Career, what?!?!?
Career, what??!!??!!
June 24, 2011
For those of you who I haven't been in the best touch with, I have an update for you on my future/career/academic plans. I have decided that I am pretty sure I do not want to be a strict academic, and thus do not want to do a PhD program anymore. Or, at least, not now, and probably not in biological anthropology.
I have decided that I want bring an evolutionary anthropological perspective TO public health, instead of trying to bring applied public health perspectives to evolutionary anthropology. Mostly, for my own practical purposes. I want to do research, I want to be innovative, but I don't want to ask questions just to ask questions. When you do anything evolutionary, it's hard to be applied (when you look through an evolutionary lens, nothing is really “good” or “bad” for humans, it just IS.) But, I get so inspired when I think about how much progress could take place in all the fields if we just adopted or used an evolutionary framework.
So what does this mean for me? Well, I see myself focusing on a couple areas. Maternal/Child health, sexuality and reproductive health, and general global health. I like the idea of outreach projects. I also really like the idea of working with Latinas in the U.S., or in South America – particularly Colombia or Venezuela. I know a lot about women's and sexual health, just out of my own interest, and I love sharing that knowledge with people. The idea of getting paid to do that is well, just amazing. But, I'm not quite sure how to go about that. But, right now, I think the best plan is to apply for Master's in Public Health programs.
Me giving a poster talk at the conference for the Human Behavior and Evolution Society. 2010.
I am really considering doing the Peace Corps Master's International Program, where you serve for a year and the PC pays for your Master's. I am not entirely stoked on the idea of being in the Peace Corps, nor am I particularly concerned about being able to get a Master's funded, BUT, it seems like a well-fashioned way to do my work abroad, while getting an MPH at a respected school of public health.
So, the plan is to apply in the fall.
A couple inspirational people and links:
You go girl! Get it!
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