Each month, END7 honors one student who has made a significant contribution to our growing movement of student advocates dedicated to seeing the end of neglected tropical diseases (NTDs). We are very proud to introduce our March 2015 Student of the Month, Lauren Crossman, the END7 Student Advisory Board representative for the University of Cincinnati. Lauren, a third year pre-med student studying Biology at UC, shares:
“A month prior to learning about the END7 campaign last summer, I was on a study abroad trip in Accra, Ghana learning about the prevalence of HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis, as well as the nation’s public health policies and infrastructures. Upon returning from Ghana, a few classmates from the trip and I decided to attend the 5th Annual Consortium of Universities for Global Health conference in Washington, D.C. There, we met Emily Conron, END7’s Student Outreach Coordinator, and we were highly impressed by the campaign’s advocacy efforts and network of passionate students. As a student with a desire to become more involved in global health in a sustainable way, I was more than excited to become a part of the END7 campaign. UC students Malini Ramudit, Paige Craig, Madeline Kincaid, Angelica Hardee and I are thrilled to have started END7 as an official student organization at the University of Cincinnati with the goal of educating the UC community about NTDs through the promotion of advocacy actions to ensure that NTDs remain a political priority, and fundraising to finance the mass distribution of drugs to treat and prevent NTDs.
“This semester, we have given presentations on NTDs and the END7 campaign to several classes and have collected more than one hundred signatures on END7’s petition to protect funding for the USAID NTD Program in the 2016 federal budget. At our meeting this week, we are excited to have a scientist from the Environmental Protection agency (EPA) come in to discuss his experience with water infrastructure in the Caribbean and his current research at the EPA. On World Health Day, we will be co-hosting a global health panel with other student organizations to discuss health inequity and student involvement in global health. I am enthusiastic to continue working with my peers to secure an increase in federal NTD funding and a decrease in NTD prevalence worldwide!”
We are so grateful for Lauren’s continued commitment to END7 and are excited to see our like her grow. If you are ready to get your school involved in END7’s work, contact the END7’s student outreach coordinator at to learn how you can get started!