{"id":10187,"date":"2026-05-15T10:37:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T17:37:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/?p=10187"},"modified":"2026-05-15T10:58:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T17:58:15","slug":"usc-students-to-tackle-global-health-challenges-in-uganda-india-and-peru","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/usc-students-to-tackle-global-health-challenges-in-uganda-india-and-peru\/","title":{"rendered":"USC students will tackle global health challenges in Uganda, India and Peru"},"content":{"rendered":"\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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\n\n \n Campus News<\/span>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
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USC students will tackle global health challenges in Uganda, India and Peru<\/h1>\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n \n
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Three progressive degree students awarded the Dhablania and Kim Family Global Medicine and Health Fellowship will conduct research on menstrual health education, maternal health and sexually transmitted diseases after graduation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n \n

\n Sruthi Balakrishnan<\/span>\n \n May 15, 2026<\/span>\n <\/div>\n \n \n
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From left, Aaryan Midha, Welela Solomon and Sophia Dettweiler (Photos courtesy of Rohan Khehar, Cristy Lytal and Sophia Dettweiler)<\/figcaption>\n <\/figure>\n \n \n \n\n<\/div>\n \n\n <\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n \n \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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The chance to apply classroom learnings to the real world \u2014 this prospect drives three USC progressive degree students who will graduate this May from the Keck School of Medicine of USC with their Bachelor of Science in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Studies<\/a> (HP) and Master of Science in Global Medicine<\/a> \u2014 and they\u2019re just getting started.<\/p>\n

Sophia Dettweiler, Aaryan Midha and Welela Solomon, recipients of the Dhablania and Kim Family Global Medicine and Health Fellowship<\/a>, will pursue fellowship projects in India, Uganda and Peru, where they will conduct research on menstrual health education, maternal health and sexually transmitted diseases.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe breadth of global destinations and topics being investigated are a perfect illustration of the diversity of high-impact projects and experiences the fellowship aims to support,\u201d said Howard Hu, MD, MPH, ScD<\/a>, professor of preventive medicine in the Department of Population and Public Health Sciences and director of the Dhablania and Kim Family Global Medicine and Health Fellowship Program.<\/p>\n

Sophia Dettweiler: Addressing menstrual health stigma in India<\/h2>\n

Having lived in Germany as a child, Dettweiler was exposed to different cultures from a young age. After moving back to the U.S., she pursued her interest in global perspectives and differences in health care systems between countries as a progressive degree student at USC.<\/p>\n

During her time at USC, she was recruited by Aninda Das<\/a>, MBBS, MPH, a clinical assistant professor of population and public health sciences, for a project on menstrual health education in Kolkata, India. This December, they will conduct educational sessions on menstrual health and hygiene specifically aimed at boys at the secondary school that Das attended. This work will continue a previous effort, which targeted girls at the same school.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe idea with this project is to continue that initiative and hopefully reduce some of the stigma and potential bullying or teasing of the girls around menstruation,\u201d Dettweiler said.<\/p>\n

While the thought of explaining menstrual topics to a group of teenage boys is daunting, Dettweiler is excited for her first trip to India. She looks forward to the challenge of \u201ctalking about these topics that are a little bit uncomfortable and making it approachable for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dettweiler plans to apply for medical school and carry these experiences with her through her interest in pediatrics.<\/p>\n

Aaryan Midha: Investigating congenital syphilis in Peru<\/h2>\n

Midha\u2019s interest in public health and medicine began as a high schooler, when he worked with Placer County on issues like tobacco use and vaping. Over time, Midha learned that he could approach the problem two ways: from the public health angle of social determinants of health and from the clinical angle of working with patients directly.<\/p>\n

This experience led him to USC\u2019s progressive degree program, an internship with the California Department of Public Health and a project on congenital syphilis, which is passed from mother to baby.<\/p>\n

Midha first learned about the topic in 2024 during the class Biology of Health from a Global Perspective, and saw that the U.K. had nearly eliminated the issue, whereas the U.S. still had a ways to go. He dug deeper to see how other countries were faring and saw large differences in success rates. Eventually, he started researching the topic with Jeffrey Klausner<\/a>, MD, MPH, clinical professor of population and public health sciences and medicine, and applied for the Dhablania and Kim fellowship.<\/p>\n

