Leadership Articles
GHDonline opens US communities
14 Jun 2013
GHDonline, part of the Global Health Delivery Project, recently opened the US Communities Initiative to create opportunities for health care professionals across the United States to share resources, ideas, and information in virtual communities. The new communities went public on June 3, 2013. Amol Navathe, MD, PhD, announced the first virtual community that is part of this initiative: the Innovating Health Care Delivery Community.Harvard Medical School Partners with Rwanda Ministry of Health
07 Dec 2012
The Rwanda Ministry of Health has launched the Human Resources for Health Program in collaboration with a consortium of U.S. academic institutions, including Harvard Medical School. This initiative seeks to increase the quality and quantity of health professionals in Rwanda. The U.S. academic institutions have made a commitment that is unprecedented in global health: they are supplying full-time medical, nursing, health management, and dentistry faculty to collaborate with each other and with leading Rwandan educators in medicine and public health on all aspects of health professionals’ education.Kerry Announces Global Health Service Partnership
13 Mar 2012
Vanessa Kerry, MD, director of the GHSM Program on Global Public Policy and Social Change and executive director of the Global Health Service Corps, announced the launch of the Global Health Service Partnership with the Peace Corps and the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). The partnership will place doctors, nurses, and other health professionals in developing countries as medical educators with the Peace Corps Response program.Farmer ties cancer care to global health system strengthening
16 Mar 2011
In an interview published in the March 2011 issue of Scientific American, Paul Farmer discusses the need to improve treatment of cancer among lower and middle income populations. He relates attention to cancer as a global health issue to the history of the global response to infectious disease and advocates for an integrative approach to improving health care. Link to the interview and related resources.Medical Leaders Launch Abundance Project for Global Health
28 Oct 2010
Harvard Medical School, in partnership with the Abundance Foundation, Partners In Health and the Global Health Delivery Program, announces the launch of the Abundance Project for Global Health. This partnership empowers local health care workers in Haiti and Rwanda and trains a new generation of health care providers. A seed gift from the Abundance Foundation was committed through the Clinton Global Initiative to create the Abundance Project for Global Health. The Project will support networks of clinicians, medical researchers, and teachers caring for resource-poor communities.Knaul promotes initiatives for cancer care and control
20 Sep 2010
The Global Task Force on Expanded Access to Cancer Care and Control in Developing Countries is reinvigorating efforts to fight cancer and expanding access to cancer treatment. Felicia Knaul, Associate Professor of Medicine in the BWH Division of Global Health Equity and Associate Professor of Global Health and Social Medicine, is coordinating this initiative in collaboration with Larry Shulman, Chief Medical Officer and Sr. Vice-President Medical Affairs, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Julio Frenk, Dean of Harvard School of Public Health and former Minister of Public Health in Mexico, and several other global health leaders, including Paul Farmer.Farmer to Co-lead HIGH
28 Jun 2010
Harvard President Drew Faust has appointed Paul Farmer to co-lead education and training efforts at the Harvard Institute for Global Health (HIGH). Working with Sue Goldie, the recently named director of HIGH, who is also Roger Irving Lee Professor of Public Health and director of the Center for Health Decision Science at the Harvard School of Public Health, and David Cutler, Otto Eckstein Professor of Applied Economics in Harvard's Department of Economics and a member of the faculty of the Harvard Kennedy School, Dr. Farmer will help inform the strategy for strengthening global health education at Harvard University, focusing on medical education and training.Former Fogarty Fellow Named as Indonesia’s Director of Mental Health
27 Jun 2010
Dr. Irmansyah, a former fellow in the Fogarty International Center-sponsored Program in International Mental Health, was recently named Indonesia’s Director of Mental Health. The FIC newsletter, Global Health Matters, reported the Indonesian Ministry of Health is establishing a Center for Mental Health which will support Dr. Irmansyah’s ability to improve the circumstances of schizophrenics, reduce stigma associated with mental illness, and effect other social and policy changes. Dr. Irmansyah credits his fellowship in the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine with providing useful tools for his research and leadership. The story also quotes Byron Good. See the story in Global Health Matters.Krakauer Quoted on Need for Opioids
24 Jun 2010
Eric Krakauer, Instructor in Social Medicine and Assistant Professor of Medicine (MGH), is quoted in a TIME article on the scarcity of morphine worldwide and reluctance to use it where it is available. See Global Pain-Law Reform: Morphine Still Scarce for Many - TIMEGlobal Surgery Community Opens on GHDonline
21 Apr 2010
GHDonline has launched the Global Surgery Community with the guidance of moderators Nadine Semer, MD, MPH, FACS, a general and plastic surgeon who spends a portion of her time volunteering her services in rural areas of the developing world; Lubna Samad, MRCS, FCPS, a pediatric surgeon at the Indus Hospital in Pakistan; and Robert Riviello, MD, MPH, a trauma and acute care general surgeon at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston. U.S. Surgeons and non-surgeons are invited to join this new community to “work together to define the burden of surgical disease and the barriers to accessing surgical care,” says Dr. Samad. “Being able to share views through the Global Surgery Community on GHDonline.org will be invaluable,” she adds.Family Van Team Presents at National Forums
14 Apr 2010
Professor Nancy Oriol reports that the Family Van team and the Return-on-Investment Calculator Team had a poster accepted by the World Health Care Congress. Members of the team attended the Seventh Annual Congress and presented at the Second Affordable Health Innovations Exhibit and Awards program on April 12-14, 2010 in Washington, D.C. Click "read full story" to link to the posters.Marcia Angell advocates single payer health insurance
24 Jul 2009
Marcia Angell, Senior Lecturer in Social Medicine, has been commenting on the U.S. health reform efforts this summer in a meeting with Senator Baucus of Montana, Chairman of the Finance Committee, an appearance before the House Subcommittee on Health, Employment, Labor and Pensions, and in an interview on Bill Moyers Journal on PBS. In the July 24 Bill Moyers conversation, Dr. Angell supports a gradually implemented single health payer system.
