Carolyn
Porta
April 2017
Carolyn
Porta
University of Minnesota School of Nursing
Minneapolis
,
MN
United States
Carolyn worked with the students and faculty to organize meaningful learning experiences and a structure for communication, including social media platforms such as Facebook, What'sApp, and Twitter.
In 2012, Dr. Porta led the formation of the inaugural One Health Student Club in northern Rwanda, an interprofessional university-based student club dedicated to addressing complex global health problems. Beginning with nursing and veterinary students in northern Rwanda, Carolyn worked with faculty and students to establish a mechanism for multi-disciplinary out-of-the-classroom learning experiences that now includes medicine, environmental health, and business students. Because students are required to participate in siloed curricular programs, they often enter their professions with every little appreciation for the ways in which they need to interact with colleagues in other fields; this is especially true for students across human, animal, and environmental disciplines.
The students in Rwanda began meeting as a club, formed a leadership structure, and identified their mission and vision. The students worked with faculty support to generate extracurricular learning activities that required them to work together to take on broad public health challenges, such as the spread of infectious diseases in communities that affect humans and animals. Carolyn worked with the students and faculty to organize meaningful learning experiences and a structure for communication, including social media platforms such as Facebook, What'sApp, and Twitter. Carolyn went on to introduce the One Health Student Club (OHSC) model to the One Health Central and East Africa (OHCEA) network, and within months, OHSCs were formed at universities in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, and Ethiopia. Today, there are OHSCs in 8 African countries, and 4 Asian countries, with thousands of student members.
In Rwanda, the OHSC model is now on each of the four University of Rwanda campuses across the country, and there are over a thousand club members engaged in regular and special club events. Last year, club members along with faculty and US partners, including Carolyn, engaged in a week-long field attachment at Akagera National Park. The students worked in multidisciplinary teams to identify infectious disease threats at the human-animal-environment interface, and to generate solutions to mitigate those threats. The OHSC was the mechanism used to identify students for this experience, and students arrived with a high level of readiness because they are regularly engaged on one health dialogues and learning activities through the club. Carolyn, with ongoing support to the student club, remotely and in person, has promoted their development and capabilities as multidisciplinary team leaders. She has encouraged them in their project ideas and endeavors through individual and team mentoring. A year ago, she supported OHSC field outreach activities, and was with students visiting, observing, and interviewing professionals and workers in northern Rwanda; rice field workers and livestock handlers regularly engaging with baboons from nearby forests. She led the students through exercises, in small multidisciplinary teams to prioritize limited resources and generate feasible innovative solutions for one of the key observed challenges/risks. Carolyn did not simply initiate the OHSC model but has persistently demonstrated commitment to these students in tangible ways that reveal her heart and passion.
The students in Rwanda began meeting as a club, formed a leadership structure, and identified their mission and vision. The students worked with faculty support to generate extracurricular learning activities that required them to work together to take on broad public health challenges, such as the spread of infectious diseases in communities that affect humans and animals. Carolyn worked with the students and faculty to organize meaningful learning experiences and a structure for communication, including social media platforms such as Facebook, What'sApp, and Twitter. Carolyn went on to introduce the One Health Student Club (OHSC) model to the One Health Central and East Africa (OHCEA) network, and within months, OHSCs were formed at universities in Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, and Ethiopia. Today, there are OHSCs in 8 African countries, and 4 Asian countries, with thousands of student members.
In Rwanda, the OHSC model is now on each of the four University of Rwanda campuses across the country, and there are over a thousand club members engaged in regular and special club events. Last year, club members along with faculty and US partners, including Carolyn, engaged in a week-long field attachment at Akagera National Park. The students worked in multidisciplinary teams to identify infectious disease threats at the human-animal-environment interface, and to generate solutions to mitigate those threats. The OHSC was the mechanism used to identify students for this experience, and students arrived with a high level of readiness because they are regularly engaged on one health dialogues and learning activities through the club. Carolyn, with ongoing support to the student club, remotely and in person, has promoted their development and capabilities as multidisciplinary team leaders. She has encouraged them in their project ideas and endeavors through individual and team mentoring. A year ago, she supported OHSC field outreach activities, and was with students visiting, observing, and interviewing professionals and workers in northern Rwanda; rice field workers and livestock handlers regularly engaging with baboons from nearby forests. She led the students through exercises, in small multidisciplinary teams to prioritize limited resources and generate feasible innovative solutions for one of the key observed challenges/risks. Carolyn did not simply initiate the OHSC model but has persistently demonstrated commitment to these students in tangible ways that reveal her heart and passion.