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Greetings!
Each year the opportunities and influence of DGHI students and faculty on global health continues to grow. Today we're proud to announce the recipients of new student fieldwork funding opportunities; outreach and advocacy around intellectual property issues by faculty member Anthony So and his Program on Global Health and Technology Access; and important work in China by faculty member Giovanna Merli. These are the latest examples of excellence in engagement and outreach to make a contribution in the world of global health.
Further, a team from Duke led by DGHI senior advisor Dennis Clements is on its annual trek to Honduras to provide medical care in rural areas. You can follow their journey on the Exploring Medicine 2012 blog.
Duke Engineering PhD students have a new opportunity to make a difference too. DGHI and Pratt have announced an internship opportunity in global health. Click for details. Applications are due June 1.
Finally, you can now follow DGHI on Pinterest! Check out our new site with inspiring stories, images and video. Don't forget to follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Google+ too. Until next week,
Geelea Seaford and Everyone at DGHI
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Four Students Awarded Funding for Global Health Research
Four students have been awarded DGHI funding to support global health fieldwork this summer in Ethiopia, Ghana and Togo. The students bring with them competency in other languages, relevant global health coursework and previous public service and research experience that will serve to enhance their fieldwork. 
The awardees are Kelly Andrejko, Benjamin Ramsey, Berhan Hagos and Jessica Narloch. They will join a group of Duke students who will complete global health fieldwork and research throughout the world as part of the DGHI Student Research Training program and the Master of Science in Global Health. Kelly Andrejko, a global health certificate student majoring in neuroscience, is a 2012 grant recipient of the Aalok S. Modi Global Health Fieldwork Fund. Andrejko will investigate the prevalence of traditional medicine alongside modern medicine in Lome, the capital city of Togo. Benjamin Ramsey, a freshman who intends to study global health as a Program II student, is a 2012 grant recipient of the Aalok S. Modi Global Health Fieldwork Fund. Ramsey will work in northern Togo to study the connections between child trafficking and the spread of HIV. Berhan Hagos, a global health certificate student and sophomore studying international comparative studies, is the first grant recipient of the Paul Farmer Global Health Fund. Hagos will explore perceptions about and impact of HIV-related stigma in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Jessica Narloch, a junior studying cultural anthropology, chemistry and biology, received funding from the Bains Family Research Grant. She will be examining the ways in which religious beliefs affect how people in Accra, Ghana make decisions about their health care. 
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Sharing Knowledge to Benefit Global Health
The development of health innovations and technologies, from novel antibiotics for treating drug resistant infections to point-of-care diagnostics for resource-limited settings, can contribute to improved health outcomes for individuals and communities. But these health innovations require more than funding to reach the people who need them. They face scientific, financial and structural hurdles that must be addressed. New models for sharing knowledge and for scientific collaboration are needed to bring such technologies to market. The traditional model for pharmaceutical R&D often falls short in delivering technologies appropriate, affordable and adapted to meeting the burden of disease afflicting low- and middle-income countries. Duke is undertaking important research on the ownership and control of knowledge of these and other life-prolonging medicines and innovations that can be harnessed to improve global health. Under the leadership of DGHI faculty member Anthony So, researchers from the Duke Program on Global Health and Technology Access (GHTA) at the Sanford School of Public Policy are exploring the complex interactions among law, business, economics, policy and medicine to determine how knowledge and resources can be effectively managed for global health.
On April 6-7, GHTA presents a special symposium "Opening Scientific Collaboration for Innovation in Global Health" (OpenSCI). RSVP by tonight.
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Giovanna Merli: China as Living Laboratory
By the Duke Social Science Research Institute
In population science, "You want to describe not only what you see, but also what you are missing; not only the appearance but also the reality," says M. Giovanna Merli, Associate Director of the Duke Population Research Institute (DuPRI) and a faculty member of the Duke Global Health Institute. Merli has made a specialty  of finding hidden populations and uncovering hidden truths about them, all in the world's most populous country, China.
To better understand the realities at the heart of health policy questions, Merli's approach often blends classical demographic methods with a range of modern tools, such as social network modeling. Whether she is simulating the behavior of actual people to gauge its potential to spark an epidemic, or tapping into real-world social networks to characterize an unknown population, Merli's findings frequently challenge widely held assumptions.
In recent work she explores, for instance, whether heterosexual transmission of HIV could lead to the kind of rapid disease spread seen in some other countries and forecast for China. Given that half of HIV infections in China are thought to happen through heterosexual sex, the great majority of those encounters paid, in early 2008 Merli obtained interviews with 550 female sex workers in Shanghai about the details of their clientele and frequency of their contacts.
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Global Health Certificate Student Selected as Truman Scholar
By Duke Today
Kristen Lee, a junior at Duke University who has been actively involved in women's health and gender equality issues, is one of 54 students selected this year as a Truman Scholar.
"We at Duke are delighted that Kristen has been named a 2012 Truman Scholar," said Duke President Richard H. Brodhead. "With her strong interest in women's health and serving disadvantaged populations, Kristen truly exemplifies Duke's commitment to promote knowledge in the service of society. The Truman Scholarship provides a wonderful opportunity for Kristen to start down the path of public service." Lee, a Baldwin Scholar at Duke, said she applied for the scholarship because she saw it as a natural fit with the work she has done while at Duke. "I want to be a change agent," said Lee, who is from Arlington Heights, Ill. "The Truman program emphasizes service and being a public servant in the framework of national policy. My focus is on research. I'm looking at how data should inform policy rather than the other way around. In order for policy to be effective, we have to understand the people the policies will affect. Understanding the community is important." During a summer project in Ecuador, Lee created gender-based violence and HIV/AIDS workshops for communities along the Ecuador-Colombia border. Her work has included research on racial inequalities in higher education and sex trafficking. She has worked with sickle cell patients for three years in the Sickle Cell Transition Program at Duke Children's Hospital.
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