So, what does law have to do with health? More than you may think. This is why I have spent the past several years attempting to combine the legal and health fields into what I hope will eventually be an amazing career.
The first step in this pursuit came with my work as a legislative aide with both the Kentucky (1994) and Maryland (2002) General Assemblies. While serving at the state level, I was fortunate enough to work with a broad array of citizen groups to address concerns ranging from reproductive rights and gun control to early intervention services for children with disabilities, free prenatal care for low-income women, and public health and safety.
In addition to my work at the state level, I have also spent many years studying the relationship between health and human rights at the international level. During my years of schooling, I was given the opportunity to look at issues as diverse as genocide in Rwanda, war crimes in the former Yugoslavia, access to life-saving medicines for HIV/AIDS, medical ethics, and infant and maternal mortality.
In 1999, I moved to Washington, DC to become the Program Director of an international non-governmental organization. During my 3 1/2 years at the World Jurist Association, I organized numerous international legal conferences and programs touching on such topics as human rights, immigration, environmental law, democratization, aging and the law, and international development.
Recently, I just finished my 2 years of service as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mauritania, West Africa. Next on the horizon is a move back to DC to search for my ideal job.