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Strength in Community UW-Madison Global Health Institute 2017-2018

this is all of us making a difference in global health

AS WE CLOSE OUT 2017-2018, I want to thank all of you, faculty, staff, students, colleagues, and friends, for being part of the Global Health Institute (GHI) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Together, we are working toward a more just, sustainable, and healthy world.

Across campus and the planet, we work together to tackle health challenges. Many of you pursue projects supported by GHI and nurture programs you have established because you believe in global health for all. This is the essence of the Wisconsin Idea—the UW community sharing knowledge and learning from colleagues and communities in Wisconsin and across the planet.

You are vital to global health: Supporting our work. Inspiring students. Challenging all of us to find creative answers for health, today and tomorrow. This 2017-2018 report celebrates all of you and what you do.

On, Wisconsin!

Jonathan Patz, M.D., MPH, Director, Global Health Institute and John P. Holton Chair in Health and the Environment

inspiring the best in students

our students 2017-2018

328 earned the Undergraduate Certificate in Global Health, the third largest certificate on campus. They represented 53 majors and all eight undergraduate schools and colleges.

8 earned the Graduate • Professional • Capstone Certificate in Global Health.

112 graduate, professional, and capstone students participated in international global health experiences.

274 undergraduates participated in field experiences: 182 at international sites and 92 in Wisconsin and the U.S.

305 students and 16 faculty members across 11 departments worked through UniverCity Year to address Dane County's housing gap, improve economic development, protect water quality, and more.

Henry Anderson and Laurel Myers
“I felt for so long that I was combining things (veterinary medicine and public health) that people weren’t combining. It makes a tremendous amount of difference to see elders … believe in the things I believe in.”—Laurel Myers, Henry Anderson III Graduate Research Award recipient

discovering new Solutions for health

“It was completely unknown that rhinovirus C could infect anything other than humans.”—GHI Associate Director for Research Tony Goldberg, who found the human cold virus in chimpanzees

ONE HEALTH ACKNOWLEDGES that the health of humans, animals, and the planet are interlinked. Through research in the field and in the laboratory, faculty, staff, and students across campus explore those links to improve health for all. In 2018, GHI funded 8 Graduate Student Research Awards, 5 Visiting Scholar Awards, 2 Faculty and Staff Travel Awards, and 1 Henry Anderson III Graduate Research Award in Environmental, Occupational and Public Health. Projects delve into topics as diverse as the health benefits of clean energy, oral rabies vaccines for bats, adolescent pregnancy, and surgical training.

“I hope another outbreak like this never occurs. But, hopefully, this rare opportunity to study Ebola virus in humans leads to fewer lives lost in the future.”—GHI Advisory Committee member Yoshi Kawaoka on the study he led that identified signatures of Ebola virus disease that may aid in future treatment efforts

championing health care for all

ENSURING ACCESS TO CARE is critical to health in Wisconsin and the world. Through education, advocacy, and training, the GHI community champions health care for all. GHI Associate Director for Health Sciences Jim Conway is a leading advocate for vaccines, including the HPV vaccine that can deter cancer. Janis Tupesis, the GHI-Graduate Medical Education liaison, works internationally to help develop emergency care systems, focusing on integrating post-graduate and medical education. He has helped create global health training for students, residents, and fellows at UW Health and abroad.

GHI Advisory Committee member Girma Tefera has been instrumental in establishing the Department of Surgery's international rotation, and Callistus Ditah, a third year general surgery resident pictured above, was the first participant at the Tikur Anbess Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

“Global health is a security issue, an economic issue, and an economic security issue. And surgery is increasingly being recognized as a crucial component of public health, as important, for example, as vaccines.”—GHI Advisory Committee member Girma Tefera on the Department of Surgery's new international rotation
“Some viruses have the ability, once they infect cells, to stay there and cause a chronic infection. That’s what HPV does.” —Jim Conway

SHOWING HOW TO PROTECT THE PLANET AND OUR HEALTH

AS OUR CLIMATE CHANGES, GHI champions solutions that protect the planet and our health. GHI Director Jonathan Patz has challenged audiences in three countries and seven U.S. states with keynotes, distinguished lectures, and a TEDx talk about the health benefits of confronting the global climate crisis and reducing carbon emissions. Assistant Scientist Sam Younkin, who leads the Health-Oriented Transportation initiative, is collaborating with international partners through a Wellcome Trust project focusing on the complex systems that connect urban development and health.

