Theresa Castillo (Ed.D. ’15, MA ’01, Public Health Education)
A catalyst in public health research and service for more than 20 years, Castillo is the Chief Program Officer of the global nonprofit HealthRight, which works to close the gap in access to health care for underserved populations. Castillo previously served as the organization’s director of Women’s and Children’s Health Programs for five years, during which time she oversaw the execution and success of health programs in Eastern Europe, sub-Saharan Africa and Asia.
“Meaningful and diverse partnerships are at the core of all successful global health collaborations. It’s what drives innovation and health solutions,” says Castillo, whose expertise includes sexual and reproductive health and community development among vulnerable populations.
(Photo courtesy of HealthRight)
For Castillo, successful health partnerships involve trust, inclusion and shared leadership. “Such partnerships are an invaluable marker for improving the health of communities by anchoring positive changes in health policy and programming.”
Early in her career, Castillo served in the Peace Corps in Morocco, Turkmenistan, and the Republic of Mali in Africa, which gave her hands-on experience with multiple aspects of public health. This fall, Castillo will receive the Harding Women of Achievement Award, which honors female Peace Corps alumni whose contributions have impacted women and girls globally. “With my TC Health Education degree under my belt, I enjoyed learning and collaborating with colleagues to solve challenging health issues and build better systems of care.”
Hakim Mohandas Amani Williams (Ed.D. ’12, International Development Education)
A leading voice in the call for “critical peace education,” Williams examines the impact of colonialism, slavery, and capitalism on human rights and education in black communities across the globe. The inaugural Daria L. & Eric J. Wallach Professor of Peace and Justice Studies at Gettysburg College, Williams has begun robust research and practice in his home country of Trinidad and Tobago—working with local youth and families to independently and with his students. .
(Photo: Gettysburg College)
“My recent research aims to document how black youth (in Jamaica, Ghana, Brazil, and the US) conceptualize globalized anti-blackness and how they mobilize black pride toward political action and transnational solidarity,” says Williams, recipient of TC’s early career. Award in 2019 and a Fulbright Global Scholar Award in the USA and a Spencer Foundation Grant in 2021. As a doctoral student at Teachers College, he studied with Monisha Bajaj (Ed.D. ’05) and Peter Coleman – Professor of Psychology and Education, and Director of the Morton Deutsch International Center for Cooperation and Conflict Resolution, with which Williams continues to work.
Sayu Bhojwani (Ph.D. ’14, Politics and Education)
Governments must fully reflect the diversity of the people they serve. This is the principle behind Bhojwani’s mighty career in public service. At the helm of the nonprofit New American Leaders (NAL), Bhojwani spent more than a decade recruiting and preparing first- and second-generation Americans to run for political office — and win. Now, at the helm of her new venture – Women’s Democracy Lab – Bhojwani focuses on supporting women of color and from the LGBTQ+ community throughout their time in government office.
(Photo: TC Archive)
“People want leaders they can relate to and who feel their pain,” the doctoral student explained in 2020, when 65 percent of NAL graduates won their general election. “We’re definitely getting more diversity in the office, but people are still being asked to work in a system that wasn’t designed for them.”
Brent Renaud (MA ’96, Sociology and Education)
An award-winning journalist who dedicated his life to documenting the human condition during war and major social strife, the late Renaud was killed while covering the Russia-Ukraine War in March earlier this year.
(Photo: Charles Sykes/Invision, via AP)
One of the “journalists in Ukraine and around the world who risk their lives to share such important truths,” in the words of President Thomas Bailey, Renaud produced documentary film projects for New York Times, HBO and other media outlets. A mentor to underserved students in Dallas, the TC alum was named a fellow at Harvard’s Nieman Foundation for Journalism in 2019.
Remembered as “committed to shining a light on people who otherwise don’t get the spotlight” and elevating the voices of others, Renaud worked closely with his brother Craig on influential works such as their 2014 Peabody-winning film. Last high chance.
Srishti Sardana (Ph.D. ’22, MA ’16, Clinical Psychology)
For more than a decade across the globe, Sardana has conducted research and field service to build culturally appropriate and valid mental health interventions for at-risk populations, including refugees, displaced and stateless people, survivors of genocide and trafficking and sex workers. Her dedication and passion for this field stems from a formative experience as a teenager, living on the streets with sex workers and teaching their children in her home country of India as part of volunteer projects.
(Photo: TC Archive)
“There’s this void in me,” Sardana explained in 2019, “that no matter what I do, it’s never going to be enough. [to help] these women.”
Sardana would later travel to TC from New Delhi with the goal of working with TC’s Lena Verdeli and her Global Mental Health Lab, conducting the first systematic mental health assessment of sex workers in India while they were in College. Now, Sardana’s work continues through her most recent posting as a Global Mental Health Research Fellow at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Max Frieder (Ed.D. ’20, Art & Art Education)
Art can help people heal and cope in the midst of great strife and painful circumstances. That’s the ethos of Artolution, the nonprofit organization Frieder co-founded to bring arts programs to the community for refugees, youth living in areas of violent conflict or extreme poverty, and other at-risk groups.
(Photo courtesy of Artolution)
Facilitating more than 400 projects in 30 countries globally since 2009, the nonprofit uses artistic expression not only as a tool for healing, but also by sparking critical community dialogues about public health.
“It’s their movement,” Frieder said in 2020, noting that communities rise up; Artolution is just there to help. “They can tell their stories, make their stories. For a community that has been stripped of its history – that has suffered a cultural and physical genocide – this opportunity is great.”
