Transforming Lives: Moving Beyond
Around the world with AU
My name is Laura Carmen Martinez. I was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, but have lived most of my life in Mexico.
I decided to enter the Bachelor of Health Administration program at Athabasca University (AU) because I was looking for a renowned institution that could fit my lifestyle at the time. I had previously completed two years of undergraduate courses at Texas A & M International University and at the Canadian University of Dubai, and I was looking for an institution that could re-validate some of those subjects for me.
My AU adventure begins
From the start, AU was open to helping me, and it was then I decided to start the online program in 2013 while studying another Bachelor of Environmental Science and Health in Mexico. It took me five years to graduate from my AU program. During that time I learned so much from all the feedback and interactions with my tutors and peers, while also acquiring hands on experience and having a space to apply all the things that I was learning online.
Blending my education together
I integrated the knowledge from both bachelor programs, worked in indigenous communities, completed an almost year-long internship at the quality department of a renowned local hospital in Mexico, participated in an spatial & environmental epidemiology project and co-authored scientific documents in health and environmental topics. I was also able to get a full-time job at a pharmaceutical company while I was finalizing and turning in my BHADM final project.
AU and beyond
Completing the AU program taught me that our learning process must be taken into our own hands and it made me realize that we can achieve the impossible if we really want to. I feel that my efforts have truly paid off and I am forever grateful for the existence of AU and for everything they helped me become.
“My goal is to contribute in the task of making health systems better and to help improve the current environmental health state of my country. ”
– Laura Carmen Martinez
I would like to become a health policy advisor and I am currently completing a Master of Global Health Policy at the London School of Health and Tropical Medicine also in an online modality, and they only reason I am able to do so is because of the study and research skills I acquired at AU.
My personal journey landed me here, at AU, but it certainly doesn’t stop now. My future looks bright and I am open and expectant to what the future might hold.
Laura Carmen is a 29 year old Mexican /Canadian student originally from Halifax, who has lived most of her life in Mexico. She has studied and lived in several countries around the world, she has 2 bachelor’s, one in Environmental Science and Health, and the other from Athabasca University in Health Administration which took her 5 years to complete. Currently she is studying a Masters in Global Health Policy al LSHTM and is working as a COVID-19 volunteer with Partners in Health in a rural hospital in Chiapas, Mexico.
