A LETTER FROM OUR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
January 17, 2020
Dear Colleague,

Happy new year! We hope you had a wonderful holiday season. CUGH is set for a productive 2020, with a series of exciting events coming up that you and your colleagues may wish to participate in.

Our annual conference is fast approaching. The lowest-cost rates end on February 7 so please use this link (cugh2020.org) to register for the meeting. With a 50% increase in registrants, we are on track to have our most successful conference ever. Please also remember to register for our satellite events on April 17. These are mostly free to attend and open to all, whether you are attending the conference are not. See cugh2020.org for the conference and satellite day programs.

The voting for our new board members concluded, and I am pleased to announce that our members voted for Dr. Agnes Binagwaho, Dr. Wafaa El-Sadr, and Dr. Gavin Yamey to join our board. Dr. Quentin Eichbaum and Prof. Virginia Rowthorn were re-elected. I’m extremely grateful for the large number of extremely qualified individuals who were willing to serve on our board. In addition, I would like to thank the outgoing board members for their service: Dr. Pierre Buekens, Dr. Trish Davidson, Dr. Pat Conrad, and Dr. Peggy Bentley. All board members are volunteers, and they give their valuable, free time in support of CUGH's mission.

You will also see in this bulletin the winners of this year's CUGH Leadership Awards as well as the Velji Global Health Awards. The latter are generously funded by Drs. Anvar and Pari Velji.

Finally, please see our upcoming webinars. They are extremely practical and relevant to current issues. Register early so you can secure a spot.

Sincerely,




Keith Martin, MD, PC
Executive Director
Consortium of Universities for Global Health
CUGH UPDATES & EVENTS
Results from the CUGH Board of Directors Election

We received over sixty applications of highly qualified individuals to fill five positions on our Board of Directors. Each representative from CUGH's 186 member institutions were asked to vote on their top choices. Thank you to all who submitted a nomination, and congratulations to the new board members, who will begin their three-year terms in April 2020:

  • Agnes Binagwaho (University of Global Health Equity, Rwanda)
  • Quentin Eichbaum (Vanderbilt University) - Re-elected
  • Wafaa El-Sadr (Columbia University)
  • Virginia Rowthorn (University of Maryland Baltimore) - Re-elected
  • Gavin Yamey (Duke University)

We are very grateful to the following members, who will rotate off our volunteer Board in April 2020:

  • Margaret Bentley (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill)
  • Pierre Buekens (Tulane University)
  • Patricia Conrad (University of California, Davis)
  • Patricia Davidson (Johns Hopkins University)
  • Matthew Barnhart (Ex-officio - USAID)

Our new Executive Committee will be:

  • Chair: Michele Barry (Stanford University)
  • Vice Chair: Joseph Kolars (University of Michigan)
  • Treasurer: Phil Landrigan (Boston College)
  • Chair Emeritus: Ann Kurth (Yale University)

Lastly, Priscilla Auguste, the incoming Trainee Advisory Committee (TAC) Chair, will serve on the Board for one year as the student representative, replacing outgoing TAC Chair, Tasdik Hasan. Thank you, Tasdik, for your service.
Early Bird Registration Rates End February 7

Join over 1800 scientists, students and implementers and be inspired to address some of the pressing challenges our world faces at CUGH2020, April 17-20.

Registration information is here . See our Agenda-at-a-Glance at https://www.cugh2020.org/program .

Remember to register for the satellite sessions on April 17 (most are free and open to all ).

Partner with CUGH and get visibility at CUGH2020 for your organization as a sponsor or exhibitor .

Results from our Raffle: Congratulations to Amy Hagopian from the University of Washington who won three nights at the Washington Hilton during the Annual CUGH Conference. See you in April!
Congratulations to the Following CUGH & Velji Global Health Awardees for 2020

CUGH Global Health Leadership Awards
The Consortium of Universities for Global Health wishes to acknowledge the accomplishments and commitment of outstanding individuals who contribute to the advancement of global health worldwide. We received nominations for many outstanding candidates. CUGH's Nominations & Awards Committee voted to select the winners of these awards.

