November is International Education Month

How does health care differ in industrial versus nonindustrial countries? In socialist versus capitalist societies? In rural versus urban settings? What health inequities do different populations in different parts of the world face?

USF College of Public Health (COPH) students can get answers to those questions by participating in a study abroad program.

In 2024, the COPH will be offering international study programs to Panama, Canada, London and Japan. These for-credit programs are open to both undergraduate and master’s students and generally last about a week. They give students the opportunity to study public health with a cultural context, examining how different countries handle things such as disaster preparedness, preventative health measures and public health policy. Students are also given time to tour and engage in community service projects and research.

Students who have been on the programs say the experience has been eye-opening.

“Personally, I plan to pursue a career in global health and program management, so gaining experience traveling with a public health mindset and learning about different sites that are conducting public health work, such as the Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), was super important for me,” said Nupur Kothari, a BSPH student who traveled to Panama. “Being able to participate in research and data collection in Panama helped translate the education I have gained in the COPH to actual practice.”

Hannah Harburg, an MPH student concentrating in epidemiology, said her experience in Japan was “transformative.”

“Exploring Japan for the first time altered my outlook on life,” Harburg said. “Gujo Hachiman is an area I found so beautiful, I cried. As I explored the quiet river town, I knew this was going to be a moment I would cherish for the rest of my life. The storm drain water was so clean you could feed the carp that swam in it. This trip reaffirmed my commitment to researching public health. I gathered ideas and learned problem-solving skills through active information synthesis, diversified group work and insightful debates.”

Erin Millsapps, a Coverdell Fellow who served in the Peace Corps in South Africa as a community HIV/AIDS outreach coordinator, recently returned from a summer international field experience (IFE) in Gqueberha, South Africa.

The Peace Corps Coverdell Fellowship program at the COPH is a graduate fellowship program awarding financial assistance to selected returning Peace Corps volunteers who are pursuing an MPH or MSPH.

“During my IFE, my peers and I focused on addressing health disparities in ENT [ear, nose and throat] health through community engagement,” said Millsapps, who is an MPH student concentrating in epidemiology and global health. “These endeavors, emphasizing interdisciplinary teams and cultural competency, not only achieved project goals but also strengthened my ability to meet COPH competencies. Grateful for the opportunities provided by the Coverdell Fellowship and USF/COPH, I am empowered to make a meaningful impact in the field of public health.”

For more information about COPH international study programs and Peace Corps requirements, click here.

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

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In October, USF College of Public Health (COPH) Dean Donna Petersen traveled to Panama, meeting with Panamanian public health professionals, COPH alumni and health ministry officials.

The trip’s aim was to renew existing partnerships and forge new ones ahead of the 20-year anniversary of the Panama Program, housed within Panama’s City of Knowledge. The anniversary will be recognized next year.

The college’s Panama Program, led by Associate Professor and COPH alum Dr. Arlene Calvo, provides the COPH with study abroad programs, international field experiences and internships, service learning, faculty and student exchange and multiple types of research activities. The City of Knowledge is a non-profit community of academic institutions, technology companies and nongovernmental organizations.

The COPH has multiple partners within Panama, and it is in the process of developing and renewing 11 agreements of collaboration with agencies such as the Universidad de Panama, APLAFA-Panamanian Family Planning Society, the Gorgas Memorial Institute for Health Studies, the Ministry of Science and Technology and the Institute for Scientific Research and Technology Services (SENACYT).

The college also recently partnered with the Universidad del Istmo, where COPH alum Dr. Arturo Rebollon is the dean of health sciences and where Petersen addressed attendees of a scientific symposium held during her visit. Other alumni of the Panama Program were also in attendance. “They are all doing incredibly well in their positions as leaders in the Panamanian health system,” Petersen said. “I cannot express how gratifying this is—to know that through these efforts, we are truly making the world a better place for public health.” 

