The Next Generation of Global Primary Health Care Leaders
We are committed to training and mentoring the next generation of global health leaders with a strong foundational understanding of primary health care and people-centered care approaches. The Program in Global Primary Health Care provides students and health professional trainees the opportunity to conduct mentored research projects and support program implementation. In collaboration with the Southeast Asia Initiative at the Harvard University Asia Center, the Partnership for Health Advancement in Viet Nam (HAIVN) (a collaboration between Harvard Medical School, the Brigham and Women’s Hospital and the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center), the Praboromarajchanok Institute (PBRI) in Thailand, Cities for Better Health in Vietnam, and the Center for Indonesia's Strategic Development Initiatives (CISDI) we are excited to offer a dynamic and experiential program for our scholars which may incorporate a field-based component.
The scholars program centers on a 12-month curriculum and mentored research project that will contribute to our work within partner countries to advance primary healthcare and people-centered care approaches to health system reform through knowledge generation, innovation, and advocacy.
The Program in Global Primary Health Care is based at Harvard Medical School Office of Research Initiatives and Global Programs and at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital Division of Global Health Equity. This scholarly opportunity through Brigham and Women’s Hospital, offers mentorship by Harvard Medical School faculty and local faculty based in Southeast Asia. Scholars will receive monthly teaching and regular support to assist them in completing their project. Each project includes a 4-6 week placement with the local project teams in Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand, or Indonesia. Eligibility for this program is limited to current graduate students in any degree-granting program of any Harvard University school.
Applications for the 2027 cohort are now open
This scholarly opportunity provides a pathway for students to contribute to ongoing collaborative projects that advance people-centered care approaches within primary healthcare systems strengthening through knowledge generation, innovation, and advocacy.
Read more about each scholar by clicking on their name.
- Lindsay Cobb
- Hannah Davies
- Boi (Bella) Hoang
- Zili Huang
- Anjali Mangla
- Clarisza Runtung, MSc, RN, DTN
- Alisa Sivapiromrat
- Jianna So
View past scholars and their projects
Lindsay Cobb
Master of Public Health in Health Policy Candidate at T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Lindsay is pursuing a Master of Public Health in Health Policy at the Harvard Chan School. She also works part-time at the United Nations Foundation, mobilizing Americans to advocate for U.S. government funding for global health programs. Prior to that role, she worked on a USAID global health project, supporting the rollout of point-of-care tuberculosis diagnostic technologies. Lindsay grew up in Rochester, Minnesota, and received her bachelor's degree from the University of Iowa.
Project: People-Centered Primary Care Reform Initiative in the Philippines
Hannah Davies
MD Candidate at Harvard Medical School
Hannah Davies is a first-year MD candidate in the Pathways program at Harvard Medical School. After graduating from Brandeis University with a master’s degree in neuroscience, she spent three years researching ways to improve autism diagnosis and intervention delivery in both the United States and abroad. As a Donald J. Cohen Research Fellow at the Marcus Autism Center in Atlanta, GA, she coordinated an NIH R01 eye-tracking study for early autism screening, contributed to implementation science research on Georgia’s Part C Early Intervention System, and helped develop the Georgia Autism Hub website for families navigating new autism diagnoses. During her Fulbright in India, she integrated a technology-based autism screening tool into practice at AIIMS Nagpur, evaluated the implementation outcomes of a caregiver-mediated autism intervention training, and continues to support the development of a refresher training course for families wanting additional guidance. Hannah looks forward to applying her background in implementation science and medical education to strengthen people-centered care approaches and improve healthcare accessibility in Vietnam this summer.
Project: Strengthening Medical Education for Students and Trainees in Vietnam (HAIVN)
Boi (Bella) Hoang
Master of Public Health Candidate in Health Policy at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Bella Hoang is a Master of Public Health student in Health Policy at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She holds a bachelor’s degree in International and Public Affairs from Brown University. Prior to Harvard, she served as an Executive Assistant in the Department of Population Health Science and Policy at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. She is deeply interested in U.S. safety-net programs, expanding primary care access for vulnerable populations, and issues related to health equity, housing stability, and food security. At Chan, she aims to further develop her skills in policy evaluation and research, particularly examining the impacts of major health policies such as the Affordable Care Act. She currently works as a Research Assistant for the Initiative on Health and Homelessness at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, contributing to a systematic review on homelessness prevention and studying the demographics of elderly homelessness. After completing her MPH, Bella hopes to pursue a JD/PhD in Population Health.
