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How does geographic location affect access to health resources? How are health systems impacted in countries mired with conflict? Are high-income countries morally obligated to provide aid to low-middle income nations? These are a few of the questions that drove Jelena Poleksic’s decision to pursue a Masters degree in global health.

 

Poleksic comes to the MSc Global Health program after completing a Bachelor of Arts & Science at McMaster. “I have the program’s interdisciplinary focus to thank for complicating my understanding of disease etiology,” she admits, noting a desire to steer her studies toward the intersection of medicine, philosophy, and sociology, and explore the “macroscopic influences on wellbeing.”

 

Poleksic is no stranger to the practical aspects of global health. Recently, she spent time working in orphanages and local youth centers in Bosnia and Herzegovina, organizing reproductive health workshops alongside physicians and social workers. “Volunteering in the Balkans introduced me to systematic barriers to health care I was not readily exposed to in Canada,” says Poleksic. “The lack of a centralized political authority means there’s a dearth of health promotion strategies, which stymies citizen participation in public health discourse. Then unemployment, illiteracy, and traditional gender boundaries further complicate matters,” she explains.  

 

Back at McMaster, Poleksic is eager for the opportunity to continue exploring the relationship between gender, health, and reconciliation through the program’s practicum component.

 

“I selected this program because its vision of innovation and transnational collaboration is appealing given my career goals, and will help contextualize my future as a clinician-social scientist,” says Poleksic, who looks forward to learning in a vibrant community of like-minded students.