Yale Alumni Service Corps (YASC) Panama 2024: Reflections & Insights from YASC’s 30th Service Trip

Andrew Burgie teaches Global Environmental Health as an assistant adjunct professor in the New York University School of Global Public Health. He also serves as an industrial hygienist and assistant research scientist who manages the NIEHS Worker Training Program Grant that administers Hazardous Waste Worker Training for various New York-based groups as part of the Atlantic Center for Occupational Health and Safety Training Consortium run by Rutgers School of Public Health. As former Co-Director of the Center for Occupational and Environmental Health at the CUNY School of Public Health, he specializes in Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response training for both City and State agencies as well as private organizations. Trained as an industrial hygienist with an M.S. in Environmental and Occupational Health Science from Hunter College CUNY, he has also conducted numerous indoor air quality inspections, lead-based paint assessments, and general environmental health investigations for commercial and residential properties for various consulting firms over the years. Andrew Burgie was the producer for the YASC program in Puerto Rico 2023. He is the Chair of the YASC Board having been on eleven trips. He most recently joined us on the service trip to Panama in July 2024 as Co-Community Liaison.

Rosalia Burke has worked since 2003 as an otolaryngologist in The Woodlands, Texas, where she is a partner of Texas ENT Specialists. Dr. Burke also serves as the chair of the Memorial Hermann Conroe Surgery Center and is on the board of the Memorial Hermann Surgery Center-Pinecroft. Dr. Burke’s studies have taken her across the country. She graduated from Yale with a BS in biology in 1992. Dr. Burke then received an Olin Fellowship and attended the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She completed medical school in 1996 before moving to Seattle, where she completed an internship in general surgery followed by residency in otolaryngology/head and neck surgery at the University of Washington. She participated in past YASC trips to the Dominican Republic in 2019 and Puerto Rico in 2020 and 2023 with her family, when she led the public health project, as well as the most recent service trip to Panama as Co-Community Liaison.

Alicia Morris was the Trip Producer for the 2024 YASC trip to Panama and has also participated in YASC trips to Brazil in 2016 as a volunteer and to the Dominican Republic in 2019 as a project co-lead. For nearly two decades in corporate and business-aligned HR and leadership development, Alicia has worked with mid-level and senior leaders and their teams, across multiple sectors, and on behalf of both internal and external constituents to deploy talent programs globally. Now, as an evidence-based coach, Alicia partners with business leaders and mid-career professionals to design cultures, careers, and lives in which they thrive, with a focus on purpose, values, strengths, freedom, and wellness. Her approach to coaching is grounded in Emotional Intelligence, neuroscience, and the principles of reframing, Attachment Theory, Mindfulness, and Somatic Awareness. To complement her passion for coaching and human development, Alicia has trained in and taught beginner-level Salsa On 2 and Traditional Bachata to adult learners and will next be participating in a Cha-Cha shines performance project. Alicia holds a bachelor’s degree from Yale University, a master's degree from the Thunderbird School of Global Management, and a certificate in Evidence-based Coaching from Fielding Graduate University. She has also studied and resided in Spain, Mexico, the Czech Republic, and Brazil, and speaks Spanish, Brazilian Portuguese, and some French.