Since graduating from the Brown School in May 2014, Kate Clitheroe has been the programs and research director for the NGO Shoulder to Shoulder in Honduras. Shoulder to Shoulder works to improve healthcare and education in the impoverished southwestern region of the Central American nation.
“My role is actually to direct all non-clinical programming,” said Clitheroe, who specialized in Global Health at the Brown School. “This includes our girls empowerment program, scholarship program, and bilingual school. I also supervise brigade coordination and manage our patient database.”
She works directly with Honduran staff, training and building capacity at an administrative level. Clitheroe is also implementing a health survey of 24,000 people with a team of 45 census workers. The results will be a baseline for a new nutrition intervention.
Originally from Portland, Ore., Clitheroe had volunteered in Honduras before attending the Brown School and was happy to return.
“It’s a beautiful country and such a welcoming culture,” she said. “And there’s also a lot of need, a lot of work to be done.”
She said her success in Honduras is “a direct reflection of what I learned at the Brown School,” particularly in the design and implementation of programs, global health and politics.