“At the Mailman School, I found a place that approaches reproductive health as every woman's right. I now realize that my work contributes to the health and welfare of women globally, and that, as an alumna, I have joined a vital community of international health professionals.”

As an undergraduate Women's and Gender Studies major at Columbia University, Karen Austrian traveled to Kenya and worked in a family planning clinic. Although rewarding, Karen recognized that the clinic's work focused only on the health of married women, leaving adolescent girls at risk for pregnancy and exposure to HIV and other diseases.

Not one to walk away from a problem unsolved, at age 22 Karen obtained a small grant to start a project dedicated to addressing the health and rights issues of adolescent girls in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya. In just three months, demand for Binti Pamoja's (Swahili for "Daughters United") services skyrocketed and it became a full-scale NGO.

"Binti Pamoja was doing great, but the girls needed something more consistent and on going," explained Karen. "The program needed to grow if it was to truly meet the needs of these girls. I knew getting an MPH at the Mailman School would give me the skills necessary to take this work to the next level."

Thanks to a Sharp Scholarship, Karen enrolled in the School's Heilbrunn Department of Population and Family Health to hone her skills in monitoring, evaluation and research, and program design and management.

"Everything I learned in the classroom has been applicable to my work in the field," she says. "I became more informed and methodical. I employed my new skills in research and data collection to further develop Binti Pamoja's curriculum, and to learn about the program's reach by setting up systems to document exactly what was going on."

Upon completing her degree, Karen accepted a full-time position at the Population Council to work with a network of individuals and groups in Kenya on strengthening programs and developing opportunities for adolescent girls.