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Weekly News and Notes
From the Duke Global Health Institute
Greetings!
It's awards season at Duke! We're proud of the global health faculty members who were recognized for their contributions and scholarship this year. (See list below)
Likewise, we're proud to bring you the latest in our series, Faces of Global Health, which features DGHI faculty and students. This week, read about Manoj Mohanan and the important research he is doing to strengthen and evaluate health systems in India.
Finally, mark your calendar for the next installment of the Chancellor's Lecture Series on May 26 featuring Philippa Marrack of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and a Distinguished Professor at National Jewish Health and the University of Colorado, Denver.
Until next week,
Geelea Seaford and Everyone at DGHI |
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Faces of Global Health: Manoj Mohanan, PhD
In this series, DGHI showcases the innovative global health research of accomplished Duke faculty and the passionate students who make the future of global health promising.
Health systems and policy expert Manoj Mohanan, who joined DGHI in fall 2009, employs innovative social science methods to understand and improve health care delivery in resource-poor settings.
 Mohanan brings 13 years of field expertise and training to DGHI, where he now leads the health systems strengthening signature research initiative. He attended medical school in India before completing a masters of public health and a doctorate degree in health policy and economics at Harvard University.
From early on in his career, Mohanan understood that improving health in low- and middle-income countries requires a holistic approach. Every year, millions of people in poor countries die from preventable or treatable diseases, often because the health systems that are supposed to serve them fail to deliver effective and affordable care. The lack of expertise, analytic skills and research capacities of staff working in health systems often make reform difficult. But with improvements in health care delivery, governance, financing and information technology, resource-poor countries can begin to build capacity to develop a stronger health systems infrastructure.
"For a long time, we've talked about health systems in a rather piecemeal manner, but it is important to understand that there are feedback loops affecting different parts of the system," said Mohanan, who is currently working on a number of projects with health policy leaders in India. "Changes on the health financing arm, such as a new health insurance program, will undoubtedly result in spillover effects on many different areas including the health workforce or service delivery. So, it's important to think of the system as a whole when coming up with policy prescriptions."
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CSIS Commission on Smart Global Health Policy Releases New Video of Kenyan Trip
Last August, the CSIS Commission on Smart Global Health Policy brought several Commissioners to Kenya, including DGHI Director Michael Merson, to expose them to the realities of health policy in the field.
The trip also encouraged Commissioners to listen to and learn from the Kenyan people about their way of life and the vast health
Click to watch the video. | challenges that exist in their own communities.
The documentary is broken into six segments by location, and each will be paired with a blog post over the next two weeks, providing access to personal reflections of the Commissioners, background information on the topics covered, and a window into how the trip influenced the Commission report, " A Healthier, Safer, and More Prosperous World."
Learn more about the CSIS trip to Kenya in the Kenya Trip Report and follow the Kenya blog over the next two weeks for "behind the scenes" news and information on each of the video's six segments.
Five Duke Faculty Working in Global Health Honored by University
 Duke has awarded distinguished professorships to 28 faculty members. The professors were recognized at a dinner last week, at the Washington Duke Inn and Golf Club, with other university distinguished professors -- current and emeritus -- in attendance. Among the recipients are:
-- Kevin A. Schulman, Gregory Mario and Jeremy Mario Professor of Business Administration
Duke also awarded 2010 teaching awards to faculty based on recommendations from students and faculty colleagues. Some schools will announce teaching awards at commencement. Among the recipients already honored are:
-- David Katz of BME received the Capers and Marion McDonald Award for Excellence in Teaching and Research -- Robert Malkin, also of BME, received the Lois and John L. Imhoff Distinguished Teaching Award
World Bank Announces Free Access to its Online Data
The World Bank said today it will offer free access to more than 2,000 financial, business, health, economic and human development statistics that had mostly been available only to paying subscribers.
The decision, part of a larger effort to increase access to information at the World Bank, means that researchers, journalists, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), entrepreneurs and school children alike will be able to tap into the World Bank's databases via a new website: http://data.worldbank.org.
Experts say the Bank's open data initiative has the potential to stimulate more evidence-based policymaking in developing countries by bringing more researchers and innovative analysis into the development process. The move is also likely to stimulate demand for data and increase countries' capacity to produce it.
