UC Global Health Institute Ambassador and UCI doctoral student hopes to provide solutions to climate-related conflict
Doctoral student, Maia Tarnas, believes that nothing can change unless a population is healthy. “We have this idea that global health is not in our background and is somewhere far away. But this couldn’t be further from the truth. It is in our backyard and is in our community. If we can create solutions to address global health, we are promoting the best of humanity.”
I specifically chose to apply to UC Irvine Public Health’s doctoral program because of the research that Assistant Professor Daniel Parker was conducting. The work he does around the Myanmar border, with Malaria, and other areas of high conflict is inspiring.”
Maia Tarnas, PhD in Public Health Student
Tarnas is in the first year of her 5-year journey to complete her Ph.D. degree at the UCI Program in Public Health. She is concentrating on global health and would like to eventually work abroad doing evidence-based research to help inform policy and program development. To become more acquainted with this area of public health, Tarnas applied to and was nominated to be a UC Global Health Institute Ambassador with the 2022 cohort. During her 2-quarter term, she hopes to learn even more about future professional opportunities and meet like-minded individuals across the UC system.
Originally from Hawaii, Tarnas completed her bachelor’s degree from Tufts University where she majored in community health and Middle Eastern studies. After working on a project funded by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health to improve access to tuberculosis drugs, she started to think more seriously about a post-graduate degree.
“I specifically chose to apply to UC Irvine Public Health’s doctoral program because of the research that Assistant Professor Daniel Parker was conducting. The work he does around the Myanmar border, with Malaria, and other areas of high conflict is inspiring,” Tarnas said.
Now with Parker as her mentor, Tarnas has started to think about what she wants to focus her thesis on. She sees climate-related conflict as being a very important issue in the very near future.
“Climate change and climate-related disasters are two-fold. The visible effect is that a region’s environment is physically destroyed or altered. The longer-term effect is that it can create conflict within the region’s population. For example, a flood can devastate a farmer’s livelihood, and this can lead to protests, not to mention disease outbreaks due to unsanitary conditions,” Tarnas said.
Now six months into her PhD path, Tarnas has found UC Irvine to be a very community-oriented, collaborative environment, which was an important characteristic she was looking for in a Ph.D. program. She also values the work-life balance that is adopted among her peers and mentors.
When asked what drives her to pursue her passion, Tarnas said “I believe that everyone has the right to health, but it often is not protected in conflict and can itself be weaponized. I want to contribute to the protection of health in these settings and work against the idea that detrimental health impacts are inherent ‘collateral damage’ in conflict.”
Her motto: “You can do hard things. It may look intimidating, but it doesn’t mean you can’t achieve it. Just try!”
