Kelesitse Phiri
Doctoral student, Department of Epidemiology
“There is a saying in Botswana,” remarks Kelesitse Phiri. “You are either infected or affected.” Kele’s decision to play a role in combating AIDS, as well as other infectious diseases in Africa, has led her down an intellectual path with several turns. Graduating from secondary school in Gaborone, Botswana, Kele received a scholarship for a postgraduate year at Deerfield Academy. Moving on to Bryn Mawr College, Kele initially majored in chemistry to prepare for medical study but realized that her true love was mathematics. The quandary was how to combine quantitative skills with the medical sciences. In her senior year a sociology professor told her about the field of biostatistics: “It was an ‘ah-hah’ moment.” Kele received a Fogarty Fellowship for biostatistics training at HSPH and worked on the school’s Botswana AIDS project. But while training in Botswana, Kele had another epiphany: “I didn’t like spending all of my time at a computer. I wanted to be engaged in the field.” Colleagues in Botswana and at HSPH proposed that she consider epidemiology, and “it was absolutely the right choice.” Having completed her master’s degree in epidemiology, she has now begun her doctoral program. Graduation is a long way off, but Kele plans to return to Botswana. Her goal is to be part of the capacity building “to enable the country to sustain the public health system on its own.”
Doctoral student, Department of Epidemiology