For the first time, data will be available in languages other than English, with an initial 330 indicators translated into French, Spanish and Arabic. Read more. |
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Faculty News and Funding
NIH Grant Review Materials
Attend Global Health Council Conference June 14-18
Register to attend the Global Health Council's 37th Annual International Conference, which brings together more than 2,500 practitioners, global health and world leaders, activists and researchers to discuss global health's goals and metrics. Discussion will include  program implementation, financing, leadership and politics, and lessons learned. (See agenda.)
Conference Co-chair and DGHI Board Member Peter Piot will be a featured speaker at the event. Piot is the director of the Institute for Global Health at Imperial College and former executive director of UNAIDS.
Funding Opportunities
NEW! USAID Health Policy Project Grant
The Health Policy Project will engage and strengthen the ability of individuals, in-country and/or regional institutions and universities to build long-term capacity in the health policy arena and to address policy and advocacy needs at national and sub-national levels. Deadline June 14. Read more.
Center Seed Grant Request for Proposals
The China International Center for Chronic Disease Prevention will award seed research grants to 1) encourage innovative research projects with the potential for funding for larger-scale studies, and to 2) establish tangible platforms for collaborations, fellowship training, and capacity building between international and Chinese organizations in its network. Deadline June 30. Read more.
NEW! Microbicide Innovation Program (MIP VI) (R21/R33)
This FOA, the Microbicide Innovation Program (MIP VI), issued by NIAID, encourages Research Project Grant (R21/R33) applications in the field of topical microbicides to advance: development of new microbicide approaches and additional rational targets through preclinical and basic research Deadline July 9. Read more.
Education/Training Opportunities
Robert E. Shope International Fellowship in Infectious Diseases
Individuals with doctoral-level degrees who seek fellowship funding to support travel, living and research expenses to work in laboratories in the tropics to pursue studies in arbovirology and/or emerging tropical infectious diseases are invited to apply for the Robert E. Shope International Fellowship. Deadline May 20. Read more.
Post-Graduate Diploma in Health Economics, Health Care Financing and Health Policy
The first of its kind in India, this course is premised on the belief that enhanced understanding and knowledge of health economics approaches and techniques, health systems research, monitoring and evaluation and health policy analysis is central to more effective policies and programs for better health services. Deadline June 30. Read more.
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Education Opportunity
Global Semester Abroad in India and China: Call for Applications
Applications are being accepted on a rolling basis as space permits for the Duke Global Semester Abroad program, which begins in 2011. Join your fellow students to explore health and development issues in India and China while being immersed in their cultures for a semester. The Sanford School of Public Policy, the Department of Cultural Anthropology and the Duke Global Health Institute partnered to offer this opportunity to undergraduate students. Read more.
Job Opportunities
Career Postings from the Global Health Career Network
Are you graduating this semester? Are you interested in a career in global health? See the latest job opportunities available from the Global Health Council, which is a great resource for young adults entering the field. See their website. Also, see other global health career resources from DGHI.
NEW! ASTMH Young Investigator Award
ASTMH will present the Young Investigator Award (YIA) to outstanding young researchers during the 59th Annual Meeting, November 3-7, 2010, in Atlanta. This award encourages developing young scientists to pursue careers in various aspects of tropical disease research. Deadline May 4. Read more.
Grand Challenges Explorations: Proposals for Round 5
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is now accepting grant proposals for Round 5 of Grand Challenges Explorations, a US $100 million initiative to encourage unconventional global health solutions. Anyone can apply, regardless of education or experience level. Deadline May 19. Read more.
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York Room, Divinity School
May 26 � 12-1 pm
Trent Hall, Room 124
May 26 � 3-6 pm
Hall of Science and Love Auditorium, LSRC
Webcast and Tate-Turner-Kuralt Building Auditorium, UNC-CH
June 9 � 5:30-7 pm
South Lawn, Sarah P. Duke Gardens
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Video Corner
"Surgery as a Global Health Priority"
Dr. Haile Debas, director of the University of California Global Health Institute, and executive director of UCSF Global Health Sciences
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