Tate Blackburn ’24 (left) conducted research in Galapagos in the summer 2024 with an incredible UNC-Chapel Hill team including PhD student Ivonne Headley (right) and Assistant Professor Heather Wasser (center). (Photo submitted by subject.)
At the heart of every successful student’s journey lies a world of support. While family, mentors and peers are the typical support networks, for one UNC-Chapel Hill student, it was the support of his host family and the generosity of private donors who made his transformative opportunity in the Galapagos possible.
Tate Blackburn, a 2024 graduate of UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health and a first-generation Tar Heel, grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina. He always dreamed of making a difference. A passion for learning and a drive to become a holistic and empathetic physician assistant fueled his academic pursuits.
Tate took a deep interest in the relationship between chronic disease and nutrition, particularly in underrepresented communities. As a senior at Carolina, he was presented with an extraordinary opportunity to conduct research in the Galapagos Islands for five weeks — an experience that would forever shape his upcoming career path in the field of healthcare.
Thanks to generous funding from Leslie Benning ’79 and Dr. Rafael Bejarano — decade-long supporters of the Chancellor’s Global Leadership initiative who believe in the importance of providing students global perspectives and practical research experiences — Tate was afforded the opportunity of a lifetime. He was able to immerse himself in the island community of San Cristóbal, Galapagos, during the summer of 2024 to conduct research for his senior spring capstone project, which built on food security research previously completed by UNC and USFQ. He collected market data to help attach a cost to a nutritionally adequate diet.
This hands-on experience in the field opened Tate’s eyes to the realities of healthy food access on the island. “I was able to work directly with the community — seeing faces and families that my data points had once been,” Tate shared. “I was able to see who the research will benefit.”
The experience gave Tate a deeper perspective on healthcare — one rooted in understanding, empathy and cultural sensitivity. Through his fieldwork, Tate learned firsthand about the economic and social barriers the island community faces when it comes to accessing healthy and nourishing food. He spent his days in local markets taking inventory, tracking food prices and working with shop owners to assess the cost of a nutritious diet for island families. Tate’s data collection would go on to enhance broader data sets that shape nutritional standards in the region.
Left: Blackburn shopping for local produce at the municipal market while listening to Latin pop music his host family introduced him to. Right: Blackburn celebrates his host uncle’s birthday over dinner and enjoys Ecuadorian aji chili pepper sauce for the first time. (Both photos submitted by subject.)
But perhaps the most poignant lesson Tate learned was about the power of community. “The community was tight-knit, and there was a shared resilience that everyone leaned into,” Tate reflected.
This resiliency and community network was a hallmark of Tate’s experience. “Despite the challenges the local community faced, people on the island found ways to make do with the limited resources available to them,” he reflected, noting that the barge delivering weekly food may arrive late, or certain food items may not be available, “but people on the island embraced flexibility and leaned on what was available.”
This could mean produce from a family farm, meat from a neighbor’s, or making do with their second choices from the local market. “Whatever it takes to still enjoy what they eat and meet their family’s needs,” Tate shared.
Witnessing this over the summer opened Tate’s eyes to the fact that nutrition is incredibly multifaceted and not always as simple as making the right choices at the grocery store or making time to work out every day. The pursuit of health can be much more nuanced, especially when environmental and financial factors come to play.
“I may have gleaned these insights in the Galapagos — seemingly a world away from what is happening in North Carolina — but I realized that these challenges are affecting my future patients back home, here and now,” said Tate.
The knowledge and empathy Tate gained in the Galapagos are central to his future aspirations: He will be starting in the Duke Physician Assistant Program in fall 2025. Tate credits his Galapagos experience as leading him on this path, shaping how he hopes to approach his future career and as a critical factor to his admission, since it gave him so many real-life experiences to draw from in his interview.
Sometimes these life lessons are found in unlikely places. For Tate, aside from the lessons learned conducting research, many were found closer to home. In this case, home was with his host mother and grandmother in Galapagos, sharing meals and conversations at the end of long days.
“While living with my host family in Galapagos, they treated me as part of the family from the start. Seeing how important family ties were to them and giving me an honorary spot as part of their family made me want to ensure I treat patients moving forward as if they are my family,” said Tate.
Tate’s host grandmother referred to him from the start as mijo, which in Spanish is a term of endearment and means my son. “This made me feel right at home so far away from home,” said Tate. “In the future, I am hoping to care for a patient population who is marginalized and wary of traditional healthcare, and I want every patient to feel like mijo in my exam room.”
Blackburn is currently working as a nurse aide in the ICU before he starts physician assistant school at Duke University in August 2025. (Photo submitted by subject.)
This hands-on research experience, made possible by generous philanthropy, has been a crucial stepping stone in Tate’s journey toward becoming a physician assistant.
“In my future work, I want my patients to feel like I’m not just their healthcare provider, but an advocate and a friend,” Tate said.
Tate’s experience was made possible by the generosity of UNC alumna Leslie Benning and Dr. Rafael Bejarano. Benning and Bejarano have been involved in the Chancellor’s Global Leadership Initiative for the past decade. They were recently inspired by UNC-Chapel Hill’s work in the Galapagos and believe that it is important for students to gain global perspectives alongside practical research experience in their desired fields.
To support Carolina student experiences in the Galapagos, make a gift to the UNC Center for Galapagos Studies Travel Award today!
Written by Kelly Weaver and Maya Wasik
Related Stories
