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Greetings!
Happy Spring Break Week. Classes may not be in session, but some of our global health students are using the break to gain valuable experience in the field.
Today, we're pleased to feature the achievements of a few of our faculty members. DGHI faculty are a special bunch. Not only do they teach courses, mentor students and conduct cutting-edge research, they also serve on many high-level committees and organizations in order to influence policy change. Read about the appointment of Randall Kramer, DGHI's deputy director, to the National Advisory Environmental Health Sciences Council.
Also, congratulations to our Kenya-based faculty member Wendy O'Meara for being recognized by Duke as its Blue Devil of the Week. Read about the interesting new skills Wendy has learned while living and working abroad.
Until next week,
Geelea Seaford and Everyone at DGHI
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Kramer Named to National Advisory Environmental Health Sciences Council
Randall A. Kramer, professor of environmental economics and global health at Duke University's Nicholas School of the Environment and deputy director of the Duke Global Health Institute, has been appointed by U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius to serve on the National Advisory Environmental Health Sciences  Council. The council advises the secretary, the director of the National Institutes of Health and director of the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences on scientific program priorities related to environmental health research. Kramer will serve a three-year term. Trained as an environmental economist, Kramer's research focuses on the relationship between human behavior, environmental management and human health. He is currently leading a four-year research initiative, funded with a $2.2 million National Institutes of Health grant, on community based interventions for controlling malaria. The project is conducting randomized experiments on the effectiveness of microbial larvicides and home based health care in reducing malaria infections in rural Tanzania.
Kramer was honored as Duke's 2004 University Scholar/Teacher of the Year, and has twice been named Teacher of the Year at the Nicholas School.
He has held visiting positions at the International Union for Conservation of Nature, Yale University's Economic Growth Center and the Indonesian Ministry of Forestry, and has served as a consultant to the World Bank, World Health Organization and other international conservation and development organizations.
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New Research Grants Focus on HIV, Orphans and Malaria
DGHI faculty member Wendy O'Meara, who is based in Eldoret, Kenya, has been awarded a two-year $126,000 grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to measure changes in the burden of malaria infection and disease over time. Recent studies have shown that serological techniques, which identify specific antibodies in the blood, can be used to rapidly assess malaria exposure at the population level. O'Meara and her research team will incorporate serological measures of malaria into a large intervention trial led by DGHI faculty member Randall Kramer, which will compare the impact of a vector control and a diagnostic intervention.
DGHI faculty members Nathan Thielman and Jan Ostermann have been awarded a two-year $394,731 grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to study alternative HIV testing options in the Kilimanjaro region of Tanzania. Novel options for HIV testing specifically designed to match the preferences of high-risk and hard-to-reach populations hold promise for improving the uptake of HIV testing. Building on their previous HIV testing work in this region, the research team will use an innovative model called Discrete Choice Experiments to determine what tradeoffs individuals make as they evaluate HIV testing options and which attributes are most likely to increase HIV testing.
DGHI faculty member Kathryn Whetten, director of the Center for Health Policy and Inequalities Research, has been awarded a five-year $82,412 grant from the National Institute of Mental Health to evaluate the effectiveness of two mental health interventions targeting orphaned and vulnerable children affected by HIV/AIDS in Zambia. One of the treatment interventions focuses on psychosocial counseling, what is considered the gold standard for addressing mental health among children. The other is a trauma-focused cognitive behavioral therapy program developed by Whetten's research team based on extensive research exploring the mental health needs and stress-related problems among orphans. 
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Blue Devil of the Week: DGHI's
Wendy O'Meara
 Name: Wendy Prudhomme-O'Meara
Position: Assistant professor of medicine and global health Years at Duke: 1.5 Work location: Eldoret, Kenya What I do at Duke is: I serve as a visiting faculty at the Moi University School of Public Health in Kenya, and I mentor students, both Duke and Kenyan, on their research projects. I also build partnerships with universities in Kenya for Duke's growing global health efforts, continue my own research into malaria and work with AMPATH (Academic Model Providing Access to Healthcare) a large organization caring for patients with HIV. I also return to Duke each year for a short time to teach in the Master of Science in Global Health program. How I got my job at Duke is: I came to Kenya six years ago as a research associate for the National Institutes of Health Fogarty International Center. My husband and I love Kenya, but I wanted to get more into an academic setting. That took me to Moi University and eventually to Duke. When I'm not at work I like to: Make food. We have learned to make a lot of our own food - cheese, bread, yogurt, beer - since we came to Kenya. We improvise and innovate with local ingredients. We make cheese from raw goat's milk and make mango pie instead of apple pie. To start a conversation with me, someone should ask me about: Malaria. I can talk forever about malaria because I find it such a fascinating disease. My first paid job was: In high school I worked undercover security at a mall in New Jersey. I was the teenage girl who hung out in the clothing stores looking for shoplifters.
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Triangle Global Health Case Competition: Register Today!
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Nearly 100 students representing 17 teams participated in last year's case competition.
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Student registration for the 2012 Triangle Global Health Case Competition is now open! Students may register as an individual, partial team or complete team. The deadline to register is March 19.
The Triangle Global Health Case Competition, to take place Saturday, March 31, provides a venue for North Carolina's university students from multiple disciplines to develop innovative solutions for a specified global health problem.
Duke students will be competing against teams from UNC, NCSU and other schools around one, common global health case topic, with the top three teams bringing home a cash prize. The event at UNC's Kenan-Flagler Business School in Chapel Hill will also feature a global health networking event with regional and national organizations. Cash prizes will be awarded. |
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Global Health Opportunities
Job Opportunity
Program Specialist, IntraHealth International
Upcoming Conferences
NCD Child Conference, March 12-21, Oakland, CA
Global Surgery Conference, March 22-23, Salt Lake City, UT
Global Health & Innovation Conference, April 21-22, New Haven, CT
Genetics Awareness Project Conference, May 31-June 1, Miami, FL
International Conference on Global Health, July 18-21, Washington, DC
Health Disparities Summit, Oct. 31-Nov. 3, National Harbor, MD
Faculty
Saving Lives at Birth: A Grand Challenge for Development Round 2 - due Apr. 2
RWJF Roadmaps to Health: Community Grants - due May 2
The Lancet China: Call for Papers - due Nov. 22
Post Residency Experience in Rwanda
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