Global Health Sciences and the School of Medicine’s Office of International Programs held its 4 th Annual Global Health Symposium on April 24, 2006. In addition to a keynote address, four students presented their prize-winning projects to an audience of approximately 150 faculty and students, and the first ever Faculty Mentor Award in Global Health was awarded. The formal presentations were followed by a student poster session and reception.

After an introduction by Haile T. Debas, MD, Gerald Keusch, MD, of Boston University presented the keynote address entitled, “Is Academia Relevant to Global Health?” The keynote address focused on the importance of academia in global health in several roles, including education, research, service and policy. The address then focused on the effects and importance of academia on government policies. Keusch stated, “Improved global health is dependent on new knowledge. New knowledge depends on new researchers, up and down the stream.”

Following the keynote talk, the four winning students of the Abstract Competition presented their field experience and research. These students were selected by international researchers in health from among other student submissions.

• Jennifer C. Davis presented a study in which a a consensus and a survey in an urban area in Uganda provided descriptive data and a method of enlisting a representative group for longitudinal studies in assessing the burden of malaria in an urban community.
  
  
• David Heller discussed identifying policies in the health system that will improve the infrastructure, thus enabling research to develop strategies to treat and prevent diseases rather than responding when the disease occurs.
  
  
• Christine Stanley addressed the effects of a modified Mediterranean diet on HIV patients in Croatia who were treated with HAART, particularly the association between the diet and the risk of lipodystrophy.
  
  
• Scott D. Stonington discussed the ethical dilemma between Western bioethics with cultural ethics in non-Western countries. As a case study, Stonington examined the removal of mechanical ventilators in Thailand.

Grant Dorsey, Assistant Adjunct Professor II from the Division of Infectious Diseases, was presented with the Global Health Mentor of the Year award. Information about him can be found on the School of Medicine website.

The symposium wrapped up with a poster session and reception, featuring remaining entries. The attendees voted for the most scientific and the most creative poster. The winners were:

• Best Creation Presentation: Yessenia Rivera, MS2: "Tobacco Industry Undermines Tobacco Control Efforts in Honduras"
  
  
• Best Scientific Poster: Casey Lion, MS2: "Adolescent Childbearing in Nicaragua: A Quantitative and Qualitative Assessment"