Petersen noted that having these partnerships has afforded the college a plethora of opportunities—from hosting study abroad courses, student interns, student and faculty researchers and international conferences in the country to creating professional development programs and recruiting emerging leaders to study public health in Tampa.

The COPH has also taken a supportive role in the establishment of a simulation center in Panama, modeled on USF Health’s Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS), as well as a new vaccine research/production center, currently being built.

Next up, said Petersen, will be an international academic conference on migration and human health in Latin America, to coincide with the Panama Program’s 20^th anniversary.

“In the U.S., we are acutely aware of our migration issues, but we sometimes forget that migration includes many people traveling many miles through fragile ecosystems and small communities, presenting threats to security, health and the environment while also presenting opportunities for those with ill intent to capitalize on the vulnerabilities these populations present,” Petersen said. “We look forward to a rich discussion, which will undoubtedly lead to other ideas that we will nourish, together. We will continue to engage as true partners with Panama, optimizing what each of us brings to the relationship.”

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

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Schistosomiasis is a parasitic disease caused by snail-transmitted flatworms.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the disease—which can cause scarring and inflammation of the liver, intestines and bladder, leading to anemia, malnutrition and learning difficulties, particularly in children—affects some 200 million people worldwide.

The disease is most often seen in parts of Africa, South America, the Caribbean and Asia where people use contaminated freshwater for bathing, drinking and cooking.

“Infected humans pass eggs of the Schistosoma parasite in feces or urine, and in areas that do not have adequate sanitation, those eggs often find their way into local bodies of water,” explained USF College of Public Health doctoral student Caitlin Wolfe, who recently co-authored a study examining how removing vegetation that acts as a habitat for the snails can reduce rates of the disease.

“Once in the water, the microscopic eggs hatch into miracidia that infect the snails,” she added. “The parasites then grow and mature into their next life cycle phase, cercaria, in the snail. Infected snails release the cercaria into the water, and the cercaria swim through the water and infect humans when they use infested bodies of water.”

Wolfe and her coauthors, including the principal investigator Dr. Jason Rohr, a former USF professor of integrative biology who currently teaches at Notre Dame, published their study, “A planetary health innovation for disease, food and water challenges in Africa,” in July in the journal Nature.

Wolfe and her colleagues performed their research in Senegal, where 99% of host snails are captured in the freshwater plant Ceratophyllum demersum. Because of the region’s arid soil, fertilizer is often used on crops, and that fertilizer gets into the water supply during heavy rains and subsequent surface runoff.

“More fertilizer in the water leads to more plants and more algae, which leads to more snails, which leads to more schistosomiasis,” she said.

Wolfe and her study co-authors hypothesized that if they could remove vegetation from the waterways and then compost that vegetation to be used as animal feed (the vegetation is safe for the animals; worms need a human host do their damage), they could reduce rates of schistosomiasis and create better access to waterways while increasing food production.

And, it turns out, they were right.

In the villages where the floating vegetation was removed (by hand), schoolchildren had nearly a 1.5 times lower rate of schistosomiasis, waterways stayed clearer and the composted vegetation-turned-animal feed turned out to be 41 to 179 times cheaper than traditional feed. 

“Thankfully,” said Wolfe, who’s concentrating in global communicable disease, “the findings of this study supported the hypothesis! We’ve known that certain snail species have an affinity for specific plants in specific locations (in northern Senegal, it’s the floating vegetation called ceratophyllum), so the notion of removing the plants that these snails like to feed on is something that has been suggested and discussed previously. But this study was one of the first to demonstrate concrete evidence for this intervention. The hope is that because there are additional benefits beyond just reducing transmission of a parasitic disease—such as increased agricultural output when the vegetation is composted and used as animal feed—there will be enough buy-in at local levels to support this intervention.”

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

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USF Health’s international and interprofessional collaborations continue through a recent trip to Gifu University in Japan and Seoul National University in Korea.

USF has active collaborations with students visiting both universities, and USF faculty and a graduate student recently visited the universities as part of long-standing collaborative affiliations.

