Alumni Connections Provide Valuable Support
Students, alumni, and partners consistently agree that one of the most valuable parts of GlobeMed is the wider GlobeMed network. This interconnected group enables constant learning and knowledge exchange between multiple generations of public health leaders. In fact, two chapters, GlobeMed at Notre Dame and GlobeMed at the University of Cincinnati (UCin), have recently been utilizing their chapter programming to dive deeply into alumni and student learning opportunities.
GlobeMed at UCin’s annual benefit dinner for their partner organization, Social Action for Women (SAW) in Mae Sot, Thailand, featured an alumna speaker, Sachika Singh. Many other alumni attended and mingled with the students, listening to the speakers and supporting SAW. Shivane Chawla, Director of Communications at GlobeMed at UCin, notes that many of their alumni are still located in Cincinnati, which makes it easy to involve them in chapter activities. For their last meeting of the Fall 2021 semester, she brought in a small group of alumni for a panel. The alumni discussed their career paths post-GlobeMed and how GlobeMed has continued to influence them. “I think they bring a unique perspective of what social and local issues were happening at that time when they were in GlobeMed, and how they got to use GlobeMed as a vehicle to explore what’s happening around them,” Shivane says.
Similarly, GlobeMed at Notre Dame just finished their own alumni panel. Six recent alumni from around the country Zoomed in, providing perspectives on their journeys since graduation. Savannah Vetterly, incoming chapter co-president, noted the variety of options their alumni were able to represent, such as law school, medical school, and consulting. For freshmen, the panel helped them see the wide variety of career options available in global health. For older students like Savannah, the panel offered useful advice on their specific trajectories, such as insight on law school applications and insider perspectives on what med school is really like. Savannah highlighted how this provides a needed and different perspective than academic advisors and career coaches. “Many of them talked about how it allowed them to see issues very intersectionally,” no matter their career trajectory, she adds. “It’s just cool to see how GlobeMed specifically made an impact on how they perceive issues, even in their work environment.”
Looking forward to next year, Savannah is interested in exploring other options for direct student and alumni learning, such as holding more targeted Q&A panels in the fall with GlobeMed at Notre Dame alumni who have gone into specific sectors. She also wants to cement the more general spring alumni panel, which is now in its second year, as an annual tradition. Furthermore, she and her incoming co-president are cultivating an alumni outreach list this summer. They plan to reach out to all of their chapter alumni from the last three to four years and curate a list of those who would be willing to mentor or chat with current GlobeMed students. Savannah sees this as an especially valuable resource for younger members who may not be sure what they want to do or who haven’t made many connections in the field yet. “They may not know those alumni,” Savannah says, “but the connection is still there, just because they’re part of GlobeMed.”
Shivane agrees. “To be able to have that friendship, but also the knowledge that we care about the same things, is so special,” she says, referring to alumni she’s kept in touch with. “It moves beyond GlobeMed. And I think that’s also why I joined: because I get to experience this in a way that’s more than an organization.”
For more alumni and student reflections, listen to our podcast episode where communications intern Molly Wilde interviewed GlobeMed at UCin alum Stephanie Lux and current student Brooke Allnut about all things GlobeMed, GROW, and global health!
