago by the some of the same people who founded GHC last year. Next year two Global Health Corps fellows will be placed as FACE AIDS field staff in Rwanda. The mission of FACE AIDS is to fight HIV/AIDS by building a global movement of youth dedicated to health equity and social justice. It does this by partnering with HIV positive cooperatives in Rwanda, where they make pins as an income generating project. They receive a salary for their work and the cooperative also receives a sum that goes into a cooperative account to use for either beginning another income generating project or a microfinance program. The pins are then sold by FACE AIDS chapters on high school and college campuses, here in the United States and in Rwanda, as a way to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS. The money raised by the pins is matched by private donations and donated to Partners in Health programs to support comprehensive health care in Rwanda and support a variety of other community programs to support those infected and affected by HIV. I will be working with FACE AIDS to support the chapters here in the United States. I am incredibly excited about continuing to build a movement of young people passionate about global health and health equity and to be working on a college campus and with high school and college students on an issue that means so much to me.

For more information on Global Health Corps and to read blog posts by my co-fellows and I visit ghcorps.org. For more information on FACE AIDS, visit faceaids.org.