The affiliation with Gifu University, which is based in the USF Health College of Public Health, is an example of several connections USF and USF Health have around the world that offer research, education and study-abroad opportunities. In addition, it is an example of the cross-college collaboration and interprofessional education and practice taking place at USF.

Included on this recent trip was Dr. Haru Okuda, MD, FACEP, FSSH, professor in the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine, associate vice president of USF Health Interprofessional Education Program and executive director and CEO of the Center for Advanced Medical Learning and Simulation (CAMLS); Atsuko Sakai, professor in USF Judy Genshaft Honors College; and Emma Underwood, a PhD student in the USF Health College of Public Health, who is spending a summer conducting research at Gifu University.

The visit to Gifu University included lectures given by the USF team, tours of the university and hospital, meetings with faculty, clinical staff and leadership, including the president of Gifu University, and cultural immersive events.

The Gifu collaboration has extended to an additional USF partner in Thailand, with Gifu now sending a medical student next year for research with USF affiliate faculty at Mahidol University.

Story reposted from USF Health

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From Australia to Asia and places in between, both graduate and undergraduate students had the opportunity this summer to experience public health around the globe with the USF College of Public Health (COPH).

Students traveled to London, Sydney, Panama and Japan—including Tokyo, Hiroshima and Gifu. Some of the programs were study abroad, others experiential learning. But each gave students a unique perspective and insight into the inner workings of other countries’ public health systems.

USF Public Health in Japan

Students got to witness first-hand why Japanese citizens enjoy some of the best health outcomes of any nation across the globe.

They collaborated with faculty and students from the University of Tokyo and Gifu University, the latter of which has an ongoing collaborative relationship with the COPH (MPH student Natalie Nagib was the lead author on a recently published paper looking at the mental health of Gifu University students during the pandemic).

Some highlights for students:

• Visiting an elementary school to learn how lunch is a time for teaching important skills about food portioning, table etiquette, recycling and cleaning up.
• Playing the role of patient so Gifu nursing students could practice their English.
• Learning about the immediate and long-term health consequences of nuclear weapons and disaster management practices integrated within the design of Japanese cities.

“This experience helped me understand the differences in societies and how the collective thinking of a population can determine a public health outcome. For example, at Gifu University we learned a lot about how they dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic. It was surprising that when mask mandates were in place, the people did not complain and just followed the instructions because from a young age, they are taught that their actions can affect others. We have a very individualistic mindset in the U.S. and I think that is important for public health professionals to understand because it can determine what kind of public health approach would be best,” said Isabella Abbondanza, a senior BSPH student.

International Field Experience at Western Sydney University, Australia

An international field experience (IFE) is a practicum open to all COPH students (but mandatory for students in the global health practice concentration) and is considered an important part of the academic curriculum, serving as a structured and significant educational experience. The IFE takes place in an agency, institution or community in a developing country.

Caroline Boone, an MPH student in the global health practice concentration, said she decided to perform her IFE at Western Sydney University because the programs and projects the school was helping to lead would allow her to get hands-on experience not only working with diverse communities but also with program recruitment and implementation.

One of the projects she worked on was the Pasifika Preventing Diabetes Program (PPDP), a church-based program focusing on addressing diabetes within Pasifika communities.

“While diabetes is a burden on health worldwide, Pasifika individuals have a seven times higher risk of developing diabetes compared to those of European descent. Diabetes is also a leading cause of death in the Pasifika community. Most of our time working with the PPDP team was spent in the field assisting with data collection and participant recruitment sessions, assisting them with the surveys and obtaining their blood pressure, blood glucose, Hba1c, height, weight, percent body fat and waist circumference,” Boone said. “From the first day at this site, I felt that my opinion and input were valued and the suggestions I had were used. I never felt like I was just doing busy work for them and every task we worked on was helpful to their projects. I would recommend this experience to anyone.”

