Global Perspective to Help Foster Healthy Communities
Lifelong education journey leads Trent graduate student from India to Guyana to Canada
As a nursing educator, Tabitha Mallampati is a staunch believer in the power of lifelong learning and professional growth to help shape a brighter future. This belief has led her across the globe to pursue her Ph.D. in Trent’s Interdisciplinary Social Research program.
“I believe that professional nurses should constantly seek opportunities for their professional growth and engage in lifelong learning, this is imperative to generating a quality workforce,” says Tabitha. “Through ongoing learning, nurses can successfully lead change, advance health, and shape the future of a dynamic healthcare system.”
After obtaining her degree in nursing at the College of Nursing in Kurnool, India, Tabitha focused on working in vulnerable and under-resourced healthcare settings. Her drive to support communities who need it the most took her all the way to Guyana, where she worked in nursing education, later serving as the director of the School of Nursing at Saint Joseph Mercy Hospital. In 2009, she joined the University of Guyana’s School of Nursing faculty.
Now Tabitha is furthering her education through the Sustainable Guyana program, a partnership between Trent, the University of Guyana, CGX Energy Inc., and Frontera Energy Corporation aimed at enhancing Guyana's environmental, economic, social, and cultural sustainability through education.
Investigating the drivers of diabetes in Indigenous communities
The prevalence of diabetes continues to increase globally and is one of the four main noncommunicable diseases targeted for action by world leaders. Tabitha is bringing her experience as a nurse and passion for serving vulnerable communities to her research by exploring how a variety of factors—cultural, dietary, social, economic, structural, and gender-related—contribute to the high prevalence of diabetes in Indigenous communities in Guyana.
Tabitha will be focusing her research on a specific regional community, exploring factors contributing to the high prevalence of diabetes among populations living in a geographically challenging environment.
Crossing disciplinary boundaries at Trent
The Interdisciplinary Social Research program brings together scholars from a range of disciplines to address some of our most complex social challenges, and Tabitha’s cohort includes people with backgrounds in education, nursing, public health, business, sustainability, and the environment.
Tabitha has also been working as a teaching assistant for the third-year Nursing course, Qualitative Research for Health Professionals, and enjoys the opportunity to engage with nursing students and learn alongside them.
“I really enjoy having discussions with my fellow scholars – the candidates in my program, Nursing students, and my professors. Every discussion really deepens my understanding of a range of topics and has given me access to helpful resources,” says Tabitha.
Tabitha will spend her time studying at Trent working under the guidance of Dr. Ellen Buck-McFadyen and Dr. Suresh Narine, before returning to Guyana to start her fieldwork under the supervision of Dr. Reeta Gobin, director of the School of Medicine at the University of Guyana.