Jody Platt Garcia '97

At Oberlin, I majored in Spanish and participated in the PRESHCO program.  I graduated in 1997.  I am happy to say that the language skills and education that I acquired at Oberlin continue to be central in my personal and professional activities.

Upon graduating from Oberlin, I worked at a local health department in California as a bilingual outreach worker. I participated in multiple programs in the Communicable Disease Division – Immunizations, Tuberculosis, HIV/AIDS, Epidemiology and Surveillance. In my outreach activities, I worked with local community based organizations to provide TB and HIV testing services and education and assisted families eligible for the state health insurance program to enroll. I also provided Spanish translation, education, and counseling and referral services on the county's mobile primary care, Sexually Transmitted Disease/HIV, and needle exchange clinics.
 
I received my Master’s in Public Health from the University of Michigan in 2005, and am currently the Assistant Director of the Life Sciences and Society Program at the University of Michigan.

Before coming to Michigan, I traveled on numerous occasions with a non-profit organization, Interplast, which provides free reconstructive surgery for children, as the trip coordinator and translator. I stayed on in Peru for several years teaching English as a Second Language at a private university (nothing like Oberlin, but then, what is).  Spanish language and culture continue to be dear to me in my everyday life at home where my Peruvian husband and I are family.