Panama Study Abroad Experience for the International Perspectives in Women’s Health Issues

This semester-long class culminated with a trip to Panama, where students examined health issues central to Panamanian women, such as access to health care, nutrition, intimate partner violence, unintended pregnancy, sexually transmitted infections, maternal mortality, and political justice and rights.

“This trip allowed me to travel and explore the cultural significance of women’s health in a case-study-like setting. Since public health is so interconnected, this trip gave me a new perspective on health issues that I can apply to my day-to-day work in clinical practice and research regarding infectious diseases. There is no better way to apply and grow your perspective than to seek out opportunities that help you experience another culture, hear the stories of another community and apply the lessons learned in your own community to improve health and social wellness,” said Shriya Bhatnagar, who earned her MPH from the COPH in summer 2023.

Public Health in Panama

This undergraduate course took students to various cities in Panama where they compared health systems in the U.S. to those in Panama and got an up-close look at how these systems affect health outcomes for Panamanians. Topics explored included:

• Infectious diseases
• Environmental health
• Emergency management

In addition to exploring an indigenous village and the Panama Canal, students visited the Panama Clinic, touted as the most modern hospital in Latin America, the Red Cross and a school in the rural town of Chica.

“The experience in Panama will stay with me for my whole life. As my first experience outside of the United States, it not only had a large academic impact, but a personal one, too,” commented Emma Gabinski, a senior BSPH student. “The people we interacted with and the things we were able to learn about their situations were incredibly eye-opening and will keep my love for this field alive.”

“One of the most interesting visits was touring the Red Cross in Panama. I have taken some classes in emergency management, and being able to see a Red Cross office in Panama felt especially full circle. I enjoyed hearing about the different programs that the office conducts, and we were even able to participate in one of their nationwide emergency drills while there. Being able to see and talk to an organization creating real change in the country was a big highlight,” said Nupur Kothari, a senior BSPH student.

   Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

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Nicholas Cropper, a USF College of Public Health MPH student, recently returned from the Netherlands after completing a six-month internship with the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), housed in the Hague.

OPCW is the implementing body for the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC), an agreement signed by 193 state parties to end the development, production, stockpiling, exchange and use of chemical weapons of mass destruction.

Cropper, who’s concentrating in global disaster management, humanitarian relief and homeland security, interned in the OPCW’s Office of Strategy and Policy, supporting the work of the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) and their report for the upcoming review conference of the CWC.

Cropper said he performed a variety of functions, from writing small sections of the report to providing literature and resource support to editing.

“In addition to my responsibilities for the SAB,” he added, “I was also in charge of organizing public-facing events that my office put on, such as an educational activity for OPCW’s Open Day where we invited the public into OPCW’s headquarters to learn what we do, or our Science for Diplomats event that was held at the most recent Conference of States Parties where we provided a basic hands-on chemistry lesson for attending diplomats.”

Learning to collaborate with such a culturally and professionally diverse group of individuals was the internship’s biggest benefit—and challenge—according to Cropper.

“I worked on projects with people from all over the world, and it was really transformative to see the incredible diversity of thinking, even within geographic regions,” Cropper noted. “I also worked with people whose professional backgrounds were wildly different from my own, from public relations professionals to PhD chemists to digital artists and just about everyone in between.”

Another added benefit of the internship, said Cropper, was how it broadened his conception of what constitutes a public health professional.

“For example, the public affairs professionals I collaborated with made information about why and how OPCW’s work contributes to a safer and healthier world more accessible to the public,” Cropper said. “And the diplomats I met were increasingly looking to include diverse and underrepresented viewpoints as they crafted and negotiated stronger governance structures that influence public health policy from the top down. I could go on, but the key point is that this experience has made me a better public health professional by widening my idea of what public health is, who plays a role in improving public health and how I can include an even broader diversity of backgrounds when putting together coalitions to advance public health initiatives in the future.”

Cropper said working at the Hague was “the privilege of a lifetime.”

