Virginia Commonwealth University Archives

Vineeth Vaidyula is a graduate of the Honors College at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) where he majored in biology with a minor in chemistry. In his time at VCU, he explored his interests in public health and medically underserved populations. Passionate about refugee resettlement and immigration advocacy, Vineeth has worked with local resettlement agencies and anti-detention groups as healthcare mentor, youth tutor, public benefits assistant, and detention hotline volunteer. He has also directed the Richmond Refugee Health Partners student volunteer program, an initiative he founded to: address the unmet health advocacy needs of Richmond-based refugees; and improve the cross-cultural, person-centered-care abilities of pre-health undergraduate students at VCU. Moreover, he has served as the president of Students Together Assisting Refugees at VCU (STAR@VCU), an organization he founded which focuses on campus-wide awareness campaigns on migrant issues.

He has also been significantly involved in qualitative and quantitative research, including population-based research and wet-lab virology research. Vineeth’s long-term career goal is to be a physician-advocate, serving the culturally diverse U.S. community that raised him. After completing his Fulbright-Nehru stint, Vineeth is set to matriculate from the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Vineeth’s Fulbright-Nehru project is studying the Hyderabad vitiligo population using survey instruments, with a focus on investigating how social class impacts the prevalence of the condition and the quality of life of the vitiligo patients. Vineeth hopes that his research in India will help him become globally informed about the social attitudes and structural disparities associated with illness that exist within different sociocultural groups so that he can better serve the diversity of U.S. patients.

Colleen Choate graduated from Appalachian State University in 2017 with a bachelor’s in dance studies and a minor in Spanish. Deeply connected to the creative and expressive art communities on campus, she has performed in the fall and spring Appalachian Dance Ensemble for multiple years, organized and performed in public poetry readings, held concerts for her own choreographies, and served on The Peel Literature & Arts Review poetry committee. The focus of her scholarly work and thesis was the connection between language and the body as a somatic and expressive experience. As a choreographer and as a yoga instructor, she has realized that her greatest strength lies in facilitating experiences and in holding space for others to express themselves.

Colleen was introduced to Indian philosophy in a yoga class during her freshman year in college, and she has never looked back. She began reading such texts as the Bhagavad Gita and Devi Mahatmya. Her desire for deeper connection and authentic relationship with these teachings led her to India in 2019, where she toured its southern part, visiting temples, exploring places, and of course, eating amazing food.

In 2020, she decided to switch career paths and took a TEFL course to receive her teaching certification and began working with the English Language Program students at Virginia Commonwealth University. She quickly took to the role, especially in terms of building relationships with students, which led to her current role as the global learning coordinator in the Global Education Office at Virginia Commonwealth University.

In this role, she works daily with international students studying in the United States. This includes planning and implementing cultural events and social programs to support these students. These programs help them connect with one another, as well as with domestic students, and foster community, cultural competence, and personal growth. Colleen is excited about the opportunity that the Fulbright-Nehru grant offers to work with students every day, learn from them, and find rewarding ways to build relationships through education.