Hannah Stoner
Hannah was born and raised in Rochester, MN. She studied Natural Science and Sociology at the College of Saint Benedict in central Minnesota. Upon graduating, Hannah served in the Northwestern Province of Zambia as a Community Health Empowerment Volunteer for 18 months before having to abruptly return to the states when COVID-19 started. Her service mainly focused on Maternal and Adolescent Health, working with community members to create and implement projects concerned with menstrual health and youth empowerment. As a result of this experience and her work as a Recovery Coach in an addiction recovery center, Hannah became passionate about the diverse avenues in which the environment impacts our health. Currently, she is a second-year Masters of Science in Public Health candidate in the Environmental Health Sciences department.
Samuel Marquez DiChiara
Samuel DiChiara is pursuing his Master of Public Health in International Health and Sustainable Development. He is from Eugene Oregon and received his Bachelors of Art in Spanish and Minor in International Studies from Portland State University in 2016. After His Undergraduate degree Samuel went on to join the peace corps where he served as a Spanish language primary literacy promoter in the Dominican Republic from 2017-2019. After returning from the DR Samuel worked with a nonprofit in Portland called El Programa Hispano Catolico as a volunteer coordinator.
Emily Dimond
Emily is an MPH Nutrition student at Tulane University. She was born and raised in Davis, CA and received her B.S. in Nutrition at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. Since graduation, she served with the Peace Corps in a rural community in Paraguay where she supported the families and staff of local K-12 schools in developing health-related projects including school gardens, nutrition education, and youth development. Afterward, she held a similar role in health education with a SNAP-Ed program in Central California. Her roles piqued her interest in the relationship between food, community health, and the environment. She aspires to become a Public Health Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and play a leadership role in progressing towards health equity for low-resource communities through nutrition policy advocacy efforts. She is an avid foodie, and she enjoys mountain biking, dancing, and playing games like bananagrams.
Jennie Racher
Jennie is an MPH student in International Health and Sustainable Development at Tulane University from Atlanta, Georgia. Before Tulane, she received her B.A in Political Science and International Affairs in 2017 from the University of Georgia (GO Dawgs!). After graduation, she worked in the nonprofit world at the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society before embarking on the adventure that is Peace Corps. Jennie served in Senegal form 2018-2020 as a Health Extension Agent in Maternal and Child healthcare at a local health facility. She then became the Peace Corps Volunteer Leader for the Health Sector in Senegal before being evacuated for COVID 19. Upon returning to the US, Jennie taught special needs and worked as a behavioral technician for children with autism. Now, she is working towards development in international health. She absolutely adores her dog, Sophie, loves to read, and enjoys the outdoors and sports.
Niesha Ford
Niesha was born and raised in Hayward, California (Bay Area) until she moved to Minnesota to attend a private women’s college called College of Saint Benedict. At Saint Benedict, Niesha studied Biochemistry and participated in various activities of service such as becoming a Big Sister in the Big Brothers, Big Sisters organization, being a swimming instructor for Special Olympics and serving as a co-leader on two service trips during spring break. Her love of service took her to Rwanda, where she served as a Peace Corps Volunteer and implemented two projects in her community; one on increasing the diversity and availability of fresh foods and the other on Water, Hygiene and Sanitation (WASH). Seeing the pervasive nature of malaria and other infectious diseases in her community, Niesha decided Tulane’s SPHTM Tropical Medicine Department could deepen her understanding of these diseases and allow her to better help future communities in a research or program design capacity. Niesha is excited to be living in New Orleans and is happy to be apart of the global scholars family! She considers herself a certified foodie, who loves festivals, listening to music, and wandering.
Caitlin Riddle
Caitlin Riddle is a MSW/MPH student at Tulane University. She is from North Carolina but calls New Orleans home. Caitlin has a Bachelors in Social Work from Michigan State University. After undergrad, she served as a City Year New Orleans Corps Member (2014-2015) before joining the Peace Corps in November 2015. Caitlin served as an Education volunteer in Kabale, Uganda from 2015-2017, teaching phonics at Ndorwa Primary School. As she begins graduate school, she hopes to study violence as a public health issue, focusing on gun violence prevention and school discipline reform. Caitlin enjoys a nice cup of coffee, bicycle rides, and bonding sessions with her roommate’s cat.
Katie Kampa
As a Tulane SPHTM alumna, Katie Kampa is no stranger to Tulane’s Global Scholars Program. From 2014 to 2016, while pursuing her MPH in International Health and Development, she also acted as a Masters International (as it was previously known) Program Coordinator. Katie began her career in public health as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Mozambique where she served from 2009-2011. In her current position as a consultant with ICF, she has gained valuable experience working on a number of diverse projects, including facilitating a monitoring and evaluation workshop in Haiti, conducting a facility-level assessment of data quality in Ethiopia, leading an economic evaluation of Mozambique’s ART program, and assisting with a national health program transition readiness assessment in Belize. Katie will return to Tulane this fall to begin her PhD coursework within the Global Community Health and Behavioral Sciences Department.
