2023 was an exciting year for the Institute for Global Health Sciences. We invite you to watch this video that features highlights from the year.
Additional accomplishments from 2023
Education
- We graduated 29 students from our master’s program and six students from our PhD program. We also welcomed a new class of 38 master’s students and six PhD students.
- We trained 11 high school seniors and five teachers through our global health pathway program, Global REACH.
- Our global surgery fellowship grew to 55 fellows representing 13 countries.
- We supported nine global scholars from Afghanistan, Iran, Sudan and Tajikistan who faced threats in their home countries but can now continue their academic pursuits at UCSF.
COVID-19 and pandemic preparedness and response
- Mohsen Malekinejad, MD, MPH, DrPH, is the UCSF PI for a 5-year CDC award, “Resilient Shield: A Network for Outbreak Data Integration and Modeling to Support Rapid Public Health Action.”
- IGHS Affiliates Alison El Ayadi, ScD, MPH, Anneka Hooft, MD, and Charles Langelier, MD, PhD, received seed grants for their pandemic preparedness and response efforts.
- We’re working with the Public Health Institute to develop a five-year plan to strengthen emergency response efforts in California, Nevada, Arizona and Hawaii.
- Nadia Diamond-Smith, PhD, MS, and Lucia Abascal-Miguel, PhD, MD, MS, received UC funding to create a research collaborative at UCSF, UC Santa Cruz and UC Merced to explore how social networks affect the health of Native Americans and Indigenous migrants from Latin America. The researchers will use as a case study COVID-19 vaccine information and how it drove health behaviors.
HIV/AIDS
- STRIPE HIV, which provides health professions education to low- and middle-income countries, received funding to include HIV, non-communicable diseases and quality improvement in its workforce development curriculum.
Malaria and parasitic diseases
- The Malaria Elimination Initiative completed its vector control research program, Project BITE, which aims to prevent outdoor malaria transmission in the Greater Mekong Subregion.
- Ingrid Chen, PhD, received a grant from the Department of Defense to develop new products that offer protection from mosquito bites.
- Michelle Hsiang, MD, launched an NIH-funded clinical trial in Tanzania to treat chronic malaria.
- Michelle Roh, PhD, received an NIH grant to study the impact of two antimalarial drugs on pregnant women and birth outcomes in Africa.
- Jennifer Smith, PhD, MSc, received a seed award to pilot antenatal surveillance for female genital schistosomiasis in Tanzania.
Maternal, newborn and child health
- Patience Afulani, PhD, MD, MPH, received an NIH award for “Caring for Providers to Improve Patient Experience Study” in Kenya and Ghana.
Tuberculosis
- Eric Goosby, MD, and Mike Reid, MD, MPH, MA, co-chaired the Lancet Commission on Tuberculosis and released a report on how to turn the tide on this preventable and curable disease.
Nursing
- The Center for Global Nursing, which brings together nurses and advanced practice providers with faculty and students to explore global health solutions, joined IGHS as our seventh center.
Our faculty and staff contributed to academic knowledge in global health, publishing 131 articles, including four in Lancet journals, three in JAMA journals, and two in AIDS.
We thank our collaborators, donors and supporters for making 2023 a successful year.