By Jill Pease
University of Florida College of Public Health and Health Professions graduate students Daniel Acosta, Amadou Barrow and Veronica Herlinda Lima Bornas were recognized at the UF International Center’s International Student Achievement Awards ceremony held November 19 at the Reitz Union Grand Ballroom.
The awards program recognizes students who have distinguished themselves in areas such as academic excellence; outstanding teaching and mentorship; community service and civic involvement; leadership and innovation; or developing creative solutions to global problems.
Daniel Acosta, a Ph.D. student in Public Health with a One Health concentration, is one of five UF students to receive the 2024 Alec Courtelis Award for Outstanding Ph.D. Students, which comes with a $2,000 prize.
“Trained as an engineer, Daniel brings a different way of thinking to global health development problems and possesses a unique acumen for translating those complex problems into specific research questions and lines of inquiry,” said his mentor Sarah McKune, Ph.D., M.P.H., an associate professor and interim chair in the department of environmental and global health. “He represents the drive, compassion, academic integrity, humanism and applied principles that must be at the core of our future academic leaders; I can think of no one more worthy of the Alec Courtelis Award than Daniel.”
A native of Colombia, Acosta has taught several graduate and undergraduate UF courses and has taken an active role in mentoring bachelor’s and master’s students who have gone on to graduate studies or employment with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He has received recognition for an innovative One Health simulation he developed for the Global Public Health course. He went on to publish the simulation’s teaching methodology in the journal Frontiers in Public Health.
In his research, Acosta explores the effects of climate on food security in the West African Sahel, which has included extensive periods of fieldwork in Mauritania and Senegal. He also provides service to the college and university through numerous activities, including as the student representative to the college’s curriculum committee.
“Daniel has a magnetic energy that both brings in and lifts those around him,” McKune said. “That he is also the first to sign up to help a fellow student, serve on a necessary committee, or identify necessary process improvements, and then consistently delivers work at the highest level, only makes his sunny disposition that much more remarkable. Daniel has left a lasting legacy on the University of Florida.”
PHHP students Barrow and Lima Bornas each received a Certificate of Outstanding Merit.
Barrow, a Ph.D. student in epidemiology, hails from The Gambia in West Africa. His doctoral research examines the syndemics of substance use on HIV suppression among older people living with HIV who experience chronic pain. His mentor is Yan Wang, Ph.D., an associate professor of epidemiology. He has served as lead author or co-author on more than 110 research articles in high-impact journals that have garnered more than 13,300 citations. He is a senior collaborator with the Global Burden of Disease Study, one of the largest and most comprehensive observational epidemiological studies worldwide. Barrow and Heather Stark, M.D., M.P.H., a clinical associate professor of epidemiology, have worked together to establish a research and teaching partnership with the University of The Gambia, which marks UF’s first institutional partnership in that country.
“Amadou exemplifies the kind of international student who significantly enhances UF’s global dimensions in teaching, research and service,” Stark said. “His work not only advances UF’s academic prestige, but also aligns with the university’s commitment to making a tangible difference in global health outcomes.”
Lima Bornas, who has indigenous Quechua heritage, is a Master of Public Health student in the epidemiology concentration from Lima, Peru. She has conducted research under the supervision of epidemiology faculty members Natalie Chichetto, Ph.D., on how probiotics can positively alter the gut microbiome, particularly in people living with HIV and heavy drinkers, and with Catalina Lopez-Quintero, M.D., Ph.D., on the effects of yoga and meditation on anxiety. She currently serves on the M.P.H. Epidemiology Student Advisory Council, the International Student Council and as historian for the Public Health Student Association. In addition, she is a mentor for new M.P.H. students through the PHSA mentorship program.
“Each conversation, each research project and each mentoring relationship feels like a step toward a more inclusive, equitable world,” she said. “I know that my contributions will continue to reflect the values of inclusivity, health equity and global collaboration.”