Sophia Priester-Veasley, a senior student-athlete on the University of San Francisco women's track and field team, participated in a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity this past summer as she traveled halfway across the world for the Kenya Public Health in the Tropics Internship.
 
With Priester-Veasley nearing the end of her undergraduate experience on the Hilltop, she has dedicated her career to public health, specifically as an OB/GYN, and this internship helped her focus on the unique health challenges and disparities faced by black populations around the world.
 
Q: So, how was everything, wrapping up your experience and traveling back from Kenya?
 
A: It was good; everything was enjoyable. We did our final projects and everything, presented those, and then we got a chill weekend to ourselves. That weekend allowed me to pack on time and get everything together. It took about 14 hours from Nairobi to New York. I had a layover at JFK and then made my way to Dulles Airport. I needed some time to recover when I got home to Washington, D.C., but I enjoyed the experience, and I'm excited to get back to San Francisco.
 
Q: What was your final project on, and how did you wrap up the internship?
 
A: We were allowed to take the initiative and craft our own final project, so it was nice to have a personalized project. I spent a lot of time in prenatal, working in the clinic, doing some family planning, birth preparations, as well as getting experience in labor and delivery. I also had the opportunity to work with people in antenatal care because of the age of the child, with the child being so young. We worked on their immunizations, including rotavirus, HPV, yellow fever, and other diseases, to help decrease the mortality rate of those under the age of five and create a larger, long-lasting population in Kenya.
 
Q: When you were in the hospital doing the labor and delivery and seeing everything firsthand, how did that feel, and how did that make you think? Obviously, learning in the classroom is one thing, but being able to be in the room and see it happen in real life is another.
 
A: I had so much fun. At first, I didn't know I wanted to pursue becoming an OB/GYN, but I thought it would be something cool to try out. Throughout my time at the hospital, I saw the relationships between the doctors and other healthcare workers. It was obviously very professional, but it was also amicable and very people-centered, and it made me believe that I can do this. I am very personable, so it was easy for me to build relationships with patients, allowing me to understand what they are going through and make each workday enjoyable. Seeing the labor part, I wasn't scared, but it definitely was a determining factor in whether I was up to the challenge of this profession. I had fun building relationships with families and seeing their progression after birth, all the way through their follow-up appointments. It felt so rewarding to be a part of that process.
 
Q: Did you have any mentors, professors, or bosses, anyone that you looked up to that was leading you, that you either took a strong liking to or who really helped you throughout the program?
 
A: Yeah, the director of nursing, Dr. Millicent, was honestly the best and very helpful. I came in every week and gave my objectives and what I wanted to accomplish, and she guided me in the right direction. Anything I needed in the hospital, she would personally take me to where I needed to go, and she also helped me with my final project by getting me the necessary data.
 
The School of International Training (SIT) program director, Milton, was great as well. We worked Monday through Thursday and had class on Friday. It was enjoyable to learn about everything that we would be practicing and the healthcare system in Kenya, as they are trying to move towards universal healthcare.
 
Q: What about the classmate, the friend aspect of it? You touched a little bit on it last time, but did you find a new best friend? Did you get close to anyone, particularly, or talk about more of the social aspect of it?
 
A: The whole experience was very social. The people in the program had their own individual projects; a lot of us were pre-med, but everyone was in public health. I ended up living with two other people from my program, and we clicked from the start. We talked all the time, binge-watched television shows, and just had a great time together. We worked at the same hospital, so we had breakfast together, walked to work, texted throughout the day, and had similar undergraduate classwork despite going to different colleges and universities around the United States.
 
Q: With the program now over, what are the next steps? Will you finish up and graduate with your undergrad degree? Is there another part of the program? Is there another program that coincides with this that you want to pursue?
 
A: The program is over now, which is sad because I am going to miss everyone. My goal is to finish my last year of school, have a good season on the track and field team, graduate, and walk across the stage with a degree in my hand. I would love to do something else with the program. It's a whole university, so they have a master's program and other things like that, which I don't think I will do, but some of the people have discussed drafting a plan to see if we can go back to Kenya in December to help first responders become CPR certified. SIT has a small grant for people who go on a program and end up going back to help work, so if we can get that off the ground, that would be fantastic.
 
After that, I plan on applying to med school, but I have some time because I have a handful of sciences classes I need to fulfill, so that will give me another year of buffer.

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