As a 2011 Frist Global Health Leader, Vanderbilt medical student Rebecca Cook traveled to Kenya to work at the Lwala Community Health Center and Kijabe Hospital.
Rebecca Cook was born and raised in Kenya, where she lived until she was 17 years old. She earned her B.S. in Biology with a minor in International Studies at Wake Forest University and M.Sc. degrees in Medical Anthropology and Global Health Science before starting medical studies at Vanderbilt in 2007. Through Vanderbilt’s Medical Scholars program, she has had the opportunity to work with VIGH’s HIV/AIDS treatment program in Mozambique where she studied the early infant diagnosis program for infants born to HIV-positive mothers. She has also been active throughout her four years of medical school in caring for under-served patients in Nashville through the Shade Tree Clinic and Siloam Family Health Center.
In the spring of 2011, she spent 2 months in Kenya where she worked at Lwala Community Health Center in January and Kijabe Hospital in February. She had the opportunity to serve in her home country and community by combining primary care and inpatient tertiary care in her experience, and assisting and encouraging busy health providers with daily clinical care as well as community health projects. Rebecca entered residency training in Internal Medicine-Pediatrics in July 2011 where she continues to pursue a calling to serve the underserved and ultimately return to the developing world. She is passionate about clinical care, medical education, and community-based and outcomes research.
Read about Rebecca’s experiences as a 2011 Frist Global Health Leader
- 09 January 2011: Lwala, Kenya: Arrival of Vandy Medical Student
- 27 January 2011: Reflections on a Month of Clinical Care in Lwala
- 09 February 2011: Community Health in Lwala, Kenya
- 25 February 2011: Moments in Kijabe: Medicine in the Male Ward
- 07 March 2011: Taking Care of Baby E: Peds Ward in Kenya