“I frequently tell friends and family that I couldn’t have found a friendlier place for an American in Europe,” commented Cropper, who’s not sure about his post-graduation plans but is exploring opportunities with the U.S. State, Defense and even Energy Departments. “The city is absolutely gorgeous, the people are some of the friendliest I’ve ever met and it’s no more expensive than any other major European city! The internship at OPCW has been a transformative experience in so many ways. I highly recommend it to other scientifically or internationally-minded students at USF!”

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

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From Asia to Australia to Africa and places in between, USF College of Public Health students practiced their passion last summer across all areas of the globe.

Some traveled as part of research grants. Others took part in international field experiences.

International Field Experience (IFE) is a practicum open to all COPH students and is mandatory for students in the global health practice concentration. It is considered an important part of the academic curriculum, serving as a structured and significant educational experience. The IFE takes place in an agency, institution or community in a developing country.

The students immersed themselves in local cultures and communities. They learned firsthand about the country’s health care system, its infrastructure and its health challenges. They worked collaboratively with other students, researchers and community leaders on a variety of public health initiatives, from how to curb rabies in a local dog population to how to make drinking water safe. Here, their stories.

Making drinking water safe in Madagascar

It was a USF flyer picturing a lemur and asking, “Would you like to help provide safe drinking water to the people of Madagascar?” that first caught MPH student Romina Beltran’s attention. After emailing one of the principal investigators of the project and getting more information, Beltran decided to apply. Out of 60 applicants, she was chosen. She worked alongside BSPH student Madison Champalou.

The project is a joint venture between the COPH and the College of Engineering, explained Dr. Mahmooda Khaliq Pasha, a COPH associate professor and one of its co-principal investigators. “It engages social marketing students with engineers to solve a public health problem [safe drinking water in Madagascar].”

Beltran’s role was to learn about the community’s knowledge, attitudes and behaviors about how to disinfect and store their drinking water.

“We wanted to know why they engage in current behavior, what steps they take to improve their water quality and what are possible interventions or suggestions for behavior change,” Beltran, who’s concentrating in public health practice, said. “With the help of our in-country partners, we were able to meet local health authorities to introduce the project, select participants, conduct a demographic survey and do participant observation. I’d say these methods were quite successful. We gained the community’s trust to open their homes to us and have us join in their activities. I can say I learned so much from my participants.”

And not all of it was academic.

“I can say that this was the most beautiful experience I’ve ever had. I fell in love with Madagascar and its people,” Beltran said. “I learned how to perform everyday tasks such as cooking, cleaning and doing laundry with limited resources. Knowing firsthand how these are performed can help us propose feasible solutions to the community. I also learned that there are so many things that connect us as humans, despite differences in culture and language. I think [interdisciplinary projects like this one] will get more people to realize that public health alone cannot address health disparities. Complex problems focusing on societal needs require multiple disciplines.”

Reducing the risk of rabies and other zoonotic diseases in Kenya

MPH student Miranda Jones spent 10 weeks last summer working with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Machakos County, Kenya.

She collaborated with a PhD student who was working with a variety of agencies on a vaccination program for dogs. Jones went door-to-door, interacting with some 800 households, collecting and analyzing data about the prevalence of zoonotic helminths (parasitic worms) in the local dog population. She also attended local stakeholder meetings, helped conduct interviews with local health officials for a rabies documentary, visited local vaccination sites and helped organize a community health volunteer training workshop.

“The central idea of these projects was protecting human health by eliminating rabies with a One Health approach,” Jones said. “This transdisciplinary approach can mitigate zoonotic disease outbreaks, improve food safety and security, reduce antibiotic resistance and improve global security in an effective, collaborative manner. The improvement of one sector is contingent upon the interdependence and collaboration of the human, animal and environmental sectors.”

Jones said the experience gave her more than knowledge about parasites. It also gave her new perspectives.

“This field experience has thought me to be adaptable to last-minute changes, new environments and people,” Jones commented. “By working with a team of veterinarians, I was able to gain new perspectives and an understanding of disease control and prevention. Working in a developing country that has different challenges, diseases and infrastructure than the United States has allowed me to better understand the challenges people face day to day and when building a sustainable program.”

