Last year's Global Health Symposium, in partnership with Timmy Global Health and MedLife, was held Saturday, March 22, 2014, and it was a great success!
Our keynote speakers, Dr. Sofia Merajver, Dr. Rachel Snow and Dr. Nesha Haniff, provided the atmosphere and expertise for a riveting and in depth discussion on global cancer health, sexual and reproductive health, and HIV and AIDS - all to the theme of using cultural relativism in healthcare. We were captivated by their presentations and are very grateful for their insight and contribution!
One student testimony on the event read as follows:
"I learned a lot ... the event was really well put together and the three speakers' talks not only aligned with the theme, but they were also relevant to students interested in pursuing medicine and global health. I look forward to seeing what [they] are able to put on next year!"
We greatly enjoyed the Global Health Symposium, and look forward to doing it again this year!
Global Health Symposium 2014
Sofia D. Merajver, M.D., Ph.D.
Rachel Campbell Snow, D.Sc.
Dr. Nesha Haniff, MPH, Ph.D.
Meet The Speakers from 2014!
Dr. Merajver received her B.S., M.S., and Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Maryland. She also earned an M.D. at the University of Michigan, and was a resident in internal medicine at the U-M Medical Center. After completing a fellowship in Hematology/Oncology, Dr. Merajver founded the Breast and Ovarian Cancer Risk Evaluation Program at the University of Michigan and is a scientific leader of the Breast Oncology Program. She is currently engaged in clinical translational research that tests prevention and therapeutic interventions as well as educational tools to improve cancer outcomes globally.
Dr. Snow received her BA in Human Ecology from the College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, ME and earned a D. Sc. From the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Snow, an international reproductive health specialist, has conducted clinical, epidemiological, and social research on the successful implementation of health technologies and services in resource-poor countries. She has also served on several expert committees at the World Health Organization, and is currently a member of the Women and Gender Equity Network for the WHO commission on the Social Determinants of Health.
Dr. Haniff received her BA in Sociology from the University of Michigan, and then pursued a Master’s of Public Health at the University of Hawaii. She then returned to the University of Michigan to earn her Ph. D in the Social Foundations of Education. Her work in South Africa, the Caribbean, and the US focuses on empowerment pedagogies and marginalized populations, which have been centered around HIV, gender, and gay identities. Dr. Haniff has also developed several innovational modules on HIV/AIDS, violence, and women’s reproductive health.
“Conquering aggressive tumors and helping patients survive and live well is my life’s work. I have devoted my career in science to understand the reasons why tumors become very aggressive and developing new strategies to cure breast cancer everywhere in the world.”
“I think there’s diminishing space within the university for either of these. There is much stated enthusiasm for us to be interdisciplinary, but the reality is that career trajectories, funding, and credibility occur largely within disciplines”
“How do I teach students who hear everyday that America is the greatest country in the world that Americans are the greatest to learn humility?”
Global Health Symposium 2015
This past March M-HEAL, in collaboration with Timmy Global Health, presented the third annual Global Health Symposium under the theme of Unpacking a Professional’s Kit: Actions and Solutions in Global Health. This year’s event was a great success with about 100 students attending, both from within the two organizations and just as members of the Michigan community who were interested in global health. This year, the symposium presented both medical and engineering perspectives on creating solutions in international settings, as both offer important views on global health projects.
Dr. Ramadhani Abdallah Noor and Dr. Utibe Effiong are both alumni of the Aspen Institute for New Voices, which is an organization that brings together standout development professionals from the developing world, and they are also both doctors focused primarily on public health. Dr. Utibe Effiong, who is originally from Nigeria, focuses on the prevention of chronic diseases in developing nations, specifically diabetes which is one of the fastest growing health challenges in Africa. He introduced attendees to the intertwined relationship of government policies and medical conditions in developing countries. Dr. Ramadhani Abdallah Noor, originally from Tanzania, co-founded the Malaria Control Forum, which brings together scientists, researchers, government officials, and the media for updates and discussion of malaria control tools. His extensive cultural and field experience provided attendees with a unique perspective on work in a low-resource setting.
The third and final speaker was Dr. James Holloway of the University of Michigan who has experience working in communities in Africa and Asia; he was able to provide a unique engineering perspective at the symposium. He spoke about the failures of attempted international projects and what can be learned from them. He emphasized the need to take into account the local culture, customs and needs when looking at potential engineering solutions to health inequities.
The symposium introduced more students to the growing field of global health and the interdisciplinary aspects it encompasses. Hopefully, it motivated members to get more involved with M-HEAL project work, and inspired them to take a more in- depth look at the world of global health.
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Dr. Utibe Effiong
University of Michigan
Aspen Institute's New Voices Fellowship
Dr. Utibe Effiong, from Nigeria, is a primary care physician and environmental health researcher from who is currently pursuing his Masters in Public Health at the University of Michigan. His work focuses on the prevention of chronic diseases in developing nations, specifically diabetes.
After working as an internist in southern Nigeria, Effiong was inspired to look at the broader determinants of health and healthcare in the developing world. Nigeria’s booming oil industry accounts for more than 90 percent of the country’s earnings, but is also increasingly harmful to public health due to a series of environmental and occupational disasters. Now specializing in environmental health and epidemiology, Effiong says he is working toward a future “where the exploitation of the earth’s energy resources does not hinder the development of our societies.” His interests also include preventing chronic diseases in developing countries, with a particular focus on diabetes, one of the fastest growing health challenges in Africa.
James Paul Holloway
Arthur F. Thurnau Professor
Vice Provost for Global and Engaged Education
Professor Holloway earned Bachelors and Masters degrees in Nuclear Engineering, an CAS in Mathematics from Cambridge University, and doctorate in Engineering Physics at the University of Virginia, where he was subsequently Research Assistant Professor of Engineering Physics and Applied Mathematics. Professor Holloway joined the faculty of U-M as an assistant professor for Nuclear Engineering and Radiological Sciences in January 1990. Subsequently promoted to Associate then Full professor, in 2007, he was named an Arthur F. Thurnau Professor in recognition of outstanding contributions to undergraduate education. Later that year, he became associate dean for undergraduate education for the College of Engineering.
As Vice Provost for Global and Engaged Education, Professor Holloway is focused on the ways in which the U-M engages the world through both scholarship and education. He is interested in developing a global perspective in U-M scholarship and in its impact, and in facilitating the development of a broad set of platforms for experiential learning accessible to all students at the U-M.
Professor Holloway has lived in Thailand and England, and has worked and taught in Germany and Ghana. He has managed the U-M relationship with the UM-SJTU Joint Institute in Shanghai since 2007.
Dr. Ramadhani Abdallah Noor
Harvard University
Aspen Institute's New Voices Fellowship
Dr. Ramadhani Abdallah Noor, originally from Tanzania, is currently a doctoral candidate and research associate focusing on infectious diseases and nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health. He co-founded the Malaria Control Forum, which brings together scientists, researchers, government officials, and the media for updates and discussion of malaria control tools.
Noor says that shortly after qualifying as a junior doctor, he became overwhelmed by the number of patients that – despite his efforts – were dying from preventable and/or treatable diseases and conditions. He went on to study public health at Harvard, and took on the role of coordinating seven malaria vaccine trials in five African countries and to co-found the Malaria Control Forum, which brings together scientists, researchers, government officials and the media for updates and discussion of malaria control tools. Noor says that vaccinations are one key step toward improving the health of future generations, but that he is also increasingly concerned about another threat: “hidden hunger”, nutrition and food security.
Below is information from last year's symposium, so be sure to check it out!
Meet The Speakers for 2015!
