Charlotte Lee

About Charlotte

(updated 6/2016) Charlotte Lee graduated with highest distinction from Duke University with a B.A. in Public Policy and minors in Global Health and Chemistry in May 2015. She plans to pursue a Masters in Public Health and an M.D., with residency in Obstetrics and Gynecology. She aspires to work on maternal and child health issues globally. Charlotte initially developed a passion for global health as an undergraduate, working at the Women’s Institute for Secondary Education and Research (WISER) in rural Kenya, where approximately one in three were living with HIV/AIDS. At WISER, she trained local research assistants for a study on the relationship between nutrition and cognitive ability and taught sex education in schools. Charlotte worked as a research associate and fieldworker for an epidemiological study in the Peruvian Amazon, where she also taught dental hygiene classes in Spanish to mothers and children in remote river communities. She was the Hepatitis B Policy Intern in New York City at the Charles B. Wang Community Health Center, which mainly serves low-income Asian immigrants and Asian Americans. While there, she coordinated and marketed the first-ever NYC Hepatitis B Awareness Week with NYC City Council and co-authored a successful CDC grant proposal to expand hepatitis B screening and to train general practitioners in the testing and treatment of hepatitis B. Charlotte loves to travel and studied abroad in Istanbul, Turkey, where she learned about Turkish history, culture, religion, and politics. She enjoyed volunteering with Duke Hospice in college, developing relationships with patients at the end of their lives and supporting their families. She was also a volunteer ESL (English as a Second Language) tutor for Latino community members through Duke GANO (Gente Aprendiendo para Nuevas Oportunidades). Her senior year, she worked as a research assistant at the Center for Health Policy and Inequalities Research, where she contributed to international global health research by working to improve monitoring and evaluation strategies related to the wellbeing of orphans. She completed her senior honors thesis on the relationship between distrust of the government and vaccine refusal and her paper has been submitted for publication in the internationally acclaimed journal, Vaccine. She was elected to Phi Beta Kappa and is currently applying to medical school for 2017 matriculation. For her Luce year, she has been working as a technical research assistant at the  Life Skills Development Foundation (TLSDF) , an organization focused on children’s rights, health, and education, in  Chiang Mai, Thailand . At TLSDF, Charlotte has designed and conducted a baseline study of child nutrition and dental health in two villages, developed a new child case management system for the organization’s orphans and vulnerable children programs, and wrote and co-designed a successful EU grant project on career advancement services for migrant workers.