The Master of Science in Global Health (MSc-GH) Program welcomes 29 new students this week, which is its third and largest class to date.  The rigorous, research-focused graduate program promotes the interdisciplinary study in global health and has attracted students from around the globe with a variety of backgrounds, interests and career levels. This year is no exception.

The incoming MSc-GH class includes four international students from China and India, a joint JD/MSc-GH, two Internal Medicine residents in the Global Health Residency and Fellowship Pathway Program and a new faculty member in Duke's Emergency Medicine department.  The students bring an impressive range of academic backgrounds and interests to the program, such as anthropology, pharmacy, economics, engineering, government, international relations, psychology, medicine, interdisciplinary studies and neuroscience.

"We are excited to introduce the largest MSc-GH class yet, who exemplify what the Duke Global Health Institute is all about, which is bringing together passionate minds from many disciplines and backgrounds to focus on the global health issues of today and tomorrow," said Chris Woods, MSc-GH faculty director and associate professor of medicine and global health. "We are proud of the growth of the program since it began three years ago, and it is filling the need for research-focused graduate study in global health."

Duke News and Communications

It's not only Michelle Obama and other Americans who are sounding the alarm about obesity. The problem is also growing in places such as India, and new Duke faculty member Harris Solomon seeks to understand why.

The medical anthropologist spent the past several years watching snack food sellers in Mumbai, hanging out with Indian mothers as they cook for their families and interviewing Indian companies that have begun using healthier ingredients to promote their foods to consumers worried about their waistlines.

"Obesity is so interesting to me, since food is morally charged," says Solomon, who argues that consumerism and modernization alone cannot explain India's problems with obesity and related illnesses such as diabetes. "Some people have blamed over-indulgent parents or the growing number of people with sedentary jobs, but the issue is more complicated. We need to ask who puts food in circulation. How is it priced? Who has access? You can't just frame obesity in terms of personal indulgence or a society becoming wealthier."

Solomon joins Duke as an assistant professor in both the cultural anthropology department and the global health institute. "To be in such an interdisciplinary environment with a joint appointment was especially appealing," he says, describing Duke's approach as "forward thinking."