Julia Boca

Julia Boca is a rising senior at Wellesley College majoring in Neuroscience and Psychology. She worked this summer with PhD candidate Lyla Sunyoung and Dr. Witte on a research project concerning the financial diaries of sex workers in Uganda. The project began with a worldwide database for intimate partner violence (IPV) and correlation to financial stability, drug use or safety precautions. Through this, the team continued to focus on researching unexplored connections between sex workers and enhanced financial literacy through different methods assessed by researchers worldwide. Apart from this, Julia carried on different weekly tasks that were centered on debriefing the team, GMHP social media or participating in the Journal Club to get a better outlook on graduate school in the future.

Julia loved her summer in New York working with the Global Mental Health Programs at Columbia University. Before anything, it was a dream come true for an international student to do research at Columbia and live in the city of dreams. The skills and assets she drew from the program will be most useful in her journey in the future concentrating on higher education. She made amazing friends that have been a great support and cannot wait to pursue more projects of the kind!