Since completing her MPH at the Yale School of Public Health in 2014, Ffyona Patel has worked with stakeholders in Haiti, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Togo and other developing countries to advance their health systems and improve health outcomes. Patel’s collaborative approach to international health was influenced by an interdisciplinary Yale course that involved traveling to rural Haiti following the devastating earthquake there in 2010. “We worked hand-in-hand with [hospital] staff to ensure our support was context-specific and realistic, key to any intervention,” said Patel, who is Haitian American and passionate about seeing Haiti – and countries like it – evolve out of development assistance. “That experience set the tone for how I approach every project in my international health career.” As a first-generation, Haitian-Indian-American Black woman, Patel says her racial and cultural background is an important asset in her international public health work – both in terms o...