Ohio State faculty and staff help build capacity in eastern Africa
The goals of the Global One Health initiative's One Health Summer Institute are to build capacity among eastern African public health professionals and make a grassroots impact on high priority diseases. Now in its eighth year, the 2019 summer institute includes 21 training modules with close to 30 Ohio State faculty traveling to the region for course and project-related work.
We are pleased to welcome three new members to our team based out of the Columbus office: Laura Binkley, MS, MPH, PhD, post-doctoral researcher, Christopher Wald, BS, JD candidate, legal intern, and Leah Reilly, MA, MBA, business manager.
Higher Education Forum for Africa, Asia and Latin America
Founded by Professor Damtew Teferra in 2003, the International Network for Higher Education in Africa (INHEA) is one of the leading global resource hubs on African higher education. As part of these ongoing efforts, INHEA launched the Higher Education Forum on Africa, Asia and Latin America (HEFAALA), which was established in 2016 to advance policy dialogue, networking and partnerships in higher education between the three continents in recognition of their common traits, challenges and prospects, as well as to develop closer engagements and relationships. The Second HEFAALA Symposium will be held in Addis Ababa on July 26-27. Ohio State faculty will lead several master workshops and panel discussions.
Investigating equine curricula in Ethiopia
As part of Ohio State's One Health Summer Institute organized by the Global One Health initiative, a team from the American Association of Equine Practitioners Foundation's equestrian program traveled to Ethiopia from June 16-25 to investigate equine curricula in local veterinary schools and to plan for a coordinated training program. The team, led by Francesca Compostella, DVM, consists of Julie Wilson, DVM, and Leslie Easterwood, DVM.
Developing a fast and affordable tuberculosis test
GOHi executive member and Ohio State professor in the College of Medicine, Shu-Hua Wang, MD, collaborated with a Texas Biomedical Research Institutes research team to develop a tuberculosis test that makes detection more affordable and less time-consuming for patients in developing countries. The team is headed by Jordi Torrelles, PhD. The test costs $7.20 and provides results within 13 days, whereas other tests can cost up to $600 and take up to 86 to provide results. The next stage is to conduct clinical testing, which will begin in November in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Executive Board Member, Paul Schopis retires from Ohio State
The Global One Health initiative thanks Paul Schopis for his service on the GOHi Executive Committee. Schopis has served on the Executive Committee since its inception in 2016. He also served as a co-principal investigator for the National Institutes of Health project, Bridging the Gap in eCapacity for Global Health Research Training in Eastern Africa, which strengthened the information and communication technology capacity of GOHi partner institutions. Through this project, he oversaw solutions to hardware and software related challenges in Ethiopia and Kenya from 2015 to 2018. Schopis retired as Ohio Academic Resources Networks executive director and chief technology officer on June 30.