Fighting TB Through Awareness: Lessons from the Pre-Study TB Awareness Program in Pune Schools

Savita Kanade, a TB Free School Initiative partner and Community Coordinator with BJGMC CTU, Pune, shared information about the launch of the pre-study tuberculosis awareness program in Pune schools. She discusses the team’s engagement with students, teachers, and parents, and describes what they found worked (and what didn’t) when educating communities about TB.

GKII Education Liaison Service Expands JHU’s Engagement with India’s Higher Education Sector

The Gupta-Klinsky India Institute Education Liaison Service (ELS) has been established to support faculty and divisions across JHU in their India-focused education and research initiatives. ELS acts as a central hub, helping faculty and administrators engage effectively with Indian institutions, policymakers, and students. The service offers insights into India’s regulatory landscape, market trends, and partnership opportunities, ensuring JHU aligns its global education strategy with India’s evolving needs. Faculty members receive tailored consultations, access to research, and networking opportunities that help them launch and expand collaborations.

GKII Breakthrough Research Grants Awardees Present Key Findings

GKII’s recent Breakthrough Grants Webinar spotlighted research from JHU faculty collaborating with Indian institutions. Dr. Christopher Kemp (Assistant Scientist, Bloomberg School of Public Health) and Dr. Nishi Suryavanshi (Behavioral Scientist & Deputy Director, Center for Infectious Diseases Research, Pune) shared insights on integrating mental health support into tuberculosis care. Dr. Sarah Benjamin-Neelon (Professor, Bloomberg School of Public Health) and Dr. Giridhar Babu (Professor, Public Health Foundation of India) presented findings on maternal metabolites and child health outcomes. The session highlighted the impact of cross-border research partnerships in addressing critical public health challenges in India.

Advancing Public Health: Priorities, Innovations & Global Leadership

On March 1, 2025, the National Institute of Health & Family Welfare (NIFHW), convened a strategic meeting in New Delhi to discuss priorities, innovations, and global leadership in public health. The meeting hosted a panel discussion to discuss strategies for strengthening India’s healthcare workforce and integrating cutting-edge innovations to enhance service delivery. Dr. Sara Bennett, Professor at the Bloomberg School of Public Health and Co-Chair of the Johns Hopkins Gupta-Klinsky India Institute, spoke at the panel and discussed the importance of institutional resilience, workforce development, and data-driven decision-making in advancing public health in India.

GKII Participates in Indiaspora Forum for Good & Global AI Summit

Neetisha Besra, GKII Deputy Director, recently spoke at the Indiaspora Forum for Good 2025 in Abu Dhabi and participated in the Global AI Summit in Dubai. The forum convened members of the global Indian diaspora to discuss the role of private philanthropy in addressing global challenges. The panel featuring Neetisha alongside Milind Pant, Manjula O’Connor, and Mallika Janakiraman, explored key health priorities for the diaspora, underscoring the urgent need for collective action on women's health.

EVENTS

Save the Date: Hopkins India Conference

Date: May 9-10, 2025

Location: 555 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC

Join us for the inaugural Hopkins India Conference, organized by the Gupta-Klinsky India Institute at Johns Hopkins University! This event is an exclusive platform for fostering collaboration among key stakeholders in the United States and India. This year’s theme, "Innovations and Partnerships for Global Progress," reflects the growing importance of addressing global challenges across research, education, business, policy, technology, and inclusive development. Thought leaders, policymakers, academicians, and corporate leaders from both nations will discuss and design actionable solutions for a better world.

Annual George W. Comstock Lecture and World TB Day Presentation

Date: March 24, 2025

The 16th annual George W. Comstock Lecture and World TB Day Presentation will be held at the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing Auditorium and Zoom. Professor Neil Martinson, Executive Director of the Perinatal HIV Research Unit, Soweto, South Africa, will deliver this year's Comstock Lecture. Established in 2008 to honor Dr. George W. Comstock’s lifetime of work in public health and tuberculosis control, this annual lecture given by distinguished leaders addresses important public health issues in global tuberculosis control.

2025 Global Health Day Symposium

Date: April 2, 2025

Location: E2030, Bloomberg School of Public Health, Feinstone Hall

The Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health is hosting a symposium to share and inform global health knowledge, expertise, and experiences with the Johns Hopkins local and international communities. In observance of Global Health Day, the symposium will feature alumni lightning talks, student poster sessions, and a networking lunch.

