This virtual webinar will feature Returned Peace Corps Volunteers sharing their experiences participating in the Peace Corps as a BIPOC volunteer. By attending this webinar, you'll learn more about Peace Corps service and how identities can play a role in being abroad and serving in the Peace Corps.
Panelists:
Lauren Birks is originally from Dallas, Texas. She attended The University of Texas at Austin and received a Bachelors in Psychology and Education. She moved to Michigan in 2013 to attend the University of Michigan, in which she completed a Master of Social Work with a focus on children, youth, and families. Lauren completed the Master's International Program, which allowed her to incorporate her Peace Corps services into her degree. She served as a Youth Development Volunteer in Copal de Guanacaste, Costa Rica from 2014-2016. Since 2017 Lauren has worked as a School Social Worker at Hamtramck High School. She is also the Head Wrestling Coach and Class of 2021 Sponsor. In her free time she enjoys Zumba, crafting, and baking.
Haeyoon Chang is a 1st year Ph.D. student in Epidemiology at the University of Michigan. Her research focuses on the impact of social protection policies on cardiometabolic disease (CMD) outcomes and disparities from a global perspective. The goal of her research is to improve chronic disease disparities at the policy level and promote global balance. She served in the Peace Corps Tonga 2013 - 2015 where she taught English and collaborated with a local medical provider on developing accessible skill-building materials on nutrition to combat the local obesity issues. She received MPH in Chronic Disease Epidemiology with Global Health concentration in 2018 from Yale University. She worked as a summer research scholar with African Community Center for Social Sustainability in rural Uganda to collect qualitative data from patients with diabetes and hypertension, community health workers, and medical professionals to discover barriers to cardiometabolic disease treatment and education. Prior to Ph.D., she worked as a research project manager at Partnerships for Native Health located in Seattle, WA where she oversaw multiple NIH-funded projects characterizing chronic disease prevalence among American Indian elders using mixed-methods. She is Korean American from upstate NY and Seoul and went to the University of Wisconsin for her bachelor in Science.
