Global Research, Education, Action and Communities for Health — Global REACH — creates pathways for people from all communities to study and work in the field of global health. Global REACH teaches, mentors and financially supports students, trainees and early career investigators from diverse backgrounds.

The UCSF Institute for Global Health Sciences (IGHS) has a broad-reaching mission to improve health and reduce inequities locally and globally. The Global REACH program is motivated by the belief that IGHS will achieve this mission and make lasting impacts only by working to increase diversity in the global health workforce, change the traditionally colonial approach to global heath work, and break down systemic racism internally, locally and globally.

In service of that goal, Global REACH connects several initiatives to create a cohesive pathway that stretches from high school to early career, with mentorship and support at each step. The pathway begins in UCSF’s own community in the San Francisco Bay Area, with education programs for high school students and teachers to introduce young audiences to global health. The pathway continues with undergraduate, graduate and professional education across the University of California, and extends to post-doctoral and early career research at the UCs and around the world.

Initiatives

Summer Researchers in Global Health

Summer Researchers in Global Health is a six-week summer internship for rising high school seniors in the Bay Area that introduces students to global health concepts and immerses them in challenging, real-life research projects mentored by global health experts at UCSF.

Global Health Curriculum Bootcamp

The Global Health Curriculum Bootcamp is a professional development program for Bay Area high school teachers to learn from and work with global health professionals at UCSF to design global health curricula tailored for their own students.

Online Global Health Courses

A suite of online global health courses available to all University of California undergraduate students teaches the fundamental concepts and complex issues of global health and aims to connect and inspire students across the UCs to explore and contribute to the discipline.

UCGHI Centers of Expertise

The University of California Global Health Institute (UCGHI) Centers of Expertise for Planetary Health and Women’s Health, Gender, and Empowerment provide a variety of scholarships, internships, mentorship programs and other activities that engage UC students at all levels.

UCGHI Student Ambassadors

The UCGHI Student Ambassadors program is a leadership opportunity for all UC students (undergraduate, graduate, professional, post-doctoral) and students at select HBCUs who are dedicated to serving and representing their respective campuses. The program educates student ambassadors on global health topics and issues through a social justice framework.

Scholarships for BIPOC Graduate Students

The Institute for Global Health Sciences offers scholarships for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) graduate students to attend the Master of Science in Global Health and Doctor of Philosophy in Global Health Sciences programs. Both programs aim to train a high number of BIPOC students in order to meet the workforce needs in global health.

Global Research Fellowships

The GloCal Health Fellowship Program, funded by the NIH Fogarty International Center with administrative support from UCGHI, provides year-long mentored research experiences with 20 international partners. The program is exclusively for UC doctoral and professional students and post-doctoral fellows, as well as postdoctoral fellows from the international partner sites.

Funding and Mentorship for Women and BIPOC Investigators

IGHS will be launching a program to support the career growth of women and BIPOC early career investigators by providing scholarship funds to assist with bridge funding, professional development, and collaboration building. IGHS plans to develop a mentorship program that leverages existing programs and helps investigators advance in their careers at IGHS.

NIH Diversity Supplements for Students, Postdocs and Faculty

As part of an overall strategy to diversify the global health workforce, UCGHI offers webinars and other support to increase submissions of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Diversity Supplements across the 10 UC campuses.

Why We Exist

The field of global health is suffering from lack of diversity and facing an existential crisis of continued colonial reach from high-income countries into low- and middle-income countries. The movement to “decolonize global health” is at the forefront of redefining this field, and the concepts of diversity, equity, inclusion, power and privilege are all on the table. Global REACH creates community among a growing field of committed educators dedicated to diversifying the field and context of global health.

“Historically, global health has been mainly a top-down, North-to-South enterprise led primarily by white, elite men. What we are now seeing is an attempt to ensure that people and communities previously underrepresented in agenda-setting, discussions, and decisions have a voice at the table, are present at meetings, and can determine what is needed in their specific contexts.” (Bertram, K., Erondu, N., Pai, M. Silenced Voices in Global Health. Think Global Health, June 3, 2020)

In order to reduce health inequities locally and globally and create long-lasting health impacts, the UCSF Institute for Global Health Sciences (IGHS) must welcome broad representation of ideas, lived experiences, and expertise from members of all communities – encompassing diversity in race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, national origin, religion, age, ability, etc.

IGHS is embracing the challenge to decolonize global health and break down systemic racism internally, locally and globally by developing programs that support the next generation of global health leaders as they grow in their careers.