Initiative to increase global health research

Updated 3:00 PM December 7, 2005

Initiative to increase global health research

By Kevin Bergquist

The University launched a new project Nov. 29 aimed at preparing the next generation of health scientists and professionals to address critical research needs in global health.

Funded by the Fogarty International Center of the National Institutes of Health, the Michigan Global Health Research and Training Initiative will engage increasing numbers of undergraduate and graduate students in multidisciplinary global health research; encourage innovative research collaborations across the University; and support research and training partnerships with institutions in low-and middle-income countries.

"This initiative provides us with an excellent opportunity to define new academic partnerships and develop new cross-campus research and training programs that can address critical gaps in global public health," says Sioban Harlow, professor of epidemiology in the School of Public Health and chair of the initiative steering committee. "The University of Michigan is uniquely placed to create innovative research forums and training programs to address these critical gaps in the global public health dialogue and infrastructure."

Led by SPH and the Medical School, the collaboration includes LSA and the schools of Law, Public Policy, Nursing, Dentistry, Natural Resources and Environment, and Social Work, as well as the International Policy Center (IPC), International Institute and the Institute for the Humanities.

The initiative aims to:

• Support innovative multidisciplinary research at the forefront of global health research through interdisciplinary symposia and faculty seed grants;

• Develop a clear pathway to global health research for undergraduate students through course offerings, research internships and curricular programs;

• Increase collaboration and integration in graduate curricular offerings and training opportunities among participating schools, and provide graduate research internships, pre-dissertation research visits and clinical research rotations; and

• Develop necessary infrastructure, including an initiative Web site and faculty and internship databases to enhance communication, integration and efficiency across the University's training programs.

These steps will allow U-M to place its faculty, staff and students at the forefront of global health change, Harlow says.

"Health professionals need to be at the table with lawyers as they develop international trade law; at the table with business leaders so they can effectively contribute to the alleviation of pressing health concerns of their employees worldwide; at the table with engineers to develop suitable technologies for resource-poor countries; and at the table with colleagues in natural resources to address the challenges of global climate change," Harlow says.

Committee co-chair Dr. David Stern says, "Faculty from across the institution have longstanding commitments to global health, and the new grant supports us to both connect the outstanding programs across the institution, and also to provide opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students to engage in global health research."

Stern is associate professor of internal medicine and medical education, and director of the Minority Health International Research Training Program and Global REACH, a Medical School initiative to facilitate health research, education and collaboration among the faculty, students and global partners.

To launch the global health initiative the University invited to campus Derek Yach, a former executive at the World Health Organization (WHO) and currently professor and head of the Division of Global Health at Yale University, to highlight global health work currently underway.

Yach—whose work with WHO included development of the "Health For All" policy adopted in 1998 by all governments affiliated with the organization—lectured on "The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control," which he helped organize.

Yach spoke of the rationale for and development of the framework, which was created in response to the globalization of the tobacco epidemic. An international anti-tobacco treaty that aims to reduce smoking-related disease and death around the world went into effect Feb. 27.

Under the first treaty ever negotiated by WHO, participating nations agreed to use price and non-price measures to curb the use of tobacco through such means as: limiting exposure to smoking, regulating the content of tobacco products, adhering to labeling standards, increasing public awareness and education about the dangers of smoking, and working to curb the sale of products and promotions to minors, among others.

"We have a good set of instructions; we know what needs to be done—now can we do it on a world-wide scale?" Yach asked of tobacco control. "What we still need is a binding set of protocols."

As of the lecture, 114 countries had signed on in support of the treaty, including China, India, Mexico and Japan. The United States, Russia and Indonesia have not.

The results are encouraging, Yach said. He noted that 6 percent of U.S. college-educated women smoke, but that number was double and triple just a few years ago.

"But laws on the books are not laws on the street," said Yach, who will join the Rockefeller Foundation as director of the organization's program on global health in January. "It is going to take investment, training and political support."

"The battle over tobacco control is never over," he said. "But the U.S. figures provide a sense that this is achievable."

Co-sponsors of the symposium included the U-M Tobacco Research Network, the Center for International and Comparative Studies and IPC.

Initiative to increase global health research

More Stories