Team Member Ashley Bryant

Since I moved to Oregon at a young age, I’ve experienced most of my life as a Eugenean, where I remain close with my friends, family and community. It’s easy to cultivate new interests and passions here, and I’ve made many wonderful friends while taking African dance, learning Spanish, and volunteering at local organizations. I’ve also nurtured a desire to explore the wider world, and my journeys to Europe and Senegal are just the beginning of what I hope will be a lifelong commitment to international education and travel.

As a University of Oregon student, I took courses in international development and spent a term as a student intern in Dakar. There, I researched and translated health education resources for a Senegalese NGO serving youth. On top of the work experience, I gained new knowledge by living with culturally disparate families, mentoring ambitious youth, and sharing in the excitement of a presidential election. Back home, I resumed my studies while working at the Office of International Programs and later for Disability Services as a classroom transcriber for hard of hearing students. After completing my Honors thesis, I received my degree in International Studies and Economics.

 My collective experiences steered me to Mobility International USA, a national non-profit organization that works to include people with disabilities in international development and exchange. One of my roles is to provide resources for making international exchange accessible to participants with disabilities while drawing on the insights of those who successfully studied, worked or volunteered in other countries. Working for an organization that promotes international exchange has certainly accelerated my sense of wanderlust, and I look forward to the many surprises Malaysia is sure to have in store for our team.

 

Team Member Kristi Coleman

                                           

Born in Landstuhl, Germany as the last of five children, my family moved to New Mexico  when I was 5 years old.  This is where I stayed until moving to Ohio for medical school, then coming to Oregon for a residency in Family Practice.  My professional interests include rural/underserved full spectrum care, wilderness medicine, and tropical medicine. In college I had the privilege to travel to South Africa and collect water samples from deep gold mines.  This experience showed me how different their life was from my own;  like living in a miner’s shanty town to daily racial segregation.  The unique health issues of the miner’s population (50% were HIV positive) and of the country (soft drinks contained quinine to fight malaria) stuck with me more than the microbiology I was there to study.  That trip was the beginning of my journey to medicine and my interest in people.

 When I am not working, I can be found hiking, backpacking, or reading science fiction novels.  I also collect rare, old books and crochet an afghan from time to time.  My twin sister and I plan to hike the Pacific Crest Trail together in the next 5 years.  Maybe I’ll get to hike Mount Tahan or Kinabalu while in Malaysia.