Andy Mitchell, The Daily Iowan
Some University of Iowa students traveled across the ocean to conduct research with a minority population in Central Europe.
Over the summer, 13 students spent 10 weeks in Romania working with Romanian researchers and the local Roma population. They traveled through the Minority Health and Health Disparities International Training Program, a research training program created by the UI to help foster careers in health for minority students.
The Roma, also known as Romani, are an ethnic group living throughout Central Europe.
Students Darian Thompson and Breanna Kramer-Riesberg helped conduct research in the community of Pata Rât, just outside the city of Cluj. In Romania, the Roma population faces higher rates of poor health outcomes, including higher infant-mortality rates and stress-related health problems than the general population. This, researchers say, is because of a number of different factors, including poverty and discrimination.