Home The CentreLatest news and insights Centre PhD Student Rachel Coghlan embarks on prestigious Fulbright Professional Scholarship

Public health professional and Centre for Humanitarian Leadership PhD Student Rachel Coghlan has embarked on a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship in Non-Profit Leadership in the US.

Rachel is working with Johns Hopkins University’s Center for Humanitarian Health in Baltimore to build the foundation for future research on palliative care in humanitarian emergencies and work on ways to engage and advocate to a wider humanitarian audience on the importance of palliative care.

“Both palliative care and humanitarian response are founded on virtues of alleviating suffering and compassion – now listening, learning and leadership are needed to create the path where they go hand in hand in practice, and humanitarians understand the art of caring in illness, dying and death,’ Rachel says.

I can’t wait to deliberate ideas on the future of palliative care in crisis with some of the best thinkers in humanitarian health research and practice.”

The Fulbright Scholarship in Non-Profit Leadership supports emerging leaders in the not-for-profit (NFP) sector to undertake research in the United States for three to four months. It is funded by Perpetual and supported by the Australian Scholarships Foundation.

Rachel’s PhD research with the Centre explores the place of palliative care in humanitarian emergencies and crises, with a focus on armed conflict settings.

Rachel has 20 years’ post-qualification experience gained in clinical practice, and in international public health research, policy and advocacy. She is a Board Director of Palliative Care Australia, an Executive Member of Australasian Palliative Link International and a member of the Palliative Care in Humanitarian Aid Situations and Emergencies network.