Update April 10, 2017: Congratulations to Krista Kruja for being awarded one of Rotary's Global Scholarships!
March 31, 2017: Krista spoke to us at our March 30th meeting to provide an overview of her background and the importance of health policy. As a person of Albanian ethnicity born in Austria and raised in Canada who completed an internship with the World Health Organization in Copenhagen, Krista has already been exposed to the health policies and politics of several countries. She has seen how other countries use evidenced-based decision-making to factor health implications into policies set by a broad range of governmental departments or ministries, not just those directly concerned with health , and aspires to see this approach used across Canada (see: Health In All).
Disease prevention and treatment are among Rotary's key areas of focus, which fits right in with Krista Kruja's passions: healthcare and health policy development. Krista recently graduated from McMaster with a bachelor's degree in Health Sciences (Honours) with a specialization in Global Health, and has applied to the Masters in Health Policy, Planning and Financing program, run jointly by the London School of Economics and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. She is being considered as a candidate for a grant under Rotary's Global Scholarship program.
The panel that interviewed Krista on March 18th regarding her scholarship grant is anticipated to render its decision within the next two weeks, and we wish her much success. GLOBAL GRANT SCHOLARSHIPS provide amounts up to $30,500 USD for postgraduate studies in one of Rotary's areas of focus, with funding coming from Foundation's World Fund and District Designated Funds. Sponsoring clubs, such as Rotary Toronto West, nominate and mentor the candidates. District 7070 currently supports one scholarship per year. Scholars are expected to act as goodwill ambassadors for Rotary and their sponsoring country, Canada in Krista's case. Past Global Grant Scholarship recipients have included Governor General David Johnston (Cambridge, 1964) and film critic Roger Ebert (Cape Town, South Africa, 1964). For more information on this prestigious Rotary program, please see the District 7070 page devoted to it.