Alumni of 2025:
Augustin Lambert – Journalism & Events
I am from Belgium and studied Liberal Arts and Sciences specialised in Humanities at the University College Maastricht, where my bachelor’s thesis was about depression and community-based health in Brussels. I am now pursuing an MSc. in Global Health at the University of Copenhagen. Within global health, I am particularly interested in climate change, mental health and resilience in various communities. I am also interested in how the health of indigenous people is a case within global health regarding modern political measures and governmentality. To me, global health is a field which means equity in health for all people regarding the everyday threats caused by human and non-human actions.
Kavishya Kulatunga – Decolonisation
I joined the Eye on Global Health blog primarily to work on decolonisation, as I organised decolonisation workshops within academia during my bachelors. I studied Social Psychology and Anthropology before coming to the University of Copenhagen to pursue and MSc. in Global Health. I am most passionate about intersectional feminism and its presence within global health issues.
Roos van der Velde – Co-Chair
I have a background in Liberal Arts & Sciences, Majoring in Public & Global Health, and a minor in Political Sciences in International Relations, my most relevant academic experience was a Deepening Minor in Global Health which allowed me to complete an Internship at the Hospital for Infectious & Tropical Diseases in Ho Chi Minh City. During my bachelor’s, I also was co-chair of the Positive Impact Society Erasmus, exploring how you can ‘do the most good’. Here, I explored what were the most pressing issues in the field of Global Health. I joined the Eye on Global Health because of its ability to engage students to think about Global Health outside of the classroom. I think this initiative is an amazing opportunity to connect with fellow students, who are all socially engaged with the world in different ways. Coming together to run creative events and projects that explore the interdisciplinarity of Global Health, provides a unique opportunity to gain new perspectives. Within Global Health, I am particularly interested in Planetary Health & Sexual and Reproductive Rights. I want to make an effective impact to empower as many people as possible to live healthy and fulfilling lives. I recognise how living healthy lives, both mentally and physically, is one of the biggest privileges you can receive. Through global health, I see that we gain a wide-ranged understanding of the mechanisms that play a role in health (in)equity for everyone.
Aria Axarli – Social Media Coordinator
I studied Psychology at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, where my thesis was about Sexual Education in Greek secondary schools. I am now pursuing a MSc in Global Health. I am particularly interested in tackling inequalities in the field of sexual and reproductive health and rights. I would love to work in interdisciplinary and multicultural environments and play a role in making people’s voices heard. Within the field of Global Health, I am most interested in reproductive health and rights, sexual education, gender equality, and accessibility in healthcare. I represented my country in the European Leadership Academy, where I had the opportunity to collaborate with the European Training Foundation on a policy brief on mental health in the digital age. I am currently a member of the Future Women Leaders Network. To me, Global Health means being constantly inspired by people around the world who might be coming from different disciplines and environments but share a passion for a more equal and sustainable world.
Colette Weese – Decolonization & Journalism
I am from California. I completed a B.S. in Global Disease Biology and a B.A. in English at University of California Davis and is currently studying a MSc in Global Health at the University of Copenhagen. Prior to moving to Copenhagen, I worked in a clinic serving people living homeless and working in the sex trade in Seattle, Washington. Since then, my main interests have focused on women’s health and working to reduce power imbalances and health inequities. Outside of school, you can probably find me sitting in a park and knitting a sweater. To me, Global Health is an avenue to empowerment for individuals and communities. Global Health teaches us so much about the social, economic, cultural, and broader power dynamics surrounding health and disease, and helps us imagine a future in which all people have access to health, autonomy, and prosperity. In the summer of 2019, I did an internship on hospital medicine and infectious diseases, with an emphasis on HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis, in Durban, South Africa. I also completed an undergraduate research project on historical discovery methods of Alphaviruses and Flaviviruses with a wildlife epidemiology group called the EpiCenter for Disease Dynamics at the One Health Institute at UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine.
