For the past three years, the DGHI International Travel Grant program  has made it possible for Duke faculty and trainees to explore new research collaborations around the world - from South America to Africa and Asia. They come away from the experience having built foundational partnerships that often lead to long-term projects in global health. A recent recipient is Duke Pediatric Hematology-Oncology Fellow Kristin Schroeder, who is exploring partnerships in neuro-oncology research with the Duke Cancer Institute, and the Departments of Neurosurgery and Pathology both at Duke and at Mulago Hospital and Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda.  She is examining the incidence of meningiomas - the most frequently diagnosed type of brain cancer in low- and middle-income countries. Schroeder's work would expand Duke's existing partnership in Uganda.    

The Fall 2012 issue of the Duke undergraduate research journal, Vertices, showcases the global health work of four Duke undergraduate students. As participants in the DGHI Student Research Training program last summer, global health certificate students Brandon Metra, Joy Ogunmuyiwa and Kathleen Perry found that while adults understand the health consequences of tobacco smoking, people have limited awareness about common NCDs like cardiovascular disease in rural Tanzania. Global health certificate student Carl Lawrence was part of a team of students who identified a shortage of soap, hygiene education, nutritious foods, mosquito nets and watches with alarms (for taking HIV medication) as the most urgent needs for HIV-positive children in Uganda.