BINA VENKATARAMAN ALUMNI REFLECTIONS

I was in Hanoi where I worked with a team that was building an HIV/AIDS clinic in a rural leprosy hospital in Thai Binh province to treat their influx of patients. It was a serendipitous fellowship post that arose because I met a Buddhist monk who was collaborating with a Catholic priest and physicians - I know this sounds like the setup for a joke, but in my case it was the setup for an extraordinary year. I decided to work with them to build the capacity of the hospital to treat HIV patients.

scope: Thinking Ahead in a Reckless Age (see p. 15 for details!). It’s about the choice we have to imagine, invest in and create a better future and it dispels the myth that short-term thinking is an inevitable feature of human nature. I also gave a talk about this topic on the TED mainstage in Vancouver in April.

How did your PiA experience influence your life path?

My time in Vietnam was pivotal in my path as a writer. In fact, I wrote my first article for The Boston Globe, a travel piece about the Mekong River and the difference between the reality of Vietnam as it was emerging on the world stage and the image that many Americans still had of the country then. I also became aware of the ways in which sick people are stigmatized through my work on HIV. It changed the way I looked at and addressed public health in my later policy work. The importance of centering the experience of patients, and the dangerous potential for policy to drive diseases underground, has stayed with me in my work on public health policy, including when I was involved in the U.S. strategy for responding to the Ebola crisis.

What was something important you gained from PiA?

“PiA was a journey into my own mind through the exploration of the outside world, and has been the single most transformative learning experience in helping me to understand who I wanted to become, what I wanted to do with my life, and why. The process of service taught me that sometimes the best way to do for yourself, is to do the best that you can for others.” - Erica

What was a memorable experience you had on PiA?

Eating a snake dinner was certainly one of them -- the Vietnamese would talk about how it increased virility. I was skeptical of the claim until I found myself arm-wrestling a good female friend after several rounds of snake liquor. I also used to drive a motorbike around Cat Ba Island, much of which was then sparsely inhabited. I will never forget the people I met at roadside cafes and the kids who would curiously try to figure out what planet I had come from.

What are you up to now?

In mid-November, I became the Editorial Page Editor at The Boston Globe. It’s a return to journalism for me after a decade spent teaching at MIT, working on science and technology policy, and serving in the Obama White House working on climate change. I also wrote my first book, called The Optimist’s Tele-

Perspective. The kind that comes from taking yourself out of context and from struggling to learn the norms and language of a place so different from the ones you have known.

What advice do you have for current PiAers?

Meet as many local people as you can, and befriend them on whatever terms is necessary. Say yes to almost any experience that doesn’t compromise your integrity or existence.

What’s next for you?

I’m heading into my role at the Globe during a Presidential election year and during an impeachment investigation of the President. It’s my goal to contribute to journalism and public dialogue in a polarized society that is both digitally connected and socially disconnected. This feels like a challenge and a secular calling. And eventually, I’m sure I’ll want to write another book.