  • CUGH Distinguished Leadership Award: Pierre Buekens (Tulane University)
  • CUGH-Tom Hall-Nelson Sewankambo Mid-Career Leadership Award: Collins Owili (World Health Organization)
  • CUGH-Judy Wasserheit Young Leader Award: Etinosa Oghogho (Florida International University)

Velji Awards for Global Health Excellence
The Velji Family Foundation annually celebrates global health education, research and service by honoring individuals and projects that demonstrate committed, creative approaches to serving underserved populations. We are grateful to Drs. Anvar and Pari Velji for their generous support of these awards.

  • Velji Student Leader in Global Health: Joel Domgue (MD Anderson Cancer Center) and Kevin Tyan (Harvard University)
  • Velji Faculty Leader in Global Health Innovation: George Shakarishvili (Institute of Global Health, Georgia)
  • Velji Young African Leader Award: Faith Opiyo (Centre for Young Women Empowerment, Kenya)

These individuals will receive their award at our upcoming conference in Washington, DC. Thank you to everyone who submitted a nomination. 
Support CUGH's Travel Bursary Program
Travel costs are often a major obstacle for researchers from low and low-middle income countries (LLMIC) to attend and present their work at our annual conference. You can help us to address this challenge by donating to our travel bursary program.

Bursary recipients who presented at CUGH2019 in Chicago came from Bangladesh, Nepal, India, Nigeria, Kenya, Uganda, and Rwanda.

100% of your donation supports these bursaries for LLMIC scientists. Donations are tax deductible in the US. Thank you so much for your support. Everything helps!

Applications for the 2020-2021 PHI/CDC Global Health Fellowship Program Cohort Close January 22

The PHI/CDC Global Health Fellowship Program , implemented by the Public Health Institute to which CUGH is a partner, is a CDC-funded fellowship that supports promising, emerging global public health professionals to develop the technical skills needed to respond to today’s public health needs and challenges. The application portal for the 2020-2021 cohort is now open. The deadline to submit an application is January 22, 2020, 12 PM PST .
Apply to Join the Global Health Workforce Panel By Jan. 22

The Global Health Workforce Panel helps evaluate and select candidates for the PHI/CDC Global Health Fellowship Program . Reviewers must meet certain qualifications and undergo a one hour online-based training which will include, resources and tools to inform them about the review criteria and vetting process. To apply to be a reviewer,  please fill out this Google Form by January 22  to indicate in what capacity you can be involved.
Introducing Two STAR-Developed Tools: The Capacity Assessment Toolkit (CAT) and the Partnership Assessment Toolkit (PAT)

Under the Sustaining Technical and Analytic (STAR) Project, two tools were developed that will assist organizations in developing effective partnerships. The first, the Capacity Assessment Toolkit (CAT), includes a series of seven questions to assess knowledge management capacity within institutions and to identify gaps or areas that may need improvement. The second, the Partnership Assessment Toolkit (PAT), guides partners through a self-assessment and contains a questionnaire with statements that correspond to key components that help foster well-functioning, equitable partnerships.

Click here to view the CAT.
Click here to view the PAT and here to view the PAT Companion Document.

For more information regarding the STAR Project, visit: www.ghstar.org .
Register Now! Three Upcoming CUGH Webinars

Lancet Countdown: Opportunities to Improve Health through Climate Action

Join us on January 31, 2020 at 11 AM - 12 PM EST for our next webinar. The Lancet Countdown: Tracking Progress on Health and Climate Change is an international, multi-disciplinary collaboration that monitors the links between health and climate change through indicators highlighting the threats to health and solutions to address them. The 2019 Global Report and its companion Policy Brief for the United States were released on November 13, 2019. Dr. Renee Salas (lead author) and Dr. Jonathan Patz (author) will discuss how these recent findings present a profound opportunity to improve health and the steps needed to achieve a healthier environment and future for everyone. CUGH's Executive Director, Dr. Keith Martin, will moderate the event.

