12/17/2025
Student Spotlight: UTMB School of Public & Population Health MPH student Briana Nguyen completed a global public health placement in Lima, Peru, supporting a community-led childhood nutrition program. Her experience highlighted the power of partnership, cultural humility, and community-driven solutions.
As part of Briana Nguyen’s Master of Public Health Applied Practice Experience at The University of Texas Medical Branch, she completed a global public health placement in Lima, Peru, in collaboration with Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (UPCH). El Comedor Ermitaño Alto, a community-based nutrition program serving children ages 6–59 months who had been identified with anemia through the local health center. This experience allowed her to translate her academic training and long-standing interest in maternal and child health into hands-on, field-based public health work in a global setting. The learning environment was grounded in community engagement rather than a traditional academic or clinical structure. El Comedor Ermitaño Alto functions as a neighborhood dining and nutrition support space for children and families experiencing economic insecurity and limited access to consistent food and health services.
The program emphasized collective responsibility, mutual support, and strong interpersonal relationships. Mothers were central to the program’s daily operations and long-term sustainability, reinforcing the idea that effective public health work depends on community leadership rather than external direction. One of the most significant differences Briana observed between public health practice in Peru and the United States was the importance placed on relationship-building and flexibility. Timelines and schedules were often fluid, requiring patience and adaptability. Initially, this challenged her expectations around structure and efficiency. Over time, however, she came to understand that trust and rapport were prioritized over rigid timelines, ultimately strengthening program engagement and participation.
Data collection presented another important learning opportunity. Records often relied on handwritten documentation, vaccination cards, and caregiver recall, which posed challenges for consistency and accuracy. Working closely with local partners, Briana assisted in cleaning, organizing, and standardizing data while respecting existing systems. This process required balancing methodological rigor with cultural sensitivity and feasibility. It reinforced that evaluation tools must be adapted to local capacity in order to be useful and sustainable.
Living independently within the city allowed for deeper immersion into daily life in Lima. Navigating public transportation using buses and the Metropolitano system became part of her routine, while shopping at local markets provided insight into food availability, affordability, and dietary patterns relevant to the nutrition program. These experiences helped contextualize the social and environmental factors influencing health behaviors and reinforced how closely public health outcomes are tied to everyday living conditions.
Collaboration with UPCH faculty, students, and community members was central to the experience. Academic partnerships offered exposure to global public health research and implementation, while direct engagement with families at El Comedor revealed the lived realities behind population-level data. Conversations with mothers about feeding practices, childhood illness, and access to care highlighted the importance of culturally appropriate communication and trust in maternal and child health initiatives.
One of the most impactful lessons for Briana from this experience was recognizing how informal, community-run systems often compensate for gaps in formal health infrastructure. Programs like El Comedor Ermitaño Alto play a critical role in addressing nutrition and health education needs that may otherwise go unmet. This experience deepened my appreciation for community-driven solutions and the importance of designing public health programs that align with local strengths and resources. Overall, this experience strengthened her commitment to advancing maternal child health and nutrition for all.
