The Latest News from VIGH

Joseph "Joey" Starnes, M.D., MPH, was awarded the Sten H. Vermund Award for Excellence in Global Health. This award recognizes the graduating medical student who has most demonstrated a strong commitment to improving the health of the people of or from a low- or middle-income country through distinguished scholarship, education, and/or contributions to the improvement of clinical care. The award was established in 2017, to honor Dr. Sten H. Vermund who was the founding director of the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health.

VIGH faculty, staff, and students presented at the 2019 Consortium of Universities in Global Health (CUGH) Conference on March 9-10 in Chicago. The 10th annual conference was focused on Translation and Implementation for Impact in Global Health. The VIGH team presented on a range of topics, from the development of a research methods for a nurse anesthetist program in Kenya to nutrition education outreach in the Western Highlands of Guatemala. 

Students in the spring semester of their second year of the Vanderbilt MPH program present their thesis to mentors, colleagues, fellow students, and guests. This year, the following students in the Global Health track will present their thesis findings. Presentations will take place in MPH Classroom #2600, Village at Vanderbilt (1500 21st Avenue South). See below for a list of Global Health students and their thesis topics. RSVP one week before the presentation(s) you wish to attend.  

This year, the Vanderbilt School of Medicine Global Health Organization will present World Health Week during Monday, February 25 - Friday, March 1. World Health Week is committed to spreading awareness about global health, and this year's theme is "Global Health and Anesthesia." Events include lunchtime talks and a global health symposium one evening. Lunch is offered with RSVP. Download the flyer.

Vanderbilt Medicine MD/MPH dual-degree candidate, Justin Banerdt, completed his fellowship year as a VECD Fogarty Global Health Fellow in July 2018. He spent his year conducting research focused on the prevalence and outcomes of delirium in a critically ill patient population with a high burden of HIV/AIDS at the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) in Lusaka, Zambia. UTH is the teaching hospital affiliated with the University of Zambia School of Medicine (UNZA).

Sarah Heerboth, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Class of 2019 (expected), recently wrote an article reflecting on her experience working with Lwala Community Alliance in Kenya. Sarah worked at Lwala for her Integrated Science Course (ISC): Global Health, a research immersion course for third- and fourth-year medical students. 

Two Vanderbilt MPH Program alumnae have been named 2018-2019 Global Health Corps (GHC) Fellows. Grace Umutesi, M.P.H. and Shellese Shemwell, M.P.H. will both work in Rwanda during the upcoming year. Umutesi will serve as a Monitoring, Evaluation and Research Officer with Health Development Initiative, and Shemwell has been named Integrated NCD Program Quality Improvement Coordinator with Partners in Health/Inshuti Mu Buzima.

Dagoberto Estévez-Ordóñez, M.D., was recently awarded the Sten H. Vermund Award for Excellence in Global Health. This award recognizes the graduating medical student who has most demonstrated a strong commitment to improving the health of the people of or from a low- or middle-income country through distinguished scholarship, education, and/or contributions to the improvement of clinical care. The award was established in 2017, to honor Dr. Sten H. Vermund who was the founding director of the Vanderbilt Institute for Global Health.

This year, seven students graduated with a Master of Public Health in Global Health, and 11 received the Graduate Certificate in Global Health. The week leading up to Friday's commencement ceremony involved several events celebrating this year's Global Health graduates, including a dinner and graduation reception. MPH graduates received their diplomas during the commencement ceremony on May 11 in Langford Auditorium.

Students in the spring semester of their second year of the Vanderbilt MPH program recently presented the work of their MPH thesis to members, mentors, colleagues, fellow students, and guests. This year, there are seven MPH students in the Global Health Track who presented their thesis findings. See below for the list of Global Health students and their thesis topics.  Beto Arriola Vigo, M.D. Qualitative Analysis: Community Involvement in the new model of care during Mental Health Reform in Peru

Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Master of Public Health (MPH) student in the Global Health track, Roberta Hutton, is completing her practicum and thesis work at the Central American Medical Outreach Foundation (CAMO) in western Honduras. 
 
 On her experience, Roberta writes, "At the Central American Medical Outreach Foundation (CAMO) in western Honduras I helped create an extensive monitoring and evaluation system for the nursing capacitation program at a local hospital through focus groups, interviews, data-flow analysis and protocol development.

2017 Vanderbilt University School of Medicine Master of Public Health Commencement and Receptions Congratulations to all!
 
 

Growing up in the small rural village of Yetebon, Ethiopia, Kidane Amare Sarko could step just outside his thatched-roof, mud and wood hut and see his future. He could see his father, who could neither read nor write, work in the field as a farmer. As the eldest boy in a family of seven children, Sarko fetched water, collected firewood and looked after the cows. Though he desired a different life for himself, it was difficult to imagine one.

View photos from the 2016 Public Health Practicum Colloquium.