Emma Camps, a student enrolled in Pitt Public Health's accelerated 4+1 program earning her MPH in epidemiology, always knew she wanted to study abroad—and exactly where she wanted to go: Switzerland.
What she didn’t know what lessons she’d learn and the memories she’d make this summer through a six-week Global Health & Development Policy program with the School for International Training (SIT).
“It made sense for me to go to Switzerland because it’s a hub for humanitarian action and sustainability, and the programs available there focused on global health and public health,” she said. “It brought together where I wanted to go with what I wanted to study.”
As part of the SIT program, Camps was required to complete an independent research project. While she initially wanted to focus on nutrition and sustainability, her project evolved to focus on eating disorders, nutrition and public health policy. She interviewed a dietitian in Switzerland and an eating disorder psychologist based in New York.
“My findings ultimately pointed toward the need for national nutrition guidance to be more inclusive of eating disorders,” she said. “There’s a lot of emphasis on obesity prevention, but it’s also important to consider people who may be susceptible to eating disorders and make sure public health messaging doesn’t overlook them.”
In addition to her research, one of Camps’s favorite parts of her summer in Switzerland was staying with a host family, which allowed her to fully immerse herself in Swiss culture.
“Staying with a host family was one of the reasons I knew this was the right program for me,” she said. “It ended up being incredible. My host family reminded me so much of one set of my grandparents back home.”
She also enjoyed cooking and learning about sustainability and circular food systems in the kitchen.
“My host mom went away for two weeks during my study abroad, so I ended up doing the cooking during that time,” Camps said. “I got to go through the pantry and refrigerator and figure out how to use what we already had without wasting anything.”
Camps is thankful for the opportunity to experience public health in practice.
“Whether it was sustainability through everyday life with my host family or thinking about nutrition policy through my independent research, I was able to experience those public health concepts in a completely different setting,” she said.
“This program went above and beyond to defy my expectations and produce one-of-a-kind experiences.”
-Ava Dzurenda