Fixing the World Faster

For eight weeks last summer, Tiffany Porras CC’16 — a biology major and aspiring doctor — worked at a medical clinic in La Romana, the third largest city in the Dominican Republic.

Several times a week, she traveled with her mentor and another colleague into the neighborhoring bateys, company towns where sugar workers live, to interview 16-to-25-year-old men in Spanish. The project goal: to better understand their health care needs and what prevents them from seeking treatment. And by the end Porras’ own goals had shifted, from healing people on a one-on-one basis to helping entire countries.

“It’s better to think larger scale,” says Porras, a first-generation American whose parents hail from Colombia. “That way we can fix the world at a faster pace.”

The data Porras collected was for Dr. Silvia Cunto-Amesty PH’01, assistant professor at the Center for Community and Family Health at the Columbia University Medical Center.

Columbia College partnered with the Mailman School of Public Health to apply for and win the NIH grant that funded Porras’ research abroad. Trying to identify new funding mechanisms and opportunities for College students to pursue global research and to study abroad is a common role for the Office of Global Programs.

I love that Columbia has given me a chance to focus on my major, but has also helped me expand my interests.

The program kicks off with a two-week course in New York City that introduces fellows to research methods and ethical challenges that arise when investigating health care disparities. While abroad, they participate in a long-distance curriculum, and upon their return have a final week of training.

In La Romana, Porras lived at Casa Internacional, a dormitory-style student house. Many of her evenings were spent with her housemates at local venues, listening to merengue, bachata and other local rhythms. She also visited the capital city of Santo Domingo, and Punta Cana. “I now have a much deeper appreciation for Dominican people and their culture,” says Porras. “They are so vibrant. The people there are so loving, so welcoming. And the food is great and the music amazing.”

The eldest of two sisters, Porras was born and raised in Westchester, N.Y. She had a vague interest in science when she arrived at the College, which she chose because of its location and the Core Curriculum. “Columbia is close to home, but far enough to give me independence,” says Porras.

Porras’ interest in healthcare had already taken her to Panama and Honduras through the Columbia chapter of Global Brigades, a student-led nonprofit that promotes global health and sustainable development. The program in La Romana caught her eye because she sought a new perspective, she says. “I was intrigued and curious to see what ‘public health’ meant. I wanted a more diverse view of the [health care] field; I didn’t just want to see the world as something that could be fixed medically.”

While for much of her College career Porras dreamed of going to medical school, she now says that “seeing the challenges an entire country can face” have made her consider a master’s in public health. “I love that Columbia has given me a chance to focus on my major, but has also helped me expand my interests,” she says.