Project: Strengthening Medical Education for Students and Trainees in Vietnam (HAIVN)
Zili Huang
PhD candidate in the Population Health Sciences program (Health Systems Track) at T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Zili Huang is a PhD student in the Population Health Sciences Program (Health Systems track) at Harvard University. She studies how healthcare organizations interpret and respond to market and policy changes, drawing on both economic and organizational sociological perspectives. Her work examines the tensions that arise within and between organizations as they navigate shifting incentives, institutional norms, and resource constraints. She is particularly interested in how managerial, technological, and structural innovation diffuses through health systems and reshapes delivery models. Building on her experience in the healthcare industry and international organizations, she aims to understand how organizational behavior influences system performance, as well as the equity and effectiveness of care.
Project: Transforming Primary Care for Integrated Community Health in Indonesia (CISDI)
Anjali Mangla
Student, MD Candidate at Harvard Medical School
Anjali Mangla (she/her) is an M1 in the Pathways program at Harvard Medical School who hopes to pursue a career in global health medicine and policymaking. She graduated from Yale in 2024 with a Certificate in Global Health Studies alongside a BS in Neuroscience & Global Affairs, and started her global health journey researching global health financing structures for health systems strengthening in Liberia as a part of her senior Capstone in undergrad. During her gap year, she pursued an MSc in Health Policy, Planning, and Financing at LSE/LSHTM, where she became interested in sustainable financing for noncommunicable disease care in resource-constrained and crisis-affected regions. Her dissertation focused on cardiovascular disease medicine accessibility in low- and middle-income countries. She hopes to continue to focus on community-based and sustainably funded interventions to strengthen diabetes and women's healthcare in resource-constrained settings.
Project: Advancing People-Centered Care Primary Health Care in Thailand (PBRI)
Clarisza Runtung, MSc, RN, DTN
Master of Public Health Candidate in Health Policy at the T.H. Chan School of Public Health
Clarisza Runtung is an emergency nurse currently pursuing her MPH in Global Health and Population at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Her work focuses on the intersection of climate change, migration, and primary health care, with ongoing research in Jakarta using GIS, demographic methods, and institutional mapping to understand how environmental shocks reshape health-system resilience. She brings a breadth of experience working alongside underserved populations facing environmental and social stress: supporting families in the Zaatari Camp in Jordan as they navigated early childhood development and access to care, working with communities in Madagascar to understand and track the pressures of illegal logging, and partnering with villages in Indonesia to strengthen community health while protecting forests in biodiversity-critical landscapes. Her path also includes early policy experience at the World Health Organization and a background in theatre directing, which she draws on to integrate narrative methods that center community voices and inform policy design. Clarisza plans to pursue a PhD to advance research on primary health care and disaster preparedness in regions most affected by climate change.
Project: Transforming Primary Care for Integrated Community Health in Indonesia (CISDI)
Alisa Sivapiromrat
MD Candidate at Harvard Medical School
Alisa (Ally) Sivapiromrat is a first-year MD candidate at Harvard Medical School. She graduated from Emory University in 2023 with a bachelor’s degree in biology, where she participated in cystic fibrosis clinical research under the mentorship of Dr. Vin Tangpricha. During her undergraduate studies, she also studied abroad at the University of Oxford, focusing on biomedical sciences and biochemistry.
Following graduation, she spent two years at the National Institutes of Health as a Post-baccalaureate CRTA research fellow in the Thoracic and Gastrointestinal Malignancies Branch of the National Cancer Institute under Dr. Arun Rajan. Her work focused on characterizing thymic adenocarcinoma and supporting clinical trials investigating immunotherapies for rare thymic cancers, contributing to efforts to improve care for patients with limited therapeutic options.
She is interested in learning how advances in clinical research can be thoughtfully implemented across different health systems to contribute to sustainable, systems-level improvements in patient care.
Project: Advancing People-Centered Care Primary Health Care in Thailand (PBRI)
Jianna So
PhD candidate in Computer Science at the Harvard School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Jianna So is a PhD student at Harvard advised by Krzysztof Gajos in the Intelligent Interactive Systems group. As an artist and researcher, she creates to help us remember and reimagine ourselves, care for each other, and honor our elders. In her PhD, she explores how health technology can be built more accessibly and ethically, particularly for older adults who live in under-resourced areas or who have neurodegenerative diseases. Her methods are interdisciplinary; she conducts formative research through participatory and speculative design methods, incorporates critical theory in analysis, and builds systems alongside participants. Currently, she is collaborating with researchers at Massachusetts General Hospital’s Department of Neurology to create patient-focused health tools and research practices. Beyond research, she explores Filipino identity and history through projection art about movement and memory.
Project: People-Centered Primary Care Reform Initiative in the Philippines (UP)