Working with Kelika Konda<\/a>, PhD, MPH, a clinical associate professor of population and public health sciences based in Lima, Peru, Midha proposed a project studying hospital records to find out why some infants still have congenital syphilis after diagnosis and treatment. For the retrospective analysis, he will go over physical hospital records and later analyze the data.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want to look at the past five years of mothers and infants that have been exposed to congenital syphilis and try and notice if there are any common patterns,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

In August, Midha will go to Lima for two weeks. To prepare for his time there and communicate with the providers and patients, Midha has been learning medical Spanish.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is important because if you\u2019re talking about sexual health topics or if you\u2019re talking about sensitive issues, you want to know all terms so that you can actually connect to the patient and learn about their history,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Like his peers, Midha has plans for medical school while remaining active in public health policy.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs my career progresses,\u201d he said, \u201cI still want to remain involved in policy and advocacy work in some capacity.\u201d<\/p>\n

Welela Solomon: Improving maternal health care in Uganda<\/h2>\n

As the child of Ethiopian parents who immigrated to the U.S., Solomon first learned about health disparities from stories her parents shared. Having grown up in a predominantly African American community in Seattle, she has seen how people from different backgrounds and circumstances experience and access health care.<\/p>\n

At USC, Solomon was selected to participate in the USC CIRM COMPASS program<\/a>, a two-year program that prepares juniors and seniors for careers in stem cell biology and regenerative medicine. Upon completing the program, she realized her interest lay more in public health and pivoted to the global medicine progressive degree program where she expanded her knowledge of global medical challenges<\/p>\n

After shadowing physicians at a labor ward in Ethiopia, she became curious about the quality of and access to prenatal care for pregnant women. At USC, her mentor Laura Ferguson<\/a>, PhD, an associate professor of population and public health sciences and spatial sciences, connected her to social work researcher Firminus Mugumya, PhD, a senior lecturer at Makerere University who will advise Solomon while in Kampala, Uganda\u2019s capital city.<\/p>\n

Starting in August, Solomon will conduct a qualitative study, for which she will survey both pregnant women and providers, with the aim of developing policy actions for the Ugandan health ministry. One of her goals is to capitalize on the government\u2019s focus on reproductive and sexual health for women and girls in the country.<\/p>\n

Solomon will take the project further with a Fulbright research fellowship, which will allow her to better address the needs of the community. She is curious to see whether her research will have real policy implications.<\/p>\n