Performing data analysis in Ghana

Tracy Gates, an MPH student concentrating in global health practice, spent two months working with faculty and students from the University of Ghana’s School of Public Health developing skills in biostatistics analyses and spatial visualization, contributing to multiple manuscripts and otherwise learning the ins and outs of the health care system in Ghana.

“We performed important research advancing the understanding of predictive factors for the utilization of health facilities for deliveries in Ghana and the prevalence and distribution of hypertension across the country,” Gates explained. “We also developed multilevel predictive models that can be utilized and replicated in future predictive work.”

Gates says her IFE gave her added experience—and subsequent confidence—in assessing, analyzing, understanding and reporting quantitative data. But there were more intangible benefits as well.

“I loved being in Ghana, learning about different ways of life and perspectives along with gaining insight about the Ghanaian culture, history, food, healthcare systems and health-related challenges and resources,” Gates said. “I was able to practice adapting to an international environment with unique challenges and systems to navigate. Overall, this was an incredible experience.”

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

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October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Guatemala has the third-highest rate of femicide (the homicide of women based on gender) in the world. And according to UN Women, 21.2 percent of Guatemalan women have experienced physical or sexual violence from an intimate partner at some point in their lifetime.

USF College of Public Health (COPH) MPH student Caitlynn Carr, who is also a doctoral candidate in applied anthropology at the university, is studying intimate partner violence (IPV) among Guatemalan women.

As part of her doctoral research, funded by a Fulbright-Hayes Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship, Carr is conducting field research in Guatemala examining the barriers that indigenous women face when it comes to seeking help for IPV. Carr, who’s concentrating in maternal and child health, said examples of those barriers include governmental corruption, lack (and cost) of transportation, inability to take a day off from work, childcare issues and the fact that women rarely travel alone in the country. Other factors include racism against indigenous people, a machismo ideology, lack of services provided in Indigenous languages (there are 21 in Guatemala), fear of leaving a partner, economic dependence on a partner and others.

Carr’s research will also focus on ways to curb IPV.

Carr said she got interested in IPV in Guatemala when she visited the country with a Habitat for Humanity project in 2011. In 2015, she conducted research focused on Indigenous women’s psychosomatic/distress symptoms resulting from IPV.

“After conducting semi-structured interviews with 40 women and receiving surveys from 80 women, I found that only one of the participants sought formal services for the abuse that she experienced, illuminating a disconnection between IPV services and Indigenous women in rural areas of Guatemala [services are more prevalent/common in more urbanized areas],” Carr said.

Carr is currently living in Guatemala, immersing herself in the culture and living in the communities where she’s conducting her research. She cooks with community members, goes to church with them and builds friendships. Establishing these kinds of relationships is an important step to curbing IPV, Carr noted, as community-based and community-led programs have had more success than governmental programs at reducing IPV in Guatemala.

“Governmental programs oftentimes lack funding and resources, as well as personal outreach, which leads to limited accessibility and success. Oftentimes, nonprofit organizations fill in the gaps where governmental organizations fall short,” Carr said.

Carr­, who plans on pursuing postdoctoral research on violence prevention and IPV after graduation, hopes the research will illuminate potential avenues for violence prevention among Indigenous communities when formal governmental efforts fail.

“The research situates violence against Guatemalan women from a life course perspective and examines social determinants of health from both a socioeconomic and sociohistorical lens,” Carr said. “I’ll share study results with all stakeholders in the form of a comprehensive report and/or professional presentation with the hope of informing federal policy surrounding these issues.”

For information about family violence prevention and resources, visit the COPH’s Harrell Center.

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

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USF College of Public Health MPH student Nick Cropper was part of a three-person international team (all students or recent graduates) to win the Next Generation for Biosecurity Competition. 

The competition was sponsored by the Nuclear Threat Initiative (NTI) in partnership with several other global health security organizations. NTI is a nonprofit, nonpartisan global security organization based in Washington, D.C., focused on reducing nuclear and biological threats imperiling humanity.

