Offered by Global REACH to U-M faculty and trainees across all health science schools, the yearlong program offers participants skills and insights to apply their particular research interest in the global setting. The 2020-21 cohort is the fourth to finish the program since it launched in 2017.
The application period for the next session, which begins this fall, closes Aug. 13, 2021.
“I came through with a much greater appreciation for the depth and breadth of global health,” said Pediatrics Fellow Nathan Nessle, DO. “Each lecture shaped and changed how I think about future projects and, at the end of each one, I wanted to dive deeper.”
Led by global health leaders from across U-M, monthly seminars focus on a range of topics including burden of disease, ethics and cultural sensitivity, mixed methods research and much more. The pandemic changed both the structure – the 2020-21 program was conducted virtually – and also the content: one session on the COVID crisis in India, led by Associate Professor of Internal Medicine Vineet Chopra and Professor of Surgery Krishnan Raghavendran, was a timely inclusion.
“This course is meant to offer perspective – a way of thinking and talking about global health so participants are more prepared to build relationships and navigate the possibilities,” said Joseph Kolars, MD, MACP, Senior Associate Dean for Education and Global Health. “We can’t cover everything in one course, but we want to open doors and help you think about the right conversations to have.”
There is an emphasis on building and maintaining international collaborations for long-term success.
“The real takeaway and value for me was hearing about so many real-world examples of what collaboration means in practical terms and the ethical implications of that,” said Louise Ashwell, who is pursuing an MSW at the U-M School of Social Work. “In addition to that, there were things from the mixed methods and funding seminars that I was able to immediately put to use on an internal grant application.”
The nine recent program graduates join a community of 23 other scholars who’ve graduated previously. Each new cohort is added and given access to an alumni database so they can easily stay in touch with their program peers whether they remain at U-M or go on to other institutions.
“As an alumnus, I will continue to learn from this group because there is a cohort of colleagues I can call on for advice,” said Arvind Rao, PhD, an Associate Professor of Radiation Oncology and Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics. “I am leaving the program with a sense of optimism knowing there are so many people who share my ideas and passion for global health.”
Congratulations to all of the 2020-21 program graduates:
Nathan Nessle, DO | Pediatrics
Brooke Bredbeck, MD | Surgery
Tyler Bradley-Hewitt, MD | Pediatric Cardiology
Arvind Rao, PhD | Computational Medicine and Biostatistics
Louise Ashwell, MSW | School of Social Work
Nguyen Vo, PhD | Computational Medicine and Bioinformatics
Joseph Ladines-Lim, MD, PhD | Internal Medicine/Pediatrics
Daffolyn Rachel Fels Elliott, MD, PhD | Pathology
Warren Pan, MD, PhD | Internal Medicine/Ophthalmology