This year, UCGHI celebrates 13 years of the National Institutes of Health Fogarty International Center-funded GloCal Health Fellowship program, which provides a year-long mentored research experience to investigators dedicated to studying health conditions in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). Dr. Jennifer Syvertsen was a GloCal fellow from 2013-2014 and led a research project to conduct ethnographic fieldwork on injection drug use and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) risk in Kisumu, Western Kenya. Now an Associate Professor and Chair of the Department of Anthropology at UC Riverside, Dr. Syvertsen has joined the UCGHI Advisory Council to represent UCR, bringing her UCGHI journey full circle.

Before her fellowship, Dr. Syvertsen was a graduate research assistant and postdoctoral researcher at UC San Diego, working on her dissertation with Proyecto Parejas, a study examining the social epidemiology of HIV/STI risk among female sex workers who inject drugs and their intimate, non-commercial partners in the U.S.-Mexico border region. While she enjoyed her postdoctoral research, she had long aspired to conduct research on HIV prevention in sub-Saharan Africa. Her mentor Dr. Steffanie Strathdee, former UCGHI Advisory Council member, encouraged Dr. Syvertsen to apply for the GloCal Health Fellowship to pursue a project in Kenya, where injection drug use was gaining attention for its potential to exacerbate an ongoing HIV epidemic.

As a GloCal fellow, Dr. Syvertsen collaborated with Kenyan researchers from Impact Research & Development Organization, as well as her GloCal mentors, Dr. Steffanie Strathdee (UCSD), Dr. Spala Ohaga (Impact), and Dr. Carol Camlin (UCSF). They conducted epidemiologic surveys and interviews investigating injection drug use in the region and its potential contribution to HIV transmission. To understand how drug injection practices influence HIV/STI risk, the study analyzed individual behaviors (i.e., sexual behaviors, past 30 day drug and alcohol use, and injection risk behaviors) within the broader social-political and cultural contexts of emerging regional drug markets. At the project’s conclusion, Dr. Syvertsen’s research team presented their findings in Nairobi at a regional HIV conference, where they caught the attention of a Ministry of Health official interested in supporting harm reduction services for at-risk populations. Their work contributed to the momentum that led to the establishment of the first syringe services program in Western Kenya.

“It’s still my favorite research project that I've ever been involved in, because I felt like it was so meaningful to everybody involved,” says Dr. Syvertsen. “We always want our research to influence policy and improve health services.”

During her fellowship, Dr. Syvertsen also accepted a faculty position at the Ohio State University, and returned to Kenya every year to continue supporting the research until the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2017, she returned to California as an Assistant Professor at UC Riverside, shifting her focus from intervention research in Kenya to working with local communities to address opioid overdose and help build harm reduction organizations in an underserved area of Southern California. Her dedication to global health and mentoring students led to her recent appointment to the UCGHI Advisory Council in early 2025.

“Global health is also happening in our own communities,” says Dr. Syvertsen. “I'm excited to support UC Riverside and build more global health programming, support the students here, and bring more attention to UCGHI.”

In her new role as a UCGHI Advisory Council member, Dr. Syvertsen is particularly attuned to the needs of UC Riverside students. She is committed to uplifting these students through mentorship and fostering connections with local community organizations addressing global health challenges. She credits the relationships she built with organizations and mentors in Kenya, as well as her UC mentors, for making her GloCal fellowship experience transformative. As UCGHI marks 13 years of the UCGHI GloCal Health Fellowship, Dr. Syvertsen’s journey exemplifies the fellowship’s lasting impact.

“The GloCal experience was so meaningful to me, in terms of research and policy, and in terms of relationship building,” says Dr. Syvertsen. “It's really exciting to now be on the other side, and be in a position where I can support others [students] to have that kind of life-changing experience.”