Cohort 4 (2022) of our Global Health Scholarly Concentration

Amita Bollapragada

Class of 2025

Living most of her life in North Carolina but later spending four years in India, Amita was exposed to vastly different cultures that influenced health care. Absorbing these varied approaches to healthcare fueled her desire to explore the unique factors that influence populations in a global context. In high school and college, this took the form of immersing herself in the diverse sociocultural landscapes of India, Africa, and Guatemala. She carried forward this perspective through leadership roles in nonprofit public health organizations (GlobeMed, Rotary, and RAD-AID) where she explored the social, political, and economic systems that allow health disparities to persist.

She is particularly interested in cultural factors that influence mental health care in East Asian populations. As a medical student, she is working on a project that aims to increase the accessibility of children’s mental health services in rural northern India. As a future physician, Amita hopes to provide comprehensive, culturally competent care that not only improves the lives of individual patients, but also addresses the needs of entire communities.

Khar Dieng-Diatta

Class of 2026

Khar is originally from Dakar, Senegal, West Africa. She worked as a Registered nurse for 5 years before starting her journey to medical school. Her passion for global health comes from her childhood in Senegal. She witnessed her grandmother’s stroke. She did not receive proper care until 13 hours later due to limited healthcare resources. Since a young age, Khar has always wanted to dedicate my life to providing healthcare for people, especially those like her grandmother who live in medically underserved areas.

Khar had her first opportunity to participate in a global health HIV training program in Antigua, Guatemala at Hospicio San José. In addition, she worked in an infectious disease ICU at Fann Hospital in Dakar, Senegal as a student nurse for a global health elective.

She is interested in the field of infectious diseases. She would like to create a sustainable and culturally competent program to promote sexual wellness and reduce HIV in underdeveloped countries in West Africa. Also, she inspires to infuse health care concepts in young men and women by integrating health awareness in educational programs and conducting campaigns that would elevate a sense of responsibility for better well-being.

Amaya Martinez-Mesa

Class of 2026

Born and raised in Havana, Cuba, Amaya grew up watching from her grandma’s balcony as brigades of community workers conducted house visits and fumigations to slow down the spread of Dengue. At the time, she wondered why they were so eager to spend the entire day going door to door. However, over sixteen years later, during a public health practicum in the rural community of El Bambú, Nicaragua, she felt the same passion that had driven them into the service of others.

Upon her return and graduation from UNC-Chapel Hill, Amaya became a volunteer doula with UNC Birth Partners while working as a research assistant for the UNC OBGYN Department at the same labor and delivery unit. The contrast between these two roles granted her a unique perspective on one of the most intimate moments of medicine: childbirth. From holding hands with an agonizing deaf patient during contractions to contributing to a system focused on researching ways to enhance the healthcare outcomes of these very individuals, these two positions sparked Amaya’s interest in women’s health and the care of non-English-speaking patients.

Since starting medical school, Amaya has been involved with CAMPOS, LMSA, Medical Students for Choice, Physicians for Human Rights, and the Global Health concentration. After completing MS1, she participated in an elective in La Paz, Bolivia which reinforced her passion for working in low-resource settings and led her to discover a new interest she hopes to explore in the future: how to successfully train medical students in global health and linguistic proficiency while minimizing disruption to the local communities they are visiting. Moving forward, Amaya aspires to delve deeper into her passions for women’s health, advocating for health equity, student wellness, and success, all while providing care to Latinx patients in both the United States and Latin America.

Grayson Privette

Class of 2025

After graduating from UNC-CH in 2010 with a degree in exercise science, I had the opportunity to work in physiology research, AmeriCorps, and earn an MPH. Grad school introduced me to the realm of international public health and disease control epidemiology, inspiring me to move to South Sudan and Sierra Leone, where I worked in various disease control / surveillance capacities. I then transitioned to hospital-based epidemiology for several years prior to medical school, where I was involved in pandemic preparedness and disaster response efforts. I look forward to continue exploring the innumerable ways in which global health can be incorporated into my future career!

Adilene Ramirez

Class of 2025

Bio and Photo Coming Soon