Maraki Solomon is a rising senior at Stanford University, where she is pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Human Biology with a concentration in Global Health and Economics, and a minor in Data Science. As a second-generation Ethiopian-American, she witnessed the profound impact of lack of access to health care and mental health stigma within her community growing up, inspiring her to pursue global mental health research through the CUGMH Program.
This summer, Maraki worked under the mentorship of Dr. Bernadine Waller to explore and understand the experiences of Black women survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) within the Black church. Maraki developed qualitative data analysis skills, with primary responsibilities including coding interview transcripts and using thematic analysis to categorize codes. She also contributed significantly to writing a paper on the experiences of Black women IPV survivors within the Black church, focusing on writing the findings and portions of the introduction.
Maraki is incredibly grateful for the opportunity to participate in the Columbia-WHO Center for Global Mental Health’s summer internship program. She is especially honored to have worked with Dr. B and the DIVAA lab, and will forever cherish this research experience, which has helped lay the foundation for a future in global health research.