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Greetings!
As you know, it's Global Health Week at Duke and the campus is all abuzz with daily activities. Yesterday, we co-hosted a visit by Council on Foreign Relations Global Health Advisor Laurie Garrett, whose provocative lecture still has our students talking. See pictures from Garrett's visit. The week is filled with a wide range of other activities to raise awareness of global health issues. Check out the complete schedule and take part in the fun.
The culmination of Global Health Week is the chance for our students to compete in Global Health Case Competitions in the Triangle and at Emory. A six-member team made up of Duke undergrad and graduate students will travel to Atlanta to take on multi-disciplinary teams from 23 US universities and four foreign countries. At the same time, four teams will represent Duke at the Triangle Global Health Case Competition. We wish all of our students the best of luck!
Until next week,
Geelea Seaford and Everyone at DGHI
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Master of Science in Global Health Receives Record Applications
 | MSC-GH faculty program leader Chris Woods gives introduction.
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The Duke Master of Science in Global Health (MSc-GH) is growing in prestige and reach, with a record number of applications for the cohort beginning this fall. Since the graduate program began in 2009, applications have tripled - attracting nearly 300 prospective students. This year's milestone also comprises a record number of international applicants, with many applications coming from China. The applicant pool includes US and internationally-trained doctors, researchers, exceptional undergraduate students and applicants intending to pursue a combined JD/MSc-GH. Building on the program's strength of recruiting a diverse student class, this year's applicants represent a wide variety of undergraduate majors, including psychology, biology, economics, neurosciences, biomedical engineering and studio art, among others. Some of those accepted attended DGHI's second-annual MSc-GH Admitted Students Day last week, allowing them  | | Student panel at Admitted Students Day |
to engage with and ask questions of MSc-GH faculty, current students and program staff. The day-long event also included a student panel, class visits, a session on fieldwork and career opportunities and a campus tour. The students came away from the event with agreater understanding of what makes the MSC-GH unique and forward-thinking. See pictures from Admitted Students Day. Now in its third year, the MSc-GH program has produced graduates that have gone on to pursue careers in research, policy and medicine or further graduate study. Employers have included the World Health Organization, Google, RTI International, Doctors Without Borders and the Peking University Clinical Research Institute. Current MSc-GH students are gearing up to begin their global health fieldwork and research project later this summer and fall. Many of these students will blog about their research experience on the official DGHI Fieldwork Blog. Subscribe to the blog for updates. DGHI will formally announce its fourth class of the Master of Science in Global Health program later this year. |
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PhD Students Find Research, Networking Opportunities in Global Health Doctoral Scholars Program
Apply for the Doctoral Scholars program by Mar. 30 Drawing from disciplines across Duke to bear on important global health issues, Global Health Doctoral Scholars Chris Paul and Sarah Wilson have found the DGHI program to be the perfect complement to their work in environmental policy and clinical psychology, respectively.
The Global Health Doctoral Scholars (GHDS) program, led at DGHI by faculty member Joanna (Asia) Maselko, provides Duke doctoral students the opportunity to pursue global health research while working in their primary discipline. Paul and Wilson are the program's first doctoral scholars. They work closely with, and are mentored by, a DGHI faculty member as they develop and conduct a global health research project and complete a dissertation. Paul and Wilson are in the midst of global health research projects based in sub-Saharan Africa, and say the program has given them the opportunity to advance their research skills, engage in additional faculty-led global health research projects and network with global health faculty and students across Duke. "As a PhD student in environmental policy, my interests and work cut across disciplines and departments, including public policy, environmental science and political science," said Paul, whose doctoral research is focused on malaria. "The Global Health Doctoral Scholars program affords me the opportunity to expand my networks and opportunities beyond my home in the Nicholas School and unite them in my work at DGHI."
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Med Student Studies Helmet Use, Head Injuries Among East African Motorcyclists
Apply for the MD Third Year Study program by Apr. 2
Motorcycles, often referred to as boda bodas in Uganda and motos in Rwanda, are a common mode of transportation in urban cities across East Africa. However, helmet use among motorcyclists is not well studied. With funding from DGHI's Global Health Third Year Study program, Duke medical student June Tibaleka studied helmet use 
among motorcyclists and its effect on the severity of head injuries in Kampala, Uganda and Kigali, Rwanda.
Under the mentorship of Duke neurosurgeon and DGHI faculty member Michael Haglund, Tibaleka found a stark difference in the use of helmets from Kigali to Kampala. Her research shows 97 percent of motorcyclists on the streets of Kigali use helmets compared to only nine percent in Kampala. Tibaleka suggests this contrast may stem from differences in enforcement of existing helmet use laws from one country to the other.
Tibaleka also studied how helmet use affects the severity of head injuries sustained in road traffic accidents. Her research found that patients who used helmets suffered less severe head injuries than those without helmets. In Kigali where helmet use is high, motorcyclists who went to the hospital tended to have more severe head injuries. This suggests that helmet use may be keeping people with less severe injuries from coming to the hospital.
"Motorcycles are a fast-growing means of transportation in these East African cities and account for high morbidity and mortality due to injury," said Tibaleka. "So this research is relevant and important because it documented the role of helmet use in protecting against severe head injury in this high-risk population..."
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 William Pan Honored By Alma Mater
Congratulations to Duke Assistant Professor of Global Environmental Health William Pan, who will be honored next month as the recipient of the 2012 James E. Grizzle Distinguished Alumni Award. Pan will be recognized at the Foard Lecture and Biostatistics Alumni Day at UNC-Chapel Hill on Tuesday, April 17 at the Friday Center. Pan will be presenting a lecture following the awards ceremony titled "Development of an Early Warning System for Malaria in the Amazon." Pan, MS (1999) and DrPH (2003), holds a joint appointment at the Duke Global Health Institute and the Nicholas School of Environment, and is Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of International Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.
Global Health Master's Students Hold "Invisible Children" Screening
A group of 11 students in the Master of Science in Global Health program held a screening of the documentary "Invisible Children" last week, which has recently become the most viral video in history. The documentary highlights the struggles of children in northern Uganda victimized by Joseph Kony and his militant group, the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA). The creators of the documentary, an NGO also named Invisible Children, are responsible for creating the highly popular and controversial "Kony 2012" video. MSc-GH students watched the video as well as videos criticizing the campaign. The group discussed both the achievements and shortcomings of the campaign, non-profit campaign strategies and ethical dilemmas as a means of learning from the experience. Several students also committed to participating in Duke's Kony 2012 chapter. |
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Global Health Opportunities
Job Opportunity
Staff Specialist, Africa Initiative, Office of Global Strategy and Programs
Upcoming Conferences
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
ASTMH 61st Annual Meeting, Nov. 11-15, Atlanta, GA
Faculty
Saving Lives at Birth: A Grand Challenge for Development Round 2 - due Apr. 2
NIMHD Research on Minority Health and Health Disparities (R01) - due May 4
HIV Vaccine Research and Design (HIVRAD) Program (P01) - due May 13
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