MANILA — Mary Balid is enjoying her summer on the other side of the world.
Balid, a rising junior at Princeton University and a 2024 graduate of The Mary Louis Academy in Jamaica Estates, is hard at work as an intern at a health policy think tank in Manila, Philippines.
“I plan to work on international health policy as a career,” she said, adding that her internship at Health Justice Philippines gives her an opportunity “to see how I can apply my studies to a more international global constituency, rather than staying domestic.”
During her internship, which began in June and lasts until the end of July, Balid has been researching diseases in the Philippines caused by lifestyle habits like smoking.
“I’ve been monitoring different tobacco advertisements here in the Philippines, especially in the Metro Manila area, and analyzing different articles and news reports,” she explained.
Balid said she believes that a government’s policies often dictate health care outcomes for its citizens. She envisions a career helping formulate policy.
“I think public health policy can be a more preventative circle that’s more holistic, whereas medicine is the treatment of the cause,” she said.
Balid, who is of Filipino descent, has also used the trip to perfect Tagalog, a common language in the Southeast Asian nation.
“I’m nearly fluent in the language,” she said.
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Balid, who grew up in Floral Park and was an altar server and choir member at Our Lady of the Snows Church before college, said her worldview was formed during her years at The Mary Louis Academy. She belonged to Medical Unlimited, a club for students interested in medicine, and it ignited her interest in health care.
Through her membership, she got a summer internship between her junior and senior years in which she led a team that created materials for a menstrual hygiene workshop for girls in sub-Saharan Africa.
According to Mayer Global, a life sciences organization, the region lacks access to menstrual care products. As a result, girls often turn to unsafe alternatives, which can lead to infections and reproductive health issues.
“We were in contact with a health care coordinator to even out the logistics and oversee some of the implementation of our workshop in the region,” Balid explained, noting that the experience made her consider her future.
“I think a lot of girls ended up gravitating towards medicine. I assumed that I was going to be pre-med. But after doing the internship, and with the encouragement of The Mary Louis Academy, I gravitated towards the public health sector,” she said. “I owe my interest in the field to being part of the club and to Mary Louis in general.”
While still in high school, she was a student speaker at the Global Health Leaders Conference at Johns Hopkins University, where she presented a paper on the health effects of isolation.
Princeton does not offer a major in global health studies, so Balid minored in the field while majoring in politics. She plans to pursue a master’s degree in public health and a law degree.
She stays active by serving as a member of the Health Policy Forum and as a liaison among different health groups on campus. The forum is compiling data on the implementation of AI in hospitals in the tri-state area.
In addition to her high school and college experiences, Balid credits her Catholic faith with her desire to improve health care outcomes on a global scale.
“I think my faith has definitely driven my desire to help people in need,” she said.