Click here for more information and to register.

Information about the Lancet Countdown is found at: http://www.lancetcountdown.org/


Improving Access to Palliative Care: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Ease Serious Health-Related Suffering

Join us on February 5, 2020 at 1 PM - 2 PM EST for a webinar on palliative care and its role in the well-being of individuals and populations worldwide. Speakers, William Rosa and Christian Ntizimira MD, will discuss major gaps and opportunities to improve palliative care access and delivery, particularly in LMICs. They will compare examples of palliative care training programs and how to build capacity at the national and regional levels. Nauzley Abedini MD, Chair of the CUGH Palliative Care Working Group, will moderate the webinar.

Click here for more information and to register.


Gun Violence in the Americas

March 24 at 1-2 PM EDT | With the world’s highest rate of lethal gun violence, the Americas are in the midst of an unmitigated public health crisis. Just six countries account for over half of 250,000 annual global gun deaths: the United States, Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela and Guatemala. But activists, medical professionals, human rights workers, and policy experts are working together to stop this bloodshed and the vectors that make it happen. This webinar brings together leading researchers and advocates who are organizing an international conference on April 21, in connection with CUGH’s annual conference, on Gun Violence in Mexico and Central America: Challenges and Paths to Solutions. John Lindsay-Poland and Natalia Báez are co-authors of Gross Human Rights Abuses: The Legal and Illegal Gun Trade to Mexico, and are both active in a working group in dialogue with the Mexican government about gun violence and trafficking. Dr. Steve Hargarten serves as the Director of the Comprehensive Injury Center and is the Associate Dean for Global Health at the Medical College of Wisconsin. CUGH's Executive Director, Dr. Keith Martin, will moderate the webinar.

Click here for more information and to register.
CUGH's Capacity Building Platform: A Program to Strengthen Training Capacity in LLMICs

How can we work together to strengthen training capabilities in LLMICs and address critical HR needs? To do this, CUGH created a Capacity Building Platform. It enables universities, governments and NGOs in LLMICs to share requests for trainers across a range of medical and non bio-medical disciplines. Organizations can also post trainers interested in providing training in LLMIC institutions. We hope this will help address human resources gaps in LLMICs.

Please use this database and share it widely.

Access and share the database at: http://www.cughcapacitybuilding.org/

Much thanks goes to CUGH's  Capacity Building Subcommittee  for their efforts in this project.
MEMBER HIGHLIGHT
SOURCE (Johns Hopkins University)

SOURCE is the community engagement and service-learning center for the Johns Hopkins University (JHU) Schools of Public Health, Nursing, and Medicine. SOURCE’s mission is to engage the Johns Hopkins University health professional schools and Baltimore communities in mutually beneficial partnerships that promote health and social justice.

Its values include:
Reciprocity  – To exchange with others for mutual benefit
Justice  – To promote fair and equitable treatment for all
Service  – To be of service to others
Collaboration  – To work with others intentionally

SOURCE also serves as a channel for student, faculty and staff involvement with community organizations and local projects. It has a particular, but not exclusive, focus on East Baltimore neighborhoods in close proximity to the Johns Hopkins Medical Campus. Learn more at: https://source.jhu.edu/
NEWS & EXTERNAL EVENTS
JANUARY 2020 IS #ONEHEALTH AWARENESS MONTH IN THE U.S.

On December 19, 2019 the U.S. Senate unanimously passed a bipartisan resolution designating January 2020 as “National One Health Awareness Month” in the U.S. to promote collaboration between public, animal and environmental health scientists. The One Health Community is sharing the news widely, but now is the time to EDUCATE the public and lawmakers. See the One Health Commision's One Health Awareness Month Guide for resources to help bring attention to the critical need for One Health. 
ATTEND CORE GROUP's 2nd ANNUAL OPEN HOUSE

CORE Group has worked since 1997 to advance the field of community health by convening practitioners and public health professionals in global community health to share knowledge, evidence, and best practices. Come meet the CORE Group team on January 22 in Washington, DC for their 2nd Annual Open House .

