{"id":7691,"date":"2025-10-07T02:26:26","date_gmt":"2025-10-07T02:26:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/emoryhistorynews\/?p=7691"},"modified":"2025-10-07T02:26:28","modified_gmt":"2025-10-07T02:26:28","slug":"history-major-lucia-alexeyev-traces-the-lasting-health-effects-of-u-s-occupation-in-vieques-puerto-rico","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/emoryhistorynews\/2025\/10\/07\/history-major-lucia-alexeyev-traces-the-lasting-health-effects-of-u-s-occupation-in-vieques-puerto-rico\/","title":{"rendered":"History Major Lucia Alexeyev Traces the Lasting Health Effects of U.S. Occupation in Vieques, Puerto Rico"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"682\" src=\"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/emoryhistorynews\/files\/2025\/10\/Vieques_hospital_sign_cropped-1024x682.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-7693\" srcset=\"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/emoryhistorynews\/files\/2025\/10\/Vieques_hospital_sign_cropped-1024x682.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/emoryhistorynews\/files\/2025\/10\/Vieques_hospital_sign_cropped-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/emoryhistorynews\/files\/2025\/10\/Vieques_hospital_sign_cropped-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/emoryhistorynews\/files\/2025\/10\/Vieques_hospital_sign_cropped-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/emoryhistorynews\/files\/2025\/10\/Vieques_hospital_sign_cropped.jpg 1166w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><br \/>In the summer of 2025, Emory College senior Lucia Alexeyev conducted research about the relationship between U.S. Naval occupation and residents&#8217; health and access to healthcare on the island of Vieques in Puerto Rico. Alexeyev&#8217;s project, titled &#8220;Military Occupation and Changing Healthcare Landscapes: Vieques and the U.S. Navy, 1941-2003,&#8221; was funded by the History Department&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/history.emory.edu\/undergraduate\/undergraduate-research\/travel-funding.html\">Cuttino Scholarship for Independent Research Abroad<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While in the field, Alexeyev observed the effects of the Trump administration&#8217;s rescission of research grants through the Environmental Protection Agency. She chronicled the on-the-ground consequences of &#8211; and responses to &#8211; those cuts in a piece for <em>Nueve Millones<\/em>, &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.9millones.com\/en\/story\/investigadora-de-la-salud-en-vieques-busca-fondos-tras-cancelarse-subvencion-de-la-epa\">Vieques\u2019 health investigator seeks funding after EPA\u2019s cancellation: &#8216;This is just a rock on the road.<\/a>&#8216;&#8221; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Alexeyev is a History major and Global Health, Culture and Society minor. Dr. Jeffrey Lesser, Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor of History, serves as her thesis adviser. Read an excerpt from the <em>Nueve Millones<\/em> piece below and find the full article <a href=\"http:\/\/Global Health, Culture and Society minor\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p><em>&#8220;Even with how politics has changed in the EPA, Estrada Martinez remains hopeful for the study\u2019s completion. She\u2019s inspired by the Viequense community\u2019s 63-year struggle to remove the Navy from the island, plus an additional 20-year battle to obtain funding for VASAC in the first place.<strong> &#8216;This is just a rock on the road, and we will figure out together how to get rid of it and move forward, right?<\/strong>&#8216;&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>In the summer of 2025, Emory College senior Lucia Alexeyev conducted research about the relationship between U.S. Naval occupation and residents&#8217; health and access to healthcare on the island of Vieques in Puerto Rico. Alexeyev&#8217;s project, titled &#8220;Military Occupation and Changing Healthcare Landscapes: Vieques and the U.S. Navy, 1941-2003,&#8221; was funded by the History Department&#8217;s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8470,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"image","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,12,16,19,1,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-image","hentry","category-experiential-learning","category-global-reach","category-public-humanities","category-research","category-uncategorized","category-undergraduate-students","post_format-post-format-image"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/emoryhistorynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/emoryhistorynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/emoryhistorynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/emoryhistorynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8470"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/emoryhistorynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7691"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/emoryhistorynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7691\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7694,"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/emoryhistorynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7691\/revisions\/7694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/emoryhistorynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/emoryhistorynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scholarblogs.emory.edu\/emoryhistorynews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}