Ashley Appiagyei
Ashley Appiagyei is a second year medical student at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Before beginning medical school, Ashley received her undergraduate degree in Psychology from Boston University and a graduate degree in Public Health (MPH) from Emory University. After receiving her MPH, Ashley spent three years working in Zambia and Rwanda on Couples HIV Counseling and Testing (CHCT) and Long Acting Reversible Contraception programs. During that time, Ashley served as a consultant to Ministries of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Ghana, Namibia, South Africa and Uganda for the expansion of their CHCT programs. Ashley also served as the lead consultant to the Botswana Ministry of Health in the development of their National Strategy and Costed Implementation Plan for CHCT.
While at UNC, Ashley has served as the Recruitment Liaison for the UNC Chapter of the Student National Medical Association, the largest and oldest student-run organization focused on supporting current and future underrepresented minority medical students and addressing the needs of underserved communities. Ashley is also an Albert Schweitzer Fellow and co-leads a community service project, Let’s Talk About, which works to promote positive life outcomes in minority middle school girls through an after-school program that builds self-esteem and provides skills in goal setting and achievement.
In her free time, Ashley loves to travel and more importantly eat while she travels. She recently began doing Crossfit.
Project:"Assessing Strategies for Increasing Male involvement in Malawi’s Antenatal Program"
June 1, 2015 - July 24, 2015
Malawi
What does the Kean Fellowship mean to you?
As a public health practitioner and future clinician with a strong interest in global health and tropical diseases, I am extremely honored to receive the Kean Fellowship. The fellowship has provided me with opportunities for both personal and professional growth and I am excited to see the impact my work through the fellowship will have on the field.
What do you anticipate learning?
I anticipate improving my research skills in study design as well as quantitative data collection and analysis. I also hope to improve my technical skills in the design of evidence-based public health interventions. Finally, I anticipate gaining experience in orally presenting research findings and submitting research findings for publication in peer-reviewed journals.
What interests you about tropical medicine and what problems are you interested in solving?
I am particularly interested in the intersections of maternal/child health and infectious diseases and it’s impact on community health and development. My professional interests involve strengthening the translation of research into programmatic activities.