Like Dettweiler, Solomon will apply to medical school. She hopes to become an OB-GYN and keep her ties to public health.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to create solid connections and a foundation,\u201d she said, \u201cand continue to grow that work.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n <\/div><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":10188,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":true,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[81,61,140,169,436],"class_list":["post-10187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-news","tag-department-of-population-and-public-health-sciences","tag-education","tag-impact-stories","tag-latest","tag-usc-stem-cell"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nUSC students will tackle global health challenges in Uganda, India and Peru<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The chance to apply classroom learnings to the real world \u2014 this prospect drives three USC progressive degree students who will graduate this May from the Keck School of Medicine of USC with their Bachelor of Science in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Studies (HP) and Master of Science in Global Medicine \u2014 and they\u2019re just getting started. Sophia Dettweiler, Welela Solomon and Aaryan Midha, recipients of the Dhablania and Kim Family Global Medicine and Health Fellowship, will pursue fellowship projects in India, Uganda and Peru, where they will conduct research on menstrual health education, maternal health and sexually transmitted diseases.\u201cThe breadth of global destinations and topics being investigated are a perfect illustration of the diversity of high-impact projects and experiences the fellowship aims to support,\u201d said Howard Hu, MD, MPH, ScD, professor of preventive medicine in the Department of Population and Public Health Sciences and director of the Dhablania and Kim Family Global Medicine and Health Fellowship Program.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/usc-students-to-tackle-global-health-challenges-in-uganda-india-and-peru\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"USC students will tackle global health challenges in Uganda, India and Peru\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The chance to apply classroom learnings to the real world \u2014 this prospect drives three USC progressive degree students who will graduate this May from the Keck School of Medicine of USC with their Bachelor of Science in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Studies (HP) and Master of Science in Global Medicine \u2014 and they\u2019re just getting started. 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Sophia Dettweiler, Welela Solomon and Aaryan Midha, recipients of the Dhablania and Kim Family Global Medicine and Health Fellowship, will pursue fellowship projects in India, Uganda and Peru, where they will conduct research on menstrual health education, maternal health and sexually transmitted diseases.\u201cThe breadth of global destinations and topics being investigated are a perfect illustration of the diversity of high-impact projects and experiences the fellowship aims to support,\u201d said Howard Hu, MD, MPH, ScD, professor of preventive medicine in the Department of Population and Public Health Sciences and director of the Dhablania and Kim Family Global Medicine and Health Fellowship Program.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/usc-students-to-tackle-global-health-challenges-in-uganda-india-and-peru\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"USC students will tackle global health challenges in Uganda, India and Peru","og_description":"The chance to apply classroom learnings to the real world \u2014 this prospect drives three USC progressive degree students who will graduate this May from the Keck School of Medicine of USC with their Bachelor of Science in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Studies (HP) and Master of Science in Global Medicine \u2014 and they\u2019re just getting started. Sophia Dettweiler, Welela Solomon and Aaryan Midha, recipients of the Dhablania and Kim Family Global Medicine and Health Fellowship, will pursue fellowship projects in India, Uganda and Peru, where they will conduct research on menstrual health education, maternal health and sexually transmitted diseases.\u201cThe breadth of global destinations and topics being investigated are a perfect illustration of the diversity of high-impact projects and experiences the fellowship aims to support,\u201d said Howard Hu, MD, MPH, ScD, professor of preventive medicine in the Department of Population and Public Health Sciences and director of the Dhablania and Kim Family Global Medicine and Health Fellowship Program.","og_url":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/usc-students-to-tackle-global-health-challenges-in-uganda-india-and-peru\/","og_site_name":"Newsroom","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/KECKschoolUSC\/","article_published_time":"2026-05-15T17:37:15+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-05-15T17:58:15+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":576,"url":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/68\/2026\/05\/DK-Fellow-Collage-web-1024x576.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"lytal","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@KeckSchool_USC","twitter_site":"@KeckSchool_USC","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/usc-students-to-tackle-global-health-challenges-in-uganda-india-and-peru\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/usc-students-to-tackle-global-health-challenges-in-uganda-india-and-peru\/"},"author":{"name":"lytal","@id":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/6cfb16bad28bfa5e488ddb7cfe47cd3d"},"headline":"USC students will tackle global health challenges in Uganda, India and Peru","datePublished":"2026-05-15T17:37:15+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-15T17:58:15+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/usc-students-to-tackle-global-health-challenges-in-uganda-india-and-peru\/"},"wordCount":12,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/usc-students-to-tackle-global-health-challenges-in-uganda-india-and-peru\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/68\/2026\/05\/DK-Fellow-Collage-web.png","keywords":["Department of Population and Public Health Sciences","Education","Impact Stories","Latest","USC Stem Cell"],"articleSection":["Campus News"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/usc-students-to-tackle-global-health-challenges-in-uganda-india-and-peru\/","url":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/usc-students-to-tackle-global-health-challenges-in-uganda-india-and-peru\/","name":"USC students will tackle global health challenges in Uganda, India and Peru","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/usc-students-to-tackle-global-health-challenges-in-uganda-india-and-peru\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/usc-students-to-tackle-global-health-challenges-in-uganda-india-and-peru\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/keck.usc.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/68\/2026\/05\/DK-Fellow-Collage-web.png","datePublished":"2026-05-15T17:37:15+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-15T17:58:15+00:00","description":"The chance to apply classroom learnings to the real world \u2014 this prospect drives three USC progressive degree students who will graduate this May from the Keck School of Medicine of USC with their Bachelor of Science in Health Promotion and Disease Prevention Studies (HP) and Master of Science in Global Medicine \u2014 and they\u2019re just getting started. Sophia Dettweiler, Welela Solomon and Aaryan Midha, recipients of the Dhablania and Kim Family Global Medicine and Health Fellowship, will pursue fellowship projects in India, Uganda and Peru, where they will conduct research on menstrual health education, maternal health and sexually transmitted diseases.\u201cThe breadth of global destinations and topics being investigated are a perfect illustration of the diversity of high-impact projects and experiences the fellowship aims to support,\u201d said Howard Hu, MD, MPH, ScD, professor of preventive medicine in the Department of Population and Public Health Sciences and director of the Dhablania and Kim Family Global Medicine and Health Fellowship 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