Vanessa Voller, OLPD doctoral candidate in Comparative and International Development Education, has been awarded the Fulbright for the 2022-2023 academic year. She will travel to Bolivia and Costa Rica to assist on a project analyzing the effectiveness of adolescent healthcare services and comprehensive sexuality education. In particular, she will be documenting and analyzing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the provision of these education services and the unintended consequences of the pandemic on adolescent health outcomes. This work will build upon Voller’s undergraduate and Master’s thesis projects and is the culmination of a 10+ year relationship with her host institutions. 

This past year, Voller served as a victim advocate for survivors of sexual violence at the UMN Aurora Center, accompanying survivors through the forensic exam process and witnessing firsthand the impact of how the social determinants of health impede survivors access to care. Voller is concurrently applying to medical school, and upon returning from the Fulbright, hopes to begin studies here at the UMN Medical School. She is eager to continue questioning global health programs’ accountability through the various global health and health justice initiatives at the Med School. 

Voller would like to acknowledge and thank her advisor Frances Vavrus (CEHD, OLPD); other committee members Zobeida Bonilla (SPH), Joan DeJaeghere (CEHD, OLPD), and Elizabeth Sumida Huaman (CEHD, OLPD); David Wilsey (Humphrey); Karen Brown (ICGC); Timothy Jones; and her colleagues in the CIDE cohort who provided editorial reviews of her application.