Assistant Professor Alethea Desrosiers, Ph.D., has received an award from the Fulbright Specialist Program to spend two weeks in Bogotá, Colombia collaborating with colleagues at Pontificia Universidad Javeriana and sharing knowledge on implementation science and global mental health. 

"The idea is to increase networking, international partnerships, and cross-site learning," Desrosiers says. "It's enriching to be embedded in another cultural context, because it expands how we think from our own subjective space."

The Fulbright Specialist Program matches host institutions from around the world with U.S. academics and other professionals with particular sought-after expertise. Desrosiers was eligible for the match because she was competitively selected to join the roster of Fulbright Specialists last year. 

During her February trip, Desrosiers will meet individually with Pontificia Universidad Javeriana faculty and students, present on her global mental health work in sub-Saharan Africa, and lead a series of workshops on implementation science methods in global mental health, particularly focused on adolescent mental health.

"Colombia, in particular, has had a long history of armed conflict, and there are a number of youth with histories of forced displacement and immigration trauma," Desrosiers says. "I think the government is aware that the need to address mental health in this population is pretty high."

Desrosiers believes her specialization in implementation science will be particularly helpful. 

"There's more and more of a push globally to take an implementation science approach," she says. "Because just knowing if something works isn't enough. We need to understand how to fit it into an existing context and keep it going."

Desrosiers is one of over 400 U.S. citizens who participate in the Fulbright Specialist Program each year. Recipients of Fulbright Specialist awards are selected on the basis of academic and professional achievement, demonstrated leadership in their field, and their potential to foster long-term cooperation between institutions in the U.S. and abroad.

Desrosiers is also active in global health efforts at Brown, where she serves on the Advisory Committee of the Global Health Initiative, a multidisciplinary effort to reduce health inequalities among underserved populations worldwide.

"I love the relationship-building part of global health work," she says. "I'm excited to meet other faculty and strengthen our partnerships."