Student Spotlight – Robyn Bernstein

“Conflict is a chronic disease,” says Robyn Bernstein. A second-year student in the Department of Chronic Disease Epidemiology, Robyn interned this summer with the Center for Research in Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) at the University of Catholique de Louvain in Brussels where her work demonstrated to her how the ‘chronic disease process’ is applicable to the health issues that natural and manmade disasters create.

Like most non-communicable disease, the social determinants of health — the social conditions in which people are born, live, work and age — are severely compromised for those living as refugees, in war-torn areas or in areas ravaged by natural disasters. Robyn’s work with CRED, included working on models for where need for aid and supplies is greatest in Yemen and creating a GIS map demonstrating the global burden of conflict using the Armed Conflict LED database.

This kind of work is used to help inform countries and international organizations as to how to most effectively utilize resources. Oftentimes, says Robyn, impoverished areas are ignored until the international press is let in. For example, the conflict in Yemen has contributed to the country’s malnutrition for years, but it is only with the recent cholera outbreak that it made western headlines. Such tools can be used to reduce reliance on international publicity to help people.

In addition to her studies, Robyn is the Director of Education at the Haven Free Clinic, a student-run primary care clinic for the uninsured in New Haven. Many of the patients who the clinic serves are refugees and undocumented workers. Robyn loves the clinic, working with patients to counsel them on chronic disease management and prevention and exercising her language skills. She plans to forge a career in global health and medicine.