Global Health Initiative reaches patients in new ways

With the creation of the new Global Health Initiative, the University of Chicago is increasing efforts to coordinate ongoing outreach activities around the world and develop programs that will help patients and enhance physician training.

“We had been conducting some wonderful international programs, but they were under the radar,” says Funmi Olopade, Associate Dean for Global Health at the Pritzker School of Medicine. “The University decided to bring them together under one umbrella so they could be coordinated and benefit from an integrated approach.”

Some peer institutions have found that such efforts help train future clinicians to give medical care in challenging contexts, and can help recruit, develop, and retain faculty who are drawn to the mission of global outreach, Olopade says.

The GHI is designed to build on the University’s many existing international programs, which include:

• Reducing the spread of HIV in India by educating truck drivers about the virus
• Rebuilding medical school programs in Nigeria
• Researching the genomic and cancer risks of exposure to arsenic and manganese in Bangladesh
• Revamping the medical curriculum at Wuhan University in China

“The more we look at health care in the United States, the more we see disparities in outcomes,” Olopade says. “We want to help address those disparities here on the South Side of Chicago with our Urban Health Initiative, and address disparities globally in countries like China, India, and Bangladesh, as well as in West Africa and other parts of the world, with our Global Health Initiative.”

The program at John F. Kennedy Hospital in Monrovia, Liberia, is one of the University’s strongest global initiatives, Olopade adds. “The physicians leading that program are energetic and effective, and their work is transformative.”