2024 and prior:
Raramai Campbell – Lead Editor
Raramai is half South African and Zimbabwean and is from Australia. She studied international relations at Roskilde University and is currently working as a Junior Researcher at the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Center on climate and conflict and as a Visiting Researcher with CGIAR’s Climate Security team. She is currently in her final year of MSc Global Health at University of Copenhagen, specialisng in disaster risk management. Her research experience ranges from supporting the CERTIZENs project at UCPH and conducting fieldwork for a WASH pre-study in Togo. Besides her studies, you’ll find her in a gallery or outside; hiking, getting lost, swimming when its warm enough, in the sun and taking lots of photos.
Ana Shimeall – Co-Editor
Ana is from Maryland and studied Biology and Healthcare Studies at the University of Richmond in Virginia. During her Bachelor’s, she worked to increase access to healthcare for undocumented immigrants in Richmond and underserved populations in Nicaragua and Peru. After graduating in 2020, Ana worked for EngenderHealth, a global sexual and reproductive health and rights organization. Ana is passionate about universal access to high-quality, integrated healthcare, with a special focus on migrants and refugees. She is now pursuing an MSc. in Global Health at the University of Copenhagen. In her free time, Ana loves to go on road trips, figure skate, take long walks in Copenhagen’s many parks, and travel to new places.
Kathleen Shepherd – Co-Editor
Kathleen is from Massachusetts and studied Public Health, International Studies, and Professional Writing at Elon University. Kathleen focused her studies on global health and humanitarian aid, traveling to India for her public health practicum and Sri Lanka to partner with Sarvodaya to create economic opportunities for women. She is passionate about social justice, gender equality, and the sustainability of humanitarian aid post-natural and manmade disasters. She is also interested in investigative journalism and how the media plays a role in the perception of global health. Currently she is studying her MSc in Global Health at the University of Copenhagen, with a focus on disaster risk management. It can be noted that Kathleen really misses the nature in New England (although she definitely calls Copenhagen home now), loves horseback riding, snowboarding, and reading thriller books. Catch her traveling when it becomes safe to do so!
Cecilia Price – Chair, Co-Editor and Treasurer
Cecilia is from the UK and studied a mishmash of Biology, Anthropology, and Psychology for her Bachelor’s at the University of Durham. After graduation, she worked in the English National Health Service for two years, she became passionate about improving access to health care, thinking about the systems level and making climate a priority in the health sector. She finished her Master’s in Global Health at the University of Copenhagen in 2023, in which she specialised in digital health and health policy. In her spare time, you’ll find her hunting down wild swimming spots or cooking and eating something tasty with pals.
Co-editor and Events Coordinator – Giulia Mantovani
Giulia is from Italy and has a Bachelor in Biomedicine from Karolinska Institutet, Sweden. She is now a second-year student of the MSc Master in Global Health at the University of Copenhagen with a passion fo sexual and reproductive health and rights. She has experience in project management and implementation in the field of mother and child health, as well as menstrual health. Giulia loves spending time in nature, traveling and enjoying delicious food.
Jenna Bates – Editor
Jenna is from Georgia and has a Bachelors in Neuroscience from Tulane University. She was a MSc student at University of Copenhagen 2020-22, with a passion for community-based prevention and control of infectious diseases and health equity. In the past, she worked with projects concerning access to healthcare for persons with HIV/AIDS in New Orleans and the mental health and disability of Ebola survivors in Sierra Leone. Jenna loves cooking, yoga, biking, swimming in the harbor, and traveling (in a pandemic-free world).
Francesca Roper – Social Media Coordinator
Francesca is from Italy and has a Bachelor’s in Anthropology from Durham University, in the UK. She studied for her Master’s in Global Health at the University of Copenhagen between 2020 and 2022. She has a passion for maternal and child health, and sexual and reproductive health and rights. She has carried out research on the silenced experiences of miscarriage and stillbirth amongst Italian women. In her spare time, Francesca loves hanging out with friends, playing the piano, and playing ultimate frisbee.
