Default | NEWS

2/8/2007 12:03:00 AM

By LYNETTE MCGLAMERY
Special to the Rice News

Vision point: We must provide a holistic undergraduate experience that equips our students with the knowledge, the skills and the values to make a distinctive impact in the world.

Born in India and raised in the United States, Rupsa Chaudhury has always been aware of the two worlds of the haves and the have-nots. The Baker College senior came to Rice wanting to be a doctor so she could help the have-nots.

TOMMY LAVERGNE

Baker College senior Rupsa Chaudhury credits much of her growth to opportunities offered by Rice both inside and outside the classroom. “Rice empowers students who have big ideas to put their passions into action,” she said.

But in May, she’ll graduate with a deeper vision for her life’s work — to be a doctor who directly helps people as well as an educator who inspires others to get involved with health issues around the world.

Chaudhury attributes much of her growth to the learning opportunities Rice has given her inside and outside the classroom.

And these learning experiences — innovative classes, campus organizations, community involvement, leadership and communication development and opportunities for research and study abroad — are what Rice will continue to nurture and expand as its student population grows by 30 percent over the next decade.

For Chaudhury, two learning experiences fueled her interest in global health: a medical sociology course she took as a sophomore and Rice Humanitarian Medical Outreach (HuMed), a student-run organization that participates in local and international projects that help improve the health of people living in poverty.

Chaudhury said the medical sociology course taught by Bridget Gorman was “better than a textbook.” In fact, Gorman, an assistant professor of sociology, uses no textbooks in her class. Instead, she gives medicine a human face by having students read and discuss nonfiction books and watch TV news clips.

“I want to give them a real-world framework and to show them that medicine is not just about genes and biology but about the conditions in which you live,” Gorman said.

Gorman’s course changed Chaudhury’s perception about being a doctor.

“It made me realize that medicine is also about socioeconomics, politics and religion,” she said. “I became more aware that many women in developing countries have little control over their own health.”

Chaudhury experienced the real-world conditions these women face during a six-week trip to Kenya last summer through HuMed.

She worked in a rural clinic and spoke to women’s groups about how AIDS and HIV affect breastfeeding and pregnancy, and she shared information she developed from research she conducted on her own.

Chaudhury said this experience helped shape her future as a doctor. “I have become even more dedicated to working in international health because I have seen firsthand that there is so much more to be done,” she said.

As assistant director of HuMed, Chaudhury also gained communication and leadership skills to help her both as a doctor and as an educator. She and a couple of others helped build the organization to more than 20 members through campus awareness activities, such as World AIDS Day, a speaker series with doctors who work abroad, and a monthly newsletter about current international health issues. She also wrote proposals to obtain funding from the university and from various organizations.

“Rice empowers students who have big ideas to put their passions into action,” she said.

These learning experiences, combined with her semester abroad at the pre-med program at Kings College in London and research opportunities with Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and with Rice biochemistry professor Michael Stern, have prepared her for the next stage of her journey at Johns Hopkins University Medical School next fall.  

Chaudhury’s ultimate destination is a teaching hospital where she can offer students what she was given at Rice — hands-on learning opportunities in global health that give students valuable career experience and allow them to make a big difference in the lives of people who need it most.