Solomon to promote culture of safety among chemists
15 Jul 2009
Millie Solomon has been invited to serve on a National Research Council, National Academies of Science committee, "Safety and Biosecurity in Chemical Laboratories in the Developing World." The Academies have asked her to apply her experiences designing strategies to improve the culture of medicine and medical education to a new, but related domain: the education of chemists to promote a culture of safety and responsibility in the conduct of laboratory research in resource poor environments.
Belfer consults to Medecins Sans Frontieres on mental health
09 Jul 2009
July 9 and 10, Dr. Myron Belfer served as an expert consultant to Medecins Sans Frontieres for their workshop on International Mental Health held in Paris. The focus was on identifying and critiquing best practices for assessing population mental health status and evaluating outcomes of mental health interventions. Also, in attendance, among others were Vikram Patel and Alex Cohen.
Mitnick writes on the urgent support needed for stopping MDRTB
01 Jun 2009
As Paul G. Rogers Society for Global Health Research Ambassador, Carole Mitnick wrote the article about multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, “Stopping a Killer,” published in the Baltimore Sun. The article communicates the urgency for resources. Dr. Mitnick writes:Keshavjee featured in Scientific American
26 Feb 2009
Salmaan Keshavjee, Assistant Professor of Social Medicine, was featured in a Scientific American article about fighting drug-resistant tuberculosis. See the article at this link. Additional information about Dr. Keshavjee is on his GHSM web page.Fein Poses Questions on Health Care Reform
16 Feb 2009
Under the auspices of NiemanWatchdog.org, Rashi Fein, Professor of Economics of Medicine Emeritus, posed six questions for the Obama administration on the topic of health care reform. The questions, with commentary, address issues such as the pressure to enact change quickly, educating the public about actual costs of health care, developing political will for universal health care, electronic medical records, and increasing access to care. Fein discusses possible approaches, such as phasing in a universal program first with children under age 18 as well as lowering the eligibility age for Medicaid. NiemanWatchdog.org is a service of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard University. The full text of Professor Fein's article is available at: Six Key Questions for Obama on Health Care Reform.Millie Solomon joins newly forming Committee on Biosecurity in Chemical Laboratories
05 Jan 2009
Millie Solomon has been invited by the National Research Council to serve as a member of a newly forming National Academies of Science (NAS) Committee on Biosecurity in Chemical Laboratories. The goal of the committee is to make recommendations for creating a "culture of responsibility" amongst chemists worldwide, committed to handling potential dual use materials in ways that will reduce or eliminate terrorist-sponsored proliferation of toxic agents. The challenge is to neither overreact to potential threats nor underreact to them, and to build support worldwide amongst the leaders of chemical laboratories for an appropriate set of precautionary measures. Prior to her invitation to serve as a member of this committee, Millie consulted to the NAS on ways to enhance biosecurity in life sciences research. The work of both the biological and chemical committees is sponsored by the U.S. State Department.Robert Truog testifies on medical futility at President’s Council on Bioethics meeting
20 Nov 2008
Dr. Robert Truog of the Division of Medical Ethics testified on the subject of Medical Futility at the 35th meeting of the President’s Council on Bioethics on Thursday, Nov. 20th (http://www.bioethics.gov/transcripts/november08/index.html). Primarily taking the patient’s perspective, his comments address elements of futility, including power, trust, hope, money, and suffering. He addresses the topic of rationing and compares two procedural models for determining futility. A transcript is available at http://bioethics.gov/transcripts/november08/session2.html .Millie Solomon advises The Open Society Institute on ways to enhance patients’ rights
18 Nov 2008
Millie Solomon, Associate Clinical Professor in the Division of Medical Ethics, recently returned from a meeting in Budapest, Hungary, organized by the Law and Health Initiative of The Open Society Institute's Public Health Program. Participants included program officers and law and health coordinators at local Soros Network foundations in Armenia, Georgia, Ukraine, East Africa, and Southern Africa, as well as leading human rights advocates from within those countries. The goal was to consider how best to encourage in-country transformations of the culture of health care to reduce bias and discrimination, increase privacy and confidentiality, and move toward more patient-centered forms of care.Fogarty Institute highlights assistance to Sichuan earthquake survivors by former fellows in the DGH
01 Jun 2008
Eight former fellows and one incoming fellow in the DGHSM's Fogarty Institute-sponsored training program on international mental health led the China Expert Team of Psychosocial Response to the Earthquake in Sichuan Province. These actions were reported in the Fogarty International Center newsletter, Global Health Matters (See pages 8-9 of the PDF).