Office of Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Community Engagement

A kid in Guatemala had a dream. Today she's a disease detective

Written by National Public Radio (NPR) | February 19, 2023

Neudy Rojop, 29, stands on a bumpy, cobbled lane in Guatemala in the small rural village of San Rafael Pacayá. It leads to the home where she grew up and where she still lives today.

"Just in this lane," she recalls through an interpreter, "my mom used to walk me and my brother and my sister to school every morning."

Many of her relatives live nearby — uncles, aunts and a younger cousin named Carlos, or Carlitos if you're family. When Rojop was about 10, she says she remembers an urgent knock at their door one night. It was about Carlos.