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I am pulled into the rural health clinic and my half-unconsciousstate is knocked out of me by the stench of vomit, human waste, urine,and rotting flesh. The villagers hold me up as I vomit again, but, likethe past four hours, there is nothing left for me to throw up, the result

of drinking unboiled village water, dehydration and heat exhaustion. Iremember that this hospital doesnt have a regular doctor. Im draggedinto a room, overflowing with women: some bleeding profusely, somegiving birth, others screaming in pain. After being pushed onto a dirtybed next to a moaning woman, hours of unknown injections and wavesin and out of consciousness, Im told by who I think is a nurse that I amwell enough to leave, despite the fact that I dont feel well enough tostand. As I am helped out of the clinic I look back and realize thewoman next to me is dead.

It was not until this experience, something that took place when Iwas an Indicorps Fellow stationed in a village on the border of

Bangladesh and India, that I truly understood how disparities in healthare space related. My own traumatic experience in a health clinic, thedeath of the woman next to me and countless other women in thatclinic, could have been prevented. These events happened becausethe clinic was four hours away from Kolkata, where most of the areasdoctors were located.

Pursuing a Masters of Urban Planning and a Masters of PublicHealth is directly related to these experiences. That year, it became alltoo clear to me that good health is essential to the livelihood of avillage, a region and nation. However, I watched villagers suffer frompreventable diseases and illnesses, rampant from weak infrastructure

and absent health practitioners. I observed the concentration ofdoctors and nurses in Kolkata, where the pull of amenities like runningwater and electricity was too strong, preventing them from rural work.

In India, I discovered my desire to roll up my sleeves andimprove urban centers actively working on how to improve its linkswith the rural areas. At NYUs Urban Planning program, I delved intothese links, placing them contextually in the international urbandevelopment program, focusing on how space shaped development.While there, I was contracted by the InterAmerican Development Bankto analyze ways in which access to water shaped opportunities ofurban and rural citizens. Soon after, I worked with the Clinton

Foundation to explore ways urban wastewater could bemanaged/treated, developing a strategy that will be piloted in theFoundations C40 cities.

At Columbias School of Public Health, I have begun tounderstand the nuances of health behavior, and how that can be usedtowards effective health education. Concurrently, Ive completed aninternship at UN-Habitat, where I gained a solid grasp of the UN systemand its work around the world. I hope to continue that understanding

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with the KCCI internship this summer.