Global Health at Tufts
By Donald Clermont, MPH Candidate ‘18
Global health is a growing priority among international non-government organizations and American public health programs alike. Tufts University has been working to improve global health with a range of efforts spanning the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, and the One Health Initiatives at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine. Tufts University School of Medicine is another major venue for global health, with a range of educational opportunities and research programs around the world.
“Tufts School of Medicine views global health education as an important component of its educational mission. This is in recognition of the need to equip health professionals of the 21st century with the knowledge and skills requisite for engagement in clinical, research, and public health careers with an increasing global health dimension,” says Joyce Sackey, MD, Dean of Multicultural Affairs and Global Health.
The Nutrition and Infection Unit (NIU) in the Department of Public Health and Community Medicine (PHCM) at Tufts School of Medicine is a major hub for global health research and one of two such academic units in the United States. The NIU conducts research on nutrition and food insecurity in people living with HIV and while it has done research in many countries, the bulk of its recent work has been carried out in India and Namibia. The NIU conducts research on tuberculosis cascade of care and health of people living in slum communities in India and has worked to help Namibia reach the UNAIDS goals for HIV cascade of care. Under the direction of Christine Wanke, MD, Professor Emerita, the NIU has expanded its international research goals and now has two Fogarty training programs which have brought trainees from India and Namibia to Tufts. In January, Ramnath Subbaraman, MD, join the PHCM department and will be partnering with Alice Tang, PhD, Associate Professor of PHCM and Director of the NIU, in an emerging effort at Tufts, the Center for Global Public Health.1
Mohan Thanikachalam, MD, Research Assistant Professor of PHCM, is another faculty member dedicated to global health. He is currently working on a cohort study to investigate population-specific unique risk factors and prevalence of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) in urban and rural populations of south India. His work also includes developing mobile phone-based software applications to facilitate community-based CVD prevention programs with the help of non-traditional health workers.
Tufts is also home to innovative education programs in global health. In an effort to foster global health learning experiences, Tufts’ Masters of Public Health (MPH) program offers students the opportunity to implement their Applied Learning Experience (ALE) abroad. Past international ALEs have been carried out in Panama, Guatemala, and India, where Tufts has established field sites, as well as Malawi, Taiwan, Haiti, Uganda, South Africa, Cambodia, Mali, and Thailand. Projects have ranged from food security and childhood nutrition to monitoring and evaluation of at-risk and previously trafficked women.
Tufts’ MPH and Physician Assistant (PA) Programs are in the process of organizing a global clinical and public health rotation program in Johannesburg, South Africa for PA/MPH students. Two Tufts students will do clinical rotations at the University of Witwatersrand in emergency medicine and infectious disease as well as implement quality assurance projects as part of their ALE. As part of this program two Witwatersrand students will also come to Boston to do clinical rotations at Tufts Medical Center. The exchange will foster both education and global research at the intersection of public health and physician assistant studies. The exchange program is expected to be up and running by August 2018.
“Our tagline in the Public Health Programs, ‘working across disciplines and global boundaries,’ reflects our belief and commitment to training students with the wide-ranging knowledge and skills to address the complex health challenges globally as well as locally. Working with our faculty, our MPH students now have the option to include a global health focus in their academic program with us—part of our commitment to training global citizens ready to apply their Tufts education around the world,” says Aviva Must, PhD, Dean of Public Health and Professional Degree Programs at Tufts University School of Medicine.
Through its past and present dedication to international public health work, Tufts University School of Medicine’s Department of PHCM continues to play an important role in improving the health of individuals and communities around the world.
1.http://now.tufts.edu/articles/tufts-establishes-center-global-public-health