Isabel Huesa

Isabel Huesa graduated summa cum laude from Washington University in St. Louis with a BA in anthropology, global health, and the environment, and minors in biology and South Asian languages and cultures.  She wrote her senior honors thesis on the history of fossil fuel divestment campaigns at higher education institutions.  A proud alumna of the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, Isabel’s interests lie at the intersection of social justice, the environment, and health disparities.  She dedicated her undergraduate career to understanding disease impact and harm reduction in marginalized communities; expanding student mental healthcare access; fighting for social justice; and examining Washington University’s role within the greater St. Louis.  An advocate at heart, Isabel has mentored students as a mental health peer counselor, advised university leadership as the undergraduate representative to WashU’s Board of Trustees, and – in the wake of Missouri’s statewide abortion ban – led outreach efforts for Planned Parenthood.  A critical language scholar, Isabel spent over six years learning Hindi.  As a climate justice advocate, Isa participated in the United Nations’ 28th Conference of the Parties and also worked as a student consultant in the Interdisciplinary Environmental Law Clinic at WashU Law.

In her Fulbright-Nehru project, Isabel is in Delhi studying mental telehealth interventions in the HIV care continuum.  She is evaluating and analyzing the efficacy of the existing 24/7 NACP (National AIDS Control Program) phone counseling service by examining the frequency of use by MSM (Men Who Have Sex with Men), the perceived effects of the phone counseling, and the patterns of HIV transmission and treatment in Delhi among MSM before and after such counseling.