| Books were my pass to personal freedom. I learned to read at age three, and soon discovered there was a whole world to conquer that went beyond our farm in Mississippi - Oprah Winfrey |
| Joan Leavens, Researcher |
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She has a particular interest in public health and infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and TB, and she is specifically interested in the relationship between infectious disease, poverty, and gender. She completed a public health project on AIDS, masculinity, and poverty in 2008 and co-authored a paper published in the Journal of Development Studies. Her work experience in Cape Town includes an internship with the Treatment Action Campaign, during which she helped coordinate a project to draft a Chronic Illness Grant for SANAC; a nonprofit consulting project during which she assisted with the development of a M&E framework for IDASA and gained experience in non-profit organisational development; and a position as Placement and Applications Coordinator for Volunteer Adventure Corps, a Cape Town-based internship company. In April 2010, she conducted fieldwork in Kwazulu-Natal and Mpumalanga, South Africa, for a project led by Development Works to evaluate the public health media programme Mindset Health. Most recently, in her capacity as Researcher Joan has coordinated a baseline study for World Vision related to maternal and child health, nutrition, and HIV/AIDS. Apart from her work with Development Works, Joan also writes articles on tuberculosis treatment for a TB website. Joan joined Creative Consulting and Development Works as a Researcher in September 2011. |
Joan Leavens has a BA degree in History, Foreign Affairs, and Spanish from the University of Virginia. She is fluent in English, proficient in Spanish, and has a beginner’s understanding of Portuguese. She completed a year-long Post Baccalaureate Premedical Program at Goucher College in Maryland, with the intention of matriculating in a four year medical school in the US in August 2012. 