ABOUT MEStudent | Activist | PhotographerRafael Garibay was born and raised in the innermost area of Zamora, Mexico. As a first-generation Latino student from California's Central Valley, his transnational experience and intersectional identities contribute to his sense of resilience and determination to navigate the both challenging and rewarding experiences at UCLA.
Rafael is a third year invested in the interdisciplinary curricula of International Development Studies, Global Health and Chicana/o Studies. He has been committed to retention and access efforts at UCLA and the greater Los Angeles through large-scale programming, campus organizing, and activism. In addition, Rafael has explored a wide range of research topics concerning access to affordable and quality health care for undocumented families, and HIV transmission and alcohol use disorder among MSM who are sex workers. Rafael currently interns for the UCLA's Office of the Dean of Students and serves as the undergraduate representative on the Academic Freedom Committee. After graduating from UCLA, he hopes to advance onto a PhD degree program. |
A Reflection:
Why I chose the Global Health Program, and How Did It Impact Me?
"As a product of the environment I grew up in, I have the responsibility to contribute to efforts in uplifting my community and peoples from conditions that continue to affect them. This program provided me with the opportunity to return to Latin America and see first-hand how social determinants of health and larger structural barriers continue to the shape the different standards of living for diverse groups in diverse geographic locations. This transcended the idea of immersing myself in an educational experience abroad, it was much personal to my own background."
— Rafael Garibay
— Rafael Garibay