Leland Fellow
Tina Pruna
9th Class, 2017-2019
Prior to becoming a Leland Fellow, Tina Pruna developed several community-based programs targeting the social determinants of health through her role as program director at Loma Linda University Health’s Institute for Community Partnerships. Tina holds an MPH in Global and Maternal Child Health and a BA in International Communication. She completed her graduate field work in collaboration with Adventist Development and Relief Agency in São Tome and Principe, where she developed a nutrition and health focused curriculum for rural women that was responsive to Santomean cultural norms and taboos. After completing graduate school Tina received the Global Service Award through Loma Linda University and worked as a public health coordinator in rural Honduran hospital developing a growth-monitoring program for a rural school, supporting free breakfast programs and developing culturally relevant health education materials and programs for the hospital and surrounding areas. Her primary interests lie in maternal child health, nutrition and food access, and developing local community’s capacity to produce sustainable change.
Field placement:
Based in Guatemala City, Guatemala, Tina worked with Mercy Corps to implement women’s and youth empowerment projects. Tina provided program support to the innovative agricultural youth savings and loan enterprise project -Agrijoven- in addition supported the integration of gender-based standards into the project. She researched the role Guatemalan women play in agriculture and created an assessment to guide future project design. Additionally, Tina developed new initiatives and sought donor support in the area of health and wellness.
Policy placement: Mercy Corps
Metro Washington, DC (global)
Based in Washington D.C, Tina worked with Mercy Corps’ policy and advocacy, research and learning, and resilience teams. Overall Tina’s work will support global food security and resilience funding and policy. Her field year in Latin America contributed to her role in supporting and improving Central America prosperity policies, disseminating messaging to the U.S government on addressing root causes of migration to the U.S., as well as meeting Venezuela regional humanitarian needs. Among her duties, Tina developed policy and learning briefs that identify resilience factors based on Mercy Corps projects around the world targeting youth migration, food security, and market systems development.