Hopkins Connect Mentorship Summit

Date: April 12, 2025

Location: Scotts-Bates Commons Event Space

Student attendees will have the opportunity to connect with carefully selected guest mentors. Engaging in discussions focused on your academic, personal, and professional success. Learn about specific tools, techniques, and mentorship concepts to support your current and future mentorship journey. JHU India alumni who would like to connect with students at this event can join the virtual component. Pre-registration is required.

WHAT'S NEW IN RESEARCH

Drug Resistance and Epidemiological Success of Modern Mycobacterium tuberculosis Lineages in Western India

Dixit A, Ektefaie Y, Kagal A, Freschi L, Karyakarte R, Lokhande R, Groschel M, Tornheim JA, Gupte N, Pradhan NN, Paradkar MS, Deshmukh S, Kadam D, Schito M, Engelthaler DM, Gupta A, Golub J, Mave V, Farhat M. J Infect Dis. Feb. 4, 2025.

Drivers of tuberculosis (TB) transmission in India, the country estimated to carry a quarter of the world's burden, are not well studied. Authors conducted a genomic epidemiology study to compare epidemiological success, host factors, and drug resistance among the 4 major Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) lineages (L1-L4) circulating in Pune, India.

Advance Care Planning, End-of-Life Preferences, and Burdensome Care: A Pragmatic Cluster Randomized Clinical Trial

Wolff JL, Scerpella D, Giovannetti ER, Roth DL, Hanna V, Hussain N, Colburn JL, Saylor MA, Boyd CM, Cotter V, McGuire M, Rawlinson C, Sloan DH, Richards TM, Walker K, Smith KM, Dy SM. JAMA Intern Med. Feb. 1, 2025.

In this pragmatic cluster randomized clinical trial, the SHARING Choices intervention increased new documentation of end-of-life preferences but also increased potentially burdensome care at end of life. Mixed findings underscore the importance of comprehensive support for those with serious illness and prioritizing patient-relevant outcomes in ACP interventional research.

Piloting an Event-based Surveillance Model in Private Hospitals for Early Detection of Disease Clusters, Kerala, India

Vaman RS, Solomon S, Averhoff F, Landay AL, Thangaraj JWV, Abdulkader RS, Joseph F, Cloherty G, Murhekar MV. Indian J Med Res. Jan. 1, 2025.

Event-based surveillance (EBS) is a critical component of early warning systems for detecting and responding to infectious disease outbreaks. While EBS is widely used in public health settings, its integration into private healthcare facilities remains limited. This study undertook to pilot an EBS in private hospitals in Kasaragod, Kerala and to assess its added value in early detection of disease clusters.

JOB OPENINGS

Gender, Health Systems, and M&E Specialist

Deadline: March 21, 2024

The Gender, Health Systems, and M&E Specialist will be a key member of the MAGE+ team, serving as a partner to Dr. Anju Malhotra, both in supporting the gender and equity monitoring work at the Global Financing Facility, and as an important intermediary for the GFF and JHU teams working on the MAGE+ project. They will be responsible for leading coordination of the country support effort especially in francophone countries (while not limited to that group of countries). Fluency in French is, therefore, required.

The Center for Bioengineering Innovation & Design Marketing Intern

The Center for Bioengineering Innovation & Design (CBID) is seeking a proactive and highly motivated Marketing Intern to join their team. This role offers the opportunity to take ownership of projects, seeing them through to completion with the support of CBID leadership, fellow interns, and students. The ideal candidate is creative, detail-oriented, self-starter, responsible and eager to make a meaningful impact.

INTERNATIONAL STUDENT WEBINARS

Indian Student Association Alternative Immigration Options

Webinar Passcode: +tSJ14vp

The Indian Student Association recently hosted an immigration employment webinar, "Exploring Alternative Immigration Options Beyond the OPT and H-1B Visa."

OIS Immigration and Employment Webinar

A recording of the “U.S. Immigration and Employment Options” workshop held on 26 February 2025 by the JHU Office of International Services (OIS) has been made available. One major takeaway is that Visa issuances are likely to be delayed.

JOHNS HOPKINS FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

Postdoctoral Fellowship in Ethics, Global Health and Infectious Disease

Deadline: March 31, 2025

The Johns Hopkins Berman Institute of Bioethics has created a joint post-doctoral fellowship training opportunity for qualified individuals who are committed to interdisciplinary and transnational collaboration and who have a particular interest in the ethical issues at the intersection of global health and infectious disease.

Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (K12) Award

Deadline: March 31, 2025

The Johns Hopkins Building Interdisciplinary Research Careers in Women’s Health (BIRCWH) K12 program will support the transformation of scholars into independently funded, networked, and lifelong ethical investigators leading interdisciplinary teams to improve women’s health by advancing our understanding of sex and gender differences, and health concerns unique to, more prevalent, or with differential consequences in women. The scholar position is a junior faculty appointment, not a fellowship.

