UMB Holds Inaugural Global Health Summit
Putting aside differences in time zones, cultures, and professional disciplines, international teams of researchers and clinicians met in Baltimore from May 28 through May 30 to share their previous work and to plan for the future.
The 网红爆料, Baltimore (UMB) held its inaugural Global Health Summit to make strides toward improving the human condition through collaborative health and human services globally. UMB鈥檚 Center for Global Education Initiatives (CGEI) was the sponsor.
Country directors reviewed progress and challenges in Tanzania, Nigeria, Rwanda, Mali, Kenya, Malawi, Botswana, and Zambia during a panel discussion at the UMB Global Health Summit.
The main event, held May 29, featured two keynote addresses by international leaders with firm ties to UMB as well as six panel discussions. (View a video below and a photo gallery on Facebook.)
President Jay A. Perman, MD, said it felt 鈥済ratifying and humbling,鈥� to greet several hundred people from nine different countries, 鈥渁ll part of one big UMB family working to advance health, well-being, and justice on a global scale.鈥�
In introducing the first keynote speaker, Perman noted how Jody K. Olsen, PhD, MSW, had led international efforts at UMB in helping to establish CGEI and becoming its first director. In 2018, she was sworn in as director of the Peace Corps, returning to the federal agency to which she has devoted nearly lifelong service.
Olsen called attention to the fact that a fifth of Peace Corps volunteers work on health projects, including 1,000 in HIV-related projects. 鈥淲e are a very active part of the work that you do,鈥� she said, acknowledging the large contingent of attendees involved in work globally through the and its .
鈥淭he global community is committed to ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030, and in order to do this we need to remain focused on the granular data to ensure we are targeting the right people, in the right places, with the right intervention,鈥� Olsen said. 鈥淭hrough our interdisciplinary approach, we need to see our clients as more than their diagnoses.鈥�
The discussion by a panel of country directors for UMB covered research on malaria and other tropical diseases, but several of the presentations focused on curtailing the spread of HIV/AIDS and achieving viral suppression in patients who are living with HIV. Directors reviewed progress and challenges under grants, which are supported by a variety of funders, including the U.S. President鈥檚 Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).
One highlight was the description by Gambo Aliyu, PhD, MBBS, MS, interim country director for the IHV Center for International Health, Education and Biosecurity (CIHEB)鈥揘igeria of the daunting task of conducting what would become the world鈥檚 largest HIV/AIDS survey.
The one-year timing was a challenge and so were the physical and political complexities surrounding the Nigerian AIDS Indicator and Impact Survey. 鈥淚t was very difficult,鈥� Aliyu said. Besides the poor roads, the country has dealt with the militant Islamic group Boko Haram and bandits and kidnappers in remote areas.
鈥淲e were everywhere, including Chibok,鈥� he said, referring to the collection of data in the town where schoolgirls were abducted in 2014. 鈥淣ot a single person was kidnapped, not a single person was attacked, not a single person was killed. Even the government of Nigeria was surprised,鈥� he recounted, as the group applauded.
Also presenting in the first of several panels were Cyprien Baribwira, MD, country director, CIHEB鈥揜wanda; Fadima Haidara, MD, director of clinical studies, UMSOM 鈥揗补濒颈; Emily Koech, MPH, MMed, country director, CIHEB鈥揔enya; Abubakar Maghimbi, MD, country director, CIHEB鈥揟anzania; Don Mathanga, MD, PhD, MPH, director, Malaria Alert Centre, Malawi; Ndwapi Ndwapi, MD, country director, CIHEB鈥揃otswana; and Robb Sheneberger, MD, country director, CIHEB鈥揨ambia.
UMB鈥檚 global reach was extolled by the summit鈥檚 second keynote speaker as well as by the first. Samba Sow, