From Boston to Baghdad: How local and Iraqi students are tackling COVID-19’s biggest issues "I think a lot of things are similar – similar rhetoric surrounding the vaccine, similar fears among people who haven't gotten the vaccine." Amanda Soh / United Planet Email Kylin Levy, a 26-year-old occupational therapy doctoral candidate at Boston University, spent the past six weeks helping a local organization study how the pandemic affected sexual behavior. While Levy is approximately 160 miles away from the population she is studying, her teammates are a little farther away – about 5,832 miles, to be exact. Levy is one of 110 students participating in this year’s US- Iraq University Global Public Health COVID-19 Addressing Healthcare Inequity program. The program – organized by United Planet and funded by the US Embassy in Baghdad this year – brings together students from the U.S. and Iraq to tackle issues developed from the pandemic.