How Service Learning Shaped A Career In Public Health

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What if one week abroad could reset your definition of impact? We sit down with Olivia Albanese Gordon to map the winding road from pre‑med requirements and ER shadowing to trip leadership in Nicaragua, an MPH from Johns Hopkins, and a mission‑driven role directing public health programs for families navigating epilepsy, autism, and intellectual and developmental disabilities. The arc isn’t linear, and that’s the point: service learning didn’t just add a line to her resume, it rewired how she thinks about prevention, ethics, and sustainable community health.

We start with the origin story: high‑school service hours, a living‑learning community that prized mentorship, and the choice to major in public health with a medical humanities minor. Olivia shares how pre‑departure training lowered the fear of first‑time international travel, why journaling became an anchor, and how language barriers shrank inside a committed team. From maternal health clinics in the mountains to a hospital delivery room, the moments that stayed weren’t just clinical—they were educational. Teaching handwashing and brushing skills felt small, but the behavior change was built to last long after the pill bottles emptied.

Back home, the work expanded. Olivia translated lessons from mission sites to local needs: supporting Spanish‑speaking patients in dental clinics, serving in the ER, and building a high‑school health curriculum that touched every student. Graduate training during a pandemic deepened her systems mindset, and today she leads programs across New Jersey that help families access care, insurance, and medication while advocating for dignity and autonomy. For students weighing a service trip, she offers clear guidance: assess your readiness, seek mentors, don’t let language stop you, and remember that meaningful impact is just as available in your backyard.

If this conversation sparks new ideas about your own path, follow the show, share it with a friend who’s exploring healthcare careers, and leave a review with the pivot you’re considering next.


Recommended Podcast:

1. Public Health On Call - Johns Hopkins

Recommended App:

1. Duolingo

I also want to thank our listeners for joining us as it is our goal to not only share with you our guest’s introduction to international healthcare, but also to share with you how that exposure to international healthcare has shaped their future path in healthcare. As true patient advocates, we should all aspire to be as well rounded as possible in order to meet the needs of our diverse patient populations.


As a 45+ year nurse that has worked in quite a variety of clinical roles in our healthcare system, taught healthcare courses for the past 20 years at the university level, and has traveled extensively with my students on international service-learning trips, I can easily attest to the fact that healthcare focused students need, and greatly benefit from the opportunity to have hands-on experiential healthcare experiences in an international setting! I have seen the growth of students post travel as their self-confidence in their newly acquired skillsets, both clinical and cultural, facilitates their ability to take advantage of opportunities that previously may not have been available to them. By rendering care internationally, and stepping outside one's comfort zone, many more doors of opportunity will be opened.


Feel free to check out our website at www.islonline.org, follow us on Instagram @ islmedical, and reach out to me @ [email protected] (mailto:[email protected])