Page 46 - Salesianum - Winter 2019

FEATURE
ALUMNI SPOTLIGHT — CHRIS REYNOLDS ’14
Javier Aulí
Please tell us more about your long-term graduate plans.
“I’m in Colombia now and will be until June 2019 as a result of the Fulbright research grant. I’m currently living in Bogotá, but my research has allowed me to travel to other cities, like Cali, Medellin and Pasto, and more remote areas, including Vista Hermosa and a reintegration camp for FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia) ex-combatants, called ETCRs (Espacios Territoriales de Capacitación y Reincorporación). The research project examines the healthcare barriers faced by FARC ex-combatants who have begun the reincorporation process following the Peace Deal (2016 Nuevo Acuerdo de Paz) with the Colombian government. Specifically, we are implementing a country-wide survey of emergency room providers’ experiences, knowledge and attitudes towards this population, to eventually implement interventions
to strengthen emergency care in Colombia. We are also conducting more in-depth, semi-structured interviews with healthcare providers and other experts who have experience working in ETCRs, and members of the ex-combatant community themselves, to understand structural healthcare barriers faced in the reincorporation process from a national level.
As the Fulbright Scholar, I was responsible for designing the research project, the idea of which came from conversations while studying abroad in Quito during
the signing of the peace agreement in 2016, with Ecuadorean classmates who were heavily biased against this population. However, the scope and resources would not have been possible without the excellent mentorship
I have received from those working on the research
team. I am supported primarily by the medical faculty at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, and receive outstanding mentorship from a team of physicians and other interdisciplinary professionals from the Universities of Brown, Emory and Harvard.
I feel incredibly blessed to be working on a project that aligns with my vocation, and one in which I can learn
a great deal about global medicine and public health at
the same time. It combines my passions of work with
an ostracized and stigmatized population, post-conflict medicine, Spanish speaking and public health research. My salsa moves have improved a lot as well! Next year,
I’ll attend medical school, with a focus on international medicine, and will be continuing partnerships in Colombia and Liberia. Long-term, my dream is to practice medicine and population-based research with vulnerable communities in conflict or post-conflict settings, ideally working for an organization such as Doctors without Border or Partners in Health.”
44 DISTINGUISHED GENTLEMAN | Winter 2019