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Forging and deepening international relationships
The school is engaged in many key areas of the world, both for student learning and for faculty teaching opportunities.
“The top schools of public health are making a global impact,” said Craig Blakely, Ph.D., M.P.H., dean of the School of Public Health and Information Sciences. “We are forging and deepening international relationships to make our mark on the world and share our expertise to affect change.”
During Summer 2016, the school focused on the following countries:
The Gambia
During the month of June, Scott LaJoie, Ph.D., taught two MPH classes: Health Economics and Health Management at the University of The Gambia Department of Public Health. LaJoie and Anne Wallis, Ph.D., M.H.S., also co-lead a study abroad program experiences with five students who also traveled to The Gambia. This effort builds on on-going engagement and collaboration with UTG and professor Rex Guye.
Ghana
Department of Health Promotion & Behavioral Sciences M.P.H. student Alice Kennedy visited Ghana for three weeks were she joined Muriel Harris, Ph.D., M.P.H., in Kumasi at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology at the School of Public Health. Harris, a Fulbright Scholar, served as KNUST faculty during her one year stint in Ghana. (Read more).
Kennedy, who has an interest in herbal medicine, spoke with students in the Dept. of Applied Biology and visited a hospital, and other conventional treatment sites. In addition, she participated in a Leadership Training Course with other M.P.H. students, and had the opportunity to learn about approaches to problem solving in Ghana, along with various aspects of the Ghanaian culture from the perspective of local faculty and students.
China
Qunwei Zhang, M.D., M.P.H., Ph.D, visited Beijing Key Laboratory of Occupational Safety and Health, where he gave a talk, and spoke with laboratory leaders about collaborations on the health effects of nanoparticles in workplaces. Zhang also had the opportunity to visit Nanjing Medical University, and discuss collaborations regarding the toxic effects of nanoparticles on the reproductive system. A visiting professor, supported by the China Scholarship Council, is now working in Zhang’s lab this fall.
Robert Jacobs, Ph.D., participated in the University Immersion Program (UIP) at Sichuan University in Chengdu, China. The program invites faculty from around the world to give short courses to undergraduate students. Jacobs was one of 150 invited faculty to give short courses on Occupational Safety and Health and Indoor Air Quality and Human Health Risk. Meantime, students from Jinan University in Guangzhou, China are visiting Louisville to learn about public health aspects in the United States. (Read more.)