Katie Taylor – Editor
Katie is from San Francisco, California and has a Bachelors in Neuroscience from Brown University. She completed her Masters in Global Health at the University of Copenhagen in 2020, with an interest in reducing stigma in the access to basic healthcare needs. She has previously worked in a low-income sexual health clinic, focusing on abortion care, as well as research within gynecologic oncology. In her spare time, Katie enjoys baking and cooking, hiking, and swimming in the summertime.
Mary Harasym – Editor
Mary is from Canada, where she obtained her BA in Psychology. She is currently the research and knowledge management assistant at the IFRC PS Centre. Within the MSc Global Health programme, she is broadly interested in psychosomatic health and the structural determinants of health. In her spare time she loves discovering new music, getting lost in Reddit threads, running, and watching stand-up comedy.
Philippa Simmonds – Editor
Pippa was main editor of EOGH from September 2018 to December 2019, and continued as co-editor from January 2019 to January 2020. Her major achievements were formalising the blog’s organisational structure, implementing a handover procedure to improve sustainability, and securing an annual budget. She also oversaw an 8-fold increase in average monthly site views during her time on the editorial team, and took a lead role in co-organising the seminar “Decolonising Global Health” in October 2019. She graduated in March 2020, and is pursuing her interest in food and climate policy with a PhD in the UK.
Thomas Hilberg Rahbek – Editor
Thomas has a Bachelor in Public Health from University of Southern Denmark, where he also did an internship in the department for Research in Childhood Health. He has a big interest in Urban Health and is currently working at the Cities Changing Diabetes project at Novo Nordisk, focusing on research in urban obesity and diabetes. He completed his MSc in Spring 2018.
Helen Fodnæss – Editor
Helen is Norwegian/American, but spent most her time in the US where she received her bachelors in Human Nutrition and Food Sciences. She also has her masters in global health from the University of Copenhagen which is when she was an editor for the Eye of Global Health Blog. She is now currently working for the National Food Institute at Denmark’s Technical University.
Helen Jane Myrr – Editor
Helen is from the UK and graduated from the University of Exeter in 2011 with a BSc in Biological and Medicinal Chemistry. She undertook a Master’s in Global Health at Copenhagen University from 2014 – 2016, during which time she was an Editor and content contributor of the KU Global Health blog. She now works for the Danish division of the academic publishing house, John Wiley & Sons, in their journal management Life Sciences division.
Sinéad O’Ferrall – Editor
Sinéad was a main content contributor and editor 2014-2015 and became chief editor 2015 to 2016. My proudest moment working on this endeavour was initiating the change in branding and requesting a budget assigned to the blog, though I could not see it all the way to the end due to graduating. My favourite experience was being invited to the SNIH conference in Stockholm as a panel speaker in 2016.
I am still pursuing writing and academic blogging and you can check my newest blog – ‘Science Says’ (https://scisaysblog.wordpress.com/) (done with fellow graduate students in University of Calgary) while I pursue a PhD in helminthic epidemiology with a focus on drug resistance.
Fleur van Acht – Events Coordinator
Fleur is a Dutch student of many subjects, with a heart for people and a head for business. Having studied at Liberal Arts and Sciences at University College Utrecht, Fleur is now a first year student of the MSc in Global Health at KU. An aspiring social entrepreneur, Fleur tries to combine her interests in (global) health, politics, psychology, economics, entrepreneurship and anthropology in practice, also in the context of Eye on Global Health. Intrigued by (human) relations and the stories we tell ourselves and others, Fleur is passionate about translating words into action by taking a business approach that is driven by innovation and partnership. In her free time, Fleur loves to workout, go on adventures, sing in the shower, and dance.
Finja Dähne– Events Coordinator 2018/2019
Hajer Hadi– Network Coordinator 2019
