Gabriela Valdez brings global perspective to public health
As director of Global Education for the Global Health Institute, Valdez helps students gain valuable perspectives through life-changing experiences.
A former K-12 teacher, Gabriela Valdez, PhD, says she’s a lifelong learner and that travel outside the U.S. gives students the chance to understand other perspectives for solving global challenges.
Photo by Kris Hanning, U of A Health Sciences Office of Communications
Gabriela Valdez, PhD, was barely in high school when she became an international student. It wasn’t by choice.
Valdez, a native of Hermosillo, Mexico, was living with her parents and two older sisters in Sonora’s capital and largest city. Then her father lost his job. With her parents, she moved to Arizona while her older sisters, already in college, stayed behind.
Though the circumstances were less than ideal, the life-changing event laid important groundwork that shaped Valdez’s future.
“Going to high school in Tucson, I had to learn how to navigate a completely new educational system, new expectations, new environment and new language. That challenging experience also exposed me to new cultures and new perspectives, which is something that I value a lot,” Valdez said. “I still remember being in my English as a Second Language class with other students from all over Mexico and Latin America. Learning from their stories, lived experiences and stories of resilience was a privilege.”
As a teen, Gabriela Valdez, PhD, (far left), moved from Mexico to the United States. Now she helps other students gain an appreciation for other cultures through educational experiences abroad, such as this trip to Peru in May to study global health and climate change.
Photo courtesy of Gabriela Valdez, PhD
Valdez, the director of Global Education for the Global Health Institute at the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, now helps students gain their own international educational exposure.
“The global experiences that our students have are life-changing for them. I love hearing from them once they come back, sharing how much these experiences have influenced what they want to do in the future,” said Valdez. “Seeing their perspective change is magical.”
Broadening horizons
Valdez’s mission is to establish educational partnerships all over the world, from Peru and Ireland to our own backyard. For example, she recently helped the Zuckerman College of Public Health establish a new partnership with Tohono O’odham Community College.
“In a given day, I can have a 7 a.m. meeting with someone from the United Arab Emirates, and then my next meeting might be with someone in Mexico. Then that same evening I might have a meeting with someone in India,” Valdez said.
Valdez logged classroom time in Tucson and Spain as a K-12 educator, so she loves the opportunity to teach Intercultural Communication for Health Sciences GHI 414/415. Most of her work week, though, is spent managing the college’s global programs, which include research opportunities as well as dual-degree programs.
“Dr. Valdez has done so much to advance the college and our public health mission, especially in her role with the Global Health Institute,” said Iman Hakim, MD, PhD, MPH, dean of the Zuckerman College of Public Health. “She was instrumental in building our partnerships with Universidad del Valle de México and the Universidad Peruana de Ciencias Aplicadas in Lima, so we now offer interprofessional degree programs for students from Mexico and Peru. I am so pleased and proud of all she has accomplished to support our global public health mission.”
Gaining perspective
After her first experience as an international student studying in the United States, Valdez jumped at the chance to study in Spain while she was an undergraduate at the U of A.
As director of Global Education for the Global Health Institute at the University of Arizona Mel and Enid Zuckerman College of Public Health, Gabriela Valdez, PhD, has established partnerships around the world.
Photo courtesy of Gabriela Valdez, PhD
Valdez returned to Spain after graduation and earned a Master of Arts in Language, Literature and Culture from the Universidad de Alcala de Henares. She kicked off her career in higher education program management at the U of A Eller College of Management. She said combining global health with international education is a perfect fit.
“My hope is that for those who participate in global programs, whether it’s international students coming here or our own domestic students going abroad, that they gain some comparative perspective on how to address health challenges in a different way,” Valdez said. “I think we have so much to learn from our global partners, and I hope that our students are taking advantage of that. There’s definitely a great opportunity to collaborate. We can learn from them. We can also share information about how we do things here in the U.S.”
Valdez, a self-described lifelong student, said that beyond learning about other cultures, traveling gives people a chance to be outside their comfort zone and observe how differently things are done elsewhere.
“I think living in the U.S., many times we can lose track of how much we can learn from other places and how people do things and address certain challenges,” she said. “I think that’s something I really, really appreciate within this position, but also in my personal life, having the opportunity to work and meet people from other places who can share their own perspectives on many, many different things.”
It’s a viewpoint she’s excited to share with U of A students and her own kids, too. Her 8-year-old twins have had their passports stamped in Mexico and added Spain last summer.
As much as she loves to travel, though, Valdez said there’s still no place like home.
“The Sonoran Desert is a magical place, and once you get to have that comparative perspective, you see it,” she said. “Sometimes we take things for granted because we see them every day.”