Issue date: 3/3/08 Section: Campus News

Media Credit: courtesy of brown.edu Caitlin Cohen '08 called an award from USA Today "flattering."

Out of nearly 500 students, Caitlin Cohen '08 was selected as one of the top 40 undergraduates for USA Today's annual All-USA College Academic Team, for her work on community organizing in Mali. Her award is not a scholarship, but rather a recognition for her project to improve health in the slum of Sikoroni, located outside the city of Bamako in Mali.

Chosen by a panel of judges, Cohen and the other selected undergraduates were honored for their "academic excellence and community service throughout the country and around the world," said USA Today Editor Ken Paulson in the Feb. 17 USA Today article, "Great heights: These undergrads set on solving problems."

In 2006, Cohen co-founded MHOP, the Mali Health Organizing Project, after spending the previous summer working on AIDS research in Bamako through the Global Alliance to Immunize Against AIDS, she said. The project's main goal "is to allow slums to create their own health care solutions, and ultimately see both the government and the slum invest in health and development without outside assistance," according to the MHOP Web site.

Although there is no direct financial support for MHOP from the University, the Swearer Center is providing the funds to maintain Cohen's position as program director for two to three years after she graduates in May. Cohen will continue as co-director of the project for one year. Cohen said she was "grateful" for the Swearer Center's help, as well as the student-led organizing and faculty support MHOP has received.

Cohen's recognition has lent the project more attention and "various funders are looking at MHOP's model of community-based effort," she said.

The award was "flattering," she said. "It's nice to get the pat on the back."

-Zunaira Choudhary

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