Center for Global Women’s Health and Gender Equity Student Experience Award

Deadline: May 16, 2025

These awards of up to $500-$1000 support current part-time and full-time JHU degree students across all divisions and schools for events or projects related to global women’s health and gender equity.

EXTERNAL FUNDING OPPORTUNITIES

Gates Grand Challenge on Innovative Data and Modeling Approaches to Measure Women's Health

Deadline: March 25, 2025

The Gates Grand Challenge on Innovative Data and Modeling Approaches to Measure Women's Health seeks to advance innovative ways to measure women's health by either developing new measurement models or adapting existing ones to better capture the full scope of women's health burdens and progress. This Grand Challenge prioritizes solutions that leverage data sources that are existing or under development rather than relying on new, large-scale data collection efforts, ensuring sustainability and feasibility. The foundation will consider proposals for awards of up to $150,000 USD for each project, with a grant term of 18-24 months.

Voyager Scholarship

Deadline: April 1, 2025

The Voyager Scholarship helps students pursuing careers in public service by providing access to travel and education. The scholarship gives college students financial aid to alleviate the burden of college costs, meaningful travel experiences to expand their horizons, and a network of mentors and leaders to support them. "Public service" is broadly defined, and includes careers in government, non-profits or the private sector and a range of occupations—from community organizing to social work and from entrepreneurship to the arts. It provides financial aid up to $25,000 per year, for two years, to cover tuition and/or living costs and a budget of $10,000 to design a summer voyage between junior and senior year.

Indian Council for Cultural Relations Scholarship

Deadline: April 30, 2025

The Indian Council for Cultural Relations (ICCR) has announced Scholarships slots under the Atal Bihari Vajpayee General Scholarship Scheme (A1201) (formerly known as General Scholarship Scheme). Applicants have the option to apply to 5 Universities or institutes in the order of their preference of study.

Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases Funding Call

Deadline: June 16, 2025

The tenth Global Alliance for Chronic Diseases funding is focused on implementation research addressing strategies for strengthening of health systems to improve equity in high quality care and health outcomes and reduce the prevalence and impact of NCDs in low- and middle-income countries and/or in underserved populations experiencing health disparities, such as Indigenous populations, in high-income countries. Applicants are invited to propose appropriately designed and targeted implementation research to support health system transformation and/or strengthening using evidence-based interventions that can be adapted to and implemented in these populations.

JHU IN THE NEWS

Breaking Silos: How Amita Gupta is Harnessing Global Collaboration for Public Health Innovation

The Philanthropist, March 12, 2025

When the world came to a standstill in 2020, Dr. Amita Gupta knew that science alone wouldn’t be enough. As a leading infectious disease expert at Johns Hopkins University (JHU), she had spent over 16 years working at the intersection of medicine and public health. But solving the world’s most pressing health challenges—pandemics, tuberculosis, and health inequities—demanded more than medical breakthroughs—it required collaboration at an unprecedented scale. That same year, she co-founded the Gupta-Klinsky India Institute (GKII) at JHU—not just as another global health initiative, but as a powerful bridge between the U.S. and India.

NEWS OF NOTE

US Tariffs on India Will be a Bitter Pill to Swallow

BBC, March 12, 2025

Nearly half of all generic medicines taken in the US come from India alone. Generic drugs, which are cheaper versions of brand-name medications, imported from countries like India make up nine out of 10 prescriptions in the US. Without a trade deal, Trump's tariffs could make some Indian generics unviable, forcing companies to exit part of the market and exacerbating existing drug shortages, experts say.

Funding Cuts Jeopardise Global Fight Against Tuberculosis, WHO Warns

United Nations News, March 5, 2025

Over the past two decades, global TB programs have saved more than 79 million lives, averting approximately 3.65 million deaths last year alone. A significant portion of this success has been driven by US Government funding, which has provided about $200 to $250 million annually, approximately a quarter of the total international donor funding secured. However, newly announced cuts for 2025 through executive orders will have devastating impacts on TB response efforts in at least 18 high-burden countries, where 89 percent of expected US funding was allocated for patient care.

United States – India Joint Leaders Statement

US Embassy in India, Feb. 13, 2025

President Trump and Prime Minister Modi launched a new initiative – the “U.S.-India COMPACT (Catalyzing Opportunities for Military Partnership, Accelerated Commerce & Technology) for the 21st Century” – to drive transformative change across key pillars of cooperation.

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