An international expert panel of 23 judges evaluated the papers in a three-round process. 

The competition drew students and young professionals from 11 countries across five continents whose papers aimed at answering the question: How can the global community leverage the tools of modern science to develop an effective and politically acceptable verification protocol to strengthen the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC)? 

Cropper and his teammates wrote, “Creating a Verification Protocol for the Biological Weapons Convention: A Modular-Incremental Approach.”

A verification protocol is, according to Cropper, a mechanism by which the signatories to a convention or treaty can confirm that other signatories are not in violation of their obligations to the agreement. 

“In the nuclear context, for example, this might involve reporting of a nation’s total fissile material, paired with inspections by mutually agreed-upon inspectors at facilities of their choosing,” he explained. “But this accounting-driven approach doesn’t work for biological weapons, so we redefined ‘verification’ as part of our proposal.”

Cropper and his team, which consisted of Shrestha Rath, a biosecurity researcher at the Centre for Effective Altruism, a U.K./U.S. charity organization, and Ryan Teo, a master’s candidate in mathematics of systems at Britain’s University of Warwick, redefined verification as an ongoing process of data monitoring, assessment and evaluation aimed at appraising a state party’s intent to comply with the BWC. 

“Our answer to the question was to offer policymakers a ‘menu’ of modular policy proposals designed to be implemented in minimalist, politically acceptable forms with the idea being that they would grow over time to adapt to changing politics, scientific advancements and need. With each proposal, we paired a tool of modern science, like genetic engineering attribution methods or open-source intelligence, that we believed could be keystone tools in making the policy more effective.”

Some of these proposals included strengthening certain articles of the BWC, expanding institutional support to BWC member states and instituting a formal mechanism to collaboratively review evidence of noncompliance. 

Cropper, who has hopes of working in domestic or international scientific diplomacy, said identifying ways to establish a state’s adherence to biosecurity conventions and treaties is more important now than ever.

“Modern bioscience has reached a point where we are increasingly constrained not by the limits of science, but of our imagination,” Cropper noted. “Unfortunately, some people’s imaginations include visions of violence and death, and the potential for these people to misuse the tools of modern biology have never been greater.”

Unlike other arms control/disarmament treaties, the tools needed to develop a biological weapon are just as applicable to peaceful research purposes as they are to developing a weapon, Cropper explained. “This ambiguity, paired with the chronic inability to reach agreement on a workable verification mechanism for the BWC, has created an unacceptable global risk,” he said. “Answering the prompt question to overcome the political and technical barriers to a verification protocol is an ever more urgent need in the modern context.”

Story by Donna Campisano, USF College of Public Health

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With more than 12 years of experience in humanitarian disaster relief and major humanitarian health crises across more than 25 countries, USF College of Public Health MPH student Michael McCusker found it a natural calling to deploy to the frontlines to assist displaced populations evacuating from Ukraine following Russia’s invasion.

McCusker has led large-scale, complex and high-profile humanitarian responses in some of the most notable crises of the past decade, including the Ebola response in West Africa, the Myanmar Rohingya refugee response and Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines, among others.

As a senior director for Migrant and Emergency Programs for Church World Service (CWS), a non-profit organization providing safe passage, resettlement and assistance to refugees across the world, he oversees key programmatic units, including the border and humanitarian portfolio, asylum services, children’s services (targeting unaccompanied children), CWS’ National Legal Services and disaster preparedness and emergency response work.

Due to his extensive background in emergency humanitarian assistance, he was requested to deploy with a duty team to Moldova and Romania in early March to focus on building a program to provide immediate humanitarian assistance to refugees fleeing the throngs of the Ukraine conflict, paying special attention to children at risk of being separated from their families or falling victim.

McCusker said that when he deployed, more than 5 million refugees had already fled Ukraine, mostly women and children.

