Emily Cadima, GPH student
Emily Cadima is a third-year student in the College of Arts and Sciences, majoring in Global Public Health with a minor in Bioethics. In the summer following her first year, Emily’s passion for public health was solidified after studying abroad in Cape Town, South Africa. While in South Africa, she took courses in social movement building and community organizing for public health equity and advocacy with Professor Chris Colvin. During this summer experience, Emily and 15 other students collaborated with a local NGO, the Movement for Change and Social Justice (MCSJ). Through a hands-on collective investigation and campaign for a new local district hospital, she developed a deeper interest in the field of health policy and equity.
Emily now serves as the Global Studies program assistant, acting as a liaison between faculty and students across the academic program’s five concentrations (Global Commerce in Culture and Society, Global Development Studies, Global Environments and Sustainability, Global Public Health, Global Security and Justice). In this role, she helps streamline communications and assists with coordinating events such as the Global Studies 10th-anniversary celebration and the upcoming annual global futures research symposium to foster engagement within the Global Studies department and the wider UVA community.
Outside of class, Emily is involved in several organizations on grounds, including the University Programs Council’s “Late Night” committee, which organizes university-sponsored student events, and HooThon, where she works on the fundraising committee to support the UVA Children’s Miracle Network Hospital. Emily has also participated with UVA Ambassadors in the office of undergraduate admission, helping to connect prospective students and their families with current students and admissions deans. Earlier this year, she began volunteering with Madison House Medical Services as a health unit coordinator assistant on a cardiology floor at UVA Health University Hospital. Emily plans to apply to UVA’s 4+1 Master of Public Health program later this year, hoping to extend her time in Charlottesville and focus her graduate studies on the health policy, ethics, and law program track.