Can't make it? Access their past webinar materials remotely, and save the date for their 2020 Global Health Practitioner Conference, October 12-14, 2020 in the Washington, DC area.
GLOBAL HEALTH POSTDOC FELLOWSHIP OPPORTUNITY

The Centre for International Child Health (CICH) at BC Children’s Hospital is seeking 1 full-time postdoctoral fellow for an initial appointment of 1 year with the strong possibility of renewal. The postdoctoral fellow will conduct research and operational management of global health initiatives utilizing digital health technologies in Uganda (and other low-resource countries) with a focus on pediatric, maternal and newborn populations. The candidate will be based in Uganda for the majority of their time. Click here for more information.

Application deadline: January 31, 2020
APPLY FOR STANFORD'S GLOBAL HEALTH MEDIA FELLOWSHIP

Stanford’s Center for Innovation in Global Health is proud to announce this year’s competition and application for the Stanford Fellowship in Media and Global Health to teach physicians-in-training how to use various media channels to advocate and inform the public on global health issues. Fellows will be chosen from a national pool of US medical students committed to a career in global health. This opportunity provides students with 12 months of practical training in the fundamentals of journalism, communications, and global health reporting on a variety of media platforms, including print, online, broadcast, social and digital media. Each year, the fellow participates in three rotations over the course of the fellowship year. She or he spends the fall quarter (September through December) in journalism on campus with  Stanford’s Graduate Program in Journalism . In the winter, the fellow is embedded with Dr. Sanjay Gupta at CNN in Atlanta to learn the fundamentals of how the news media chooses and researches stories. In late Spring, the fellow is encouraged to pursue an overseas or domestic capstone project of his or her choice on an untold global health story tackling equity issues. A modest living and travel stipend is awarded in addition to the fellowship.
 

Deadline: January 30, 2020
SOCIAL INNOVATION IN HEALTH EVALUATION CONTEST

Social innovation is a problem-solving strategy that prioritizes impact and sustainability, while aiming to create positive social change.  Social innovation is increasingly used to solve health problems. SESH is seeking input on how best to measure social innovation in health in order to standardize approaches. Join their challenge contest today!

More details about the challenge contest are available here: https://www.seshglobal.org/SIHchallenge

Application deadline: February 1, 2020
APPLICATIONS OPEN FOR PEER AWARDS

The PEER program is accepting applications  for research proposals in the following areas: digital tools, clean energy, WASH, family planning, and reproductive health. Proposals are due February 10, 2020 .
SEEKING A POSTDOCTORAL FELLOW IN NATURE & HUMAN HEALTH

The Gund Institute for Environment at UVM seeks an exceptional researcher for a new Postdoctoral Fellowship in Nature and Human Health , to explore the connections between global environmental change and human health outcomes. They specifically seek candidates focused on the mental health impacts from exposure to nature, but other topics regarding nature-health links will be considered.  Application due February 15, 2020 .
CURES WITHIN REACH REGROW PILOT REQUEST FOR PROPOSALS

Cures Within Reach has officially launched its ReGRoW Pilot funding opportunity Request for Proposals (RFP). Submissions are now being accepted on its CureAccelerator platform , through March 1, 2020 :

  • Up to 3 grants of up to US$50,000 are available for researchers in low and lower-middle income countries (per the World Bank)
  • Projects can be in any unsolved disease and must repurpose an existing off-patent drug, nutraceutical or indigenous medicine
  • Eligible institutions must be "research ready"

See the RFP at  http://bit.ly/regrowrfp for more details.
TEACH GLOBAL HEALTH: SUMMER INSTITUTE FOR CURRICULUM AND COURSE DEVELOPMENT