“There are a lot of solutions to getting the cooling and the air conditioning that we need while having cleaner air. And this can come in the form of moving our electricity system toward less-(carbon) emitting sources, designing buildings that are easier to cool, and having air conditioning units that are more energy efficient.”—GHI Advisory Committee member Tracey Holloway speaking to Science Friday about a new study that shows the positive and negative impacts of air conditioning

MAKING THE WORLD BETTER FOR WOMEN AND CHILDREN

CO-CONVENED BY GHI, THE 4W (Women and Well-being in Wisconsin and the World) Initiative reaches across sectors to promote well-being for women and girls. This summer, 4W co-sponsored the summer RoboSmarts: AI and the World, a class led by Maydm, a Madison non-profit organization that encourages especially girls and children of color to enter STEM fields. Pictured, Maydm's Valerie Martinez helps Shya Washington use a computer-coding program.

In April, 400 registered for the full Wisconsin Women’s and Gender Studies Conference and 4W Summit on Women, Gender and Well-Being, and another 300 attended six, free plenary events, including the J. Jobe and Marguerite Jacquim Soffa Lecture and keynote by Najma Ahmed Abdi, chair of the Somali Youth Leadership Forum.

“There’s a circle where everyone is welcome. We are stronger together, and the campus of the University of Wisconsin-Madison wants to be there to support that circle in whatever areas women need.”—GHI Associate Director Lori DiPrete Brown at the International Women’s Day celebration

seeing new opportunities in wisconsin's cows

GLOBAL HEALTH STRETCHES from Wisconsin to the world, and the state’s iconic cows have become ambassadors for health and the Wisconsin Idea, as scientists share their dairiy knowledge and learn what it can mean to other cultures.

GHI Advisory Committee member Michel Wattiaux measures the methane cows exhale as part of a study that looks at how the breed and diet of a cow affect greenhouse gas emissions. His work contributes to the U.S. dairy industry’s plans to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent by 2020.

“Recognizing food and the nutrients it has by (seeing) food as medicine ... opens up a different, more holistic model of health.”—GHI Seed Grant recipient Heidi Busse, on her collaboration to establish a milk program for Ethiopian children

sharing your passion for global health

In February, Professor Howard Frumkin challenged a full house in Memorial Union's Great Hall to see that we must protect the planet to protect our health. Panelists who responded, shown here with Frumkin, second from right, are Rick Keller, Lyric Bartholomay, Gregg Mitman, Monica White, and Maureen Durkin.

In April, Professor Susan Paskewitz showed 250 attending the 14th annual Global Health Symposium why mosquitoes and ticks are our deadliest foes. Paskewitz, left, also helped develop an app to track tick exposure. Panelists Rachel Klos, Lina Elbadawi, Martha Maurer, Trisha Says Ranola, and James Conway explored the use, misuse, and future of opioids and antibiotics in a closing panel discussion.

In a June global health seminar, Brazilian neurosurgeon Eric Jennings Simões inspired us with his respect, medical care, and collaboration with a recently-contacted tribe in the Amazon rainforest. (Watch the video.)

Global Health Tuesdays and special seminars throughout the year provide a forum to learn and share global health perspectives.

Nine of the 25 Mandela Washington Fellows who visited UW-Madison in July as part of the Young African Leaders Initiative of the U.S. Department of State presented talks at three GHI Global Health Tuesdays. They are paving the way to health equity, from reducing child mortality to improving access to care to changing policies.

Global health takes all of us.

Thank you for your commitment to a more just, sustainable, and healthy world.

To learn more about the UW-Madison Global Health Institute, visit ghi.wisc.edu.

Credits:

Photos by Janis Tupesis, Ann Grauvogl, Christopher Olsen, United Nations, Tony Goldberg, Yoshi Kawaoka, Department of Surgery, UW-Madison University Communications; Heidi Busse, Erika Palmer

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