Then and Now
We reached out to former Urban Food Environments intern, Katia Lopes-Gilbert, to see what she is up to now and how her experience as an intern at the Center influenced her professional career. This is what she had to say:
Hi, my name is Katia and I am the Executive Assistant and Grants Manager at a Federally Qualified Community Health Center called Adelante Healthcare in Phoenix, Arizona. We are an organization that provides primary health care services to people in our communities, regardless of their ability to pay. Our mission is to create and sustain healthy communities by providing our patients with the care they need. I have the pleasure of working on special projects with various C-suite members, serving as the liaison between the C-suite and the Board of Directors, and applying for and managing our federal and foundation grants.
Working for UCSD’s Center for Community Health, specifically the Live Well Community Market Program, prepared me for my job today because of interdisciplinary aspects of the work I did, learning how to problem solve, and creating relationships with people from very different economic, cultural and educational backgrounds. Elle is such an incredible mentor, as she pushed me to accept new challenges and allowed me to explore creative and innovative solutions to those challenges.