Priya Christensen

Priya Christensen is a third-year student at the University of Washington pursuing a B.S. in Public Health-Global Health and an Honors B.S. in Biochemistry with the goal of pursuing her medical degree and working in international health policy. She strives for a career that works towards decreasing health disparities internationally through individualized care and work in the nonprofit and NGO sectors.

At the University of Washington, Priya is involved in vaccine development research at the Institute for Protein Design and works with University District Street Medicine to provide medical outreach within homeless communities around Seattle. She is also a former orientation leader and enjoys volunteering her time to efforts that expand healthcare access to under-resourced populations including lobbying for healthcare policy reform in Olympia and working within her community to provide vaccinations to school-age children.

Priya's passion for global health and international affairs stems from her early childhood fascination with politics and her experiences visiting her family in India, where she began noticing the similarities in disparities between the cities there and her hometown of Seattle. Her travels have also taken her to 14 other countries and counting. Her study abroad centered around nonprofit work and social entrepreneurship in India inspired her to join the World Affairs Council as a Global Leadership Exchange Intern.