Student Spotlight – Ryan Sutherland

Public health gives Ryan Sutherland an umbrella under which to bring together his interests in biology, clinical medicine, and global development with a deep love of the culture of Indonesia.

As an undergraduate biology and music major, Ryan wrote an ethnomusicological thesis on the Gamelan music of Indonesian. He also worked as an emergency medical technician in Atlanta, a position that opened his eyes and heart to the struggles faced by vulnerable populations. After additional study as a Fulbright Scholar in Madrid, Spain, Ryan received a scholarship from the Indonesian Ministry of Education and Culture to study at Universitas Syiah Kuala in Banda Aceh, Sumatra. He then interned for the U.S. Agency for International Development in Jakarta before coming to Yale.

Now a Master of Public Health candidate in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Ryan is particularly involved in addressing social development and equity issues through research and advocacy. He plans to return to Indonesia for his internship this summer as research scholar with Global Environmental Health LAB at Hasanuddin University. There he will expand on his previous work by assessing smoking risk, perception and use of tobacco products among urban street children and rural island children enrolled in alternative schooling programs.

Ryan’s extracurricular life at Yale is rich and advocacy oriented. He serves on the Graduate and Professional Title IX Advisory Board and the YSPH Title IX committee, serves as a coordinator for the Neighborhood Health Project and as a Sexual Health Educator with the HAVEN Free Clinic. He is actively involved in planning events related to homelessness and migrant health at Yale. He keeps music in his life by singing with the Yale Camerata.