The 2020 Summer Institute is an intensive workshop for educators at undergraduate institutions to share experiences and best practices, evaluate curricular programs and assessment tools, and participate in charrettes designed to refine course and curricular materials that strengthen students’ learning. Participants represent all disciplinary backgrounds and career stages. Faculty, staff, and administrators interested in global public health are invited to attend. 
NEW GRADUATE CERTIFICATE IN HEALTH CARE INNOVATION IN COSTA RICA

The University of Maryland Graduate School is excited to share the news about their 12-credit Certificate in Global Health Innovation launching in fall 2020. Partnering with the InterAmerican Center for Global Health (CISG), students admitted to this program will participate in an immersive 10-week learning experience in Costa Rica taught by CISG faculty. The curriculum will explore global health and health care innovation in Costa Rica, a country largely recognized as a global leader in translating good ideas into positive health outcomes. Upon completion students will be able conceptualize the transfer of a health care innovation across borders considering the steps required to approve, scale up, and introduce innovations to a new setting.
 
JOIN A GLOBAL COMMUNITY TO IMPROVE CARDIOVASCULAR HEALTH

LINKS is a collaborative effort of the World Health Organization , the CDC Foundation and Resolve to Save Lives , an initiative within Vital Strategies .
LINKS’ toolkit of technical resources is available to the public, but applying for a free LINKS membership provides additional access to: 

  • Peer-to-peer contact
  • Participation in webinars
  • Opportunity to apply for technical assistance or one-time grant funding support to eligible programs.

Resolve to Save Lives is a global public health initiative, led by Dr. Tom Frieden (former director of the CDC), with funding from Bloomberg Philanthropies, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Chan Zuckerberg Foundation. It works closely with global partners to reduce deaths from cardiovascular disease and prevent pandemics. Its efforts are particularly focused on low- and middle-income countries.
AAVMC ANNUAL CONFERENCE

March 6-8, 2020 
Washington, DC, USA

Registration for AAVMC Annual Conference Catazyle 2020: Innovate & Inspire is now open!  Register  today.
CLIMATE CHANGE & HEALTH 2020: THE PUBLIC HEALTH CHALLENGE OF OUR TIME

Saturday, April 4, 2020 
Boston, MA, USA

Join national experts and faculty from the MGH Institute of Health Professions School of Nursing Center for Climate Change, Climate Justice and Health to address ways to identify the risks of health climate change, advocate for climate/environmental justice, and mitigate the impact of climate change on health and well-being. This symposium will provide health care professionals with an opportunity to engage in robust discussion about ideas for corrective action to improve the lives of people in the face of climate change.

HEALTH ADVOCACY 2020 CONFERENCE

June 16-18, 2020 
Chiang Mai, Thailand

Health Advocacy 2020 is the 13th biennial conference for the Global Network of World Health Organization (WHO) Collaborating Centres for Nursing and Midwifery. The event will focus on strengthening health professionals’ abilities to advocate for health policy and programming shifts as well as to augment the impact of health professionals in health policy decision making.

Featured Reading
Evidence, Alarm, and the Debate Over E-Cigarettes
By describing the contested history of harm reduction and proposing a way forward, the paper asserts that specific regulations and policies that are promulgated at local, state, national, or international levels must be risk-proportionate. Read here .
'Scary Moms' Are Part Of The Citizen War Against Pollution In Pakistan
From NPR's Goats and Soda, Diaa Hadid writes about clean-air activists in Pakistan who are using crowd-sourced pollution data to pressure their government to take action. Read here .
CDC's Updates from the Field: Fall 2019
In this issue, you will learn how CDC epidemiologists, veterinarians, statisticians, communicators, and other subject matter experts work closely with Ministries of Health and other partners in numerous countries to develop and strengthen sustainable public health systems. Read here .

Global Health Journals & Newsletters
Consortium of Universities for Global Health
202-974-6363 | info@CUGH.org | www.CUGH.org