CCVI student among few selected to speak at global health conference
October 26, 2022
GUELPH, ON – There’s no shortage of impressive students at Centennial Collegiate Vocational Institute (CCVI), especially in one Bodhana who was among the few students selected in Ontario to speak at The Global Health Leaders Conference.
The international conference is a leading health education program led by Johns Hopkins University. At the conference, emerging health leaders in grades 9 through 12 from around the world learn from each other and from some of the world’s leaders in global health and medicine.
“My initial reaction was utter disbelief that I had been chosen, followed by excitement and a period of incessant smiling,” said Bodhana.
Bodhana’s presentation discussed her research on the global organ shortage crisis, socio-economic barriers to equitable access of organ supply, organ trafficking, and new developments of tissue engineering.
Bodhana had decided to settle on these topics after serving as director of events at the student-led organization Life Banks. There she had the opportunity to speak to tainted blood advocates working to protect Canadians from public health crises arising from contaminated blood products at privatized clinics. She also organized a workshop series on barriers to blood and organ donation among marginalized groups.
“Both of these experiences initiated my interest in health inequities, particularly the lack of compatible blood and organ donors; I couldn’t understand why we were still dependent on a human-based solution despite constant innovation,” said Bodhana.
What started as a piqued interest turned into a night of researching, “since it was a topic I already had an extensive understanding of and wanted to explore further from a global health lens, I chose to discuss the organ shortage crisis at the conference,” Bodhana said.
Bodhana said presenting in front of other like-minded students was “a whole other atmosphere.” Through her research, Bodhana said she was able to connect with other students who were doing similar research and taking on other inspiring global health projects.
Bodhana also wanted to thank her high school teachers who helped her along the way, “I cannot emphasize how important it is to have outstanding high school teachers who are committed to cultivating your curiosity. I was lucky to have so many of them.”
A huge congratulations to Bodhana, who represented her school and the Upper Grand District School Board wonderfully at the conference. You can watch Bodhana’s full presentation here.