“The sheer scale of displacement is incredible–both internal displacement and outpouring displacement,” he said. “As with any crisis, women, children, marginalized communities and those living in poverty will be those most affected. You can see it right there on the frontlines of displacement. Working in a conflict will trigger the people you work with and will also trigger you. Everyone is dealing with their own levels of stress, fear and anxiety and [we] process it in different ways.”

McCusker visited displacement centers along the border and makeshift displacement centers set up in cities, including in gymnasiums, stadiums and schools, to get a sense of “where the gaps and needs were” and how CWS could fill those gaps with their signature program services in refugee case management and humanitarian assistance.

Displacement centers at border centers included a variety of resources to welcome refugees, such as food, temporary shelter, medical aid, psychological counseling centers and resources for children, including toys.

“The capacity of the local community to continue to help these people will run out,” he said. “Hotels, congregations, people’s homes and the community’s absorption capacity is reaching maximum thresholds—many refugees are staying with host families, in hotels which was significantly bypassed in the early days with agencies fleeing to displacement cities in large main cities.”

McCusker said that starting local, specifically by going deep into communities and non-traditional displacement pockets together with trusted local partners allowed CWS to get a “true” mapping of displacement and a first-hand view of the immediate, and often hidden, needs of the refugees has helped.

“Moldova doesn’t have near the same structure and resources as the EU. As Europe’s poorest nation, it’s taken in over 400,000 Ukrainian refugees so far,” he said.

McCusker said he worries for when this goodwill will run out, as many will not be able to provide the resources nor sustain the pace of demand for services, especially those displaced in host communities. This is where resources from other agencies will be key, he says.

His visit to a Romanian displacement center provided him with a stark contrast to the level of resources as to what each neighboring country could provide.

McCusker said the attack on Ukrainian hospitals and health care centers indicates that the war has taken on a new dimension that could impact displacement centers.

“Hospitals are overrun, and NGOs are at the forefront, sending supplies and propping up the health system in surrounding countries like Moldova and in Ukraine where they are needed most. But it was sad to see how the weight of the entire Ukrainian health system is at such a tipping point and resting on their shoulders,” he said.

While conducting his research on where the gaps were at each site, McCusker admitted that despite limited resources, seeing humanity in action was the most surprising part of his trip.

“How can the worst and best in humanity co-exist in one place? I was horrified with what humans can do to one another while also being amazed by how other humans, like the volunteers, doctors and normal civilians, support one another. So many ordinary people came out to help and welcome refugees into their homes in Moldova—priests and normal civilians. This, despite being one of the poorest countries. It shows the best of humanity and [helps us] process what we’ve seen so far,” he said.

“Never underestimate the power of human empathy and calling to support thy neighbor in need.  It was humbling to see this at such a local level and largely at a global scale. It has been great to see,” he said.

In May 2022, McCusker and CWS were awarded the National Member of the Year award at the National Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster conference held in Baltimore.

“We know that we are stronger in the face of an emergency when we stand together. And over and over again this year, we’ve stood united with all of you,” CWS CEO Rick Santos said during his acceptance of the award.

McCusker said his public health passion is working in major infectious diseases and before COVID-19, he led many large-scale emergencies and served as director and senior advisor for large humanitarian efforts globally. He also oversaw a large USAID BHA-funded pandemic preparedness consortium with Save the Children and other influential global bodies, including the World Health Organization and UNICEF.

“This is my passion. Major infectious diseases will become one of the main or the main theme in humanitarian emergencies (along with climate change) for years to come. I’d love to have more technical knowledge and awareness around this topic which is why I’m enrolled in the global communicable diseases concentration,” he said.

Upon graduating, he said he hopes to continue working in the humanitarian health arena.

“I’m happy where I am but the MPH allows me to have a more technical grounding and epidemiological prowess in the major infectious disease space and its intersection with humanitarian/development sphere.  I hope this can set me up for future success with far superior knowledge about disease pathology and proven prevention strategies, along with being CPH certified!” he said.

Story by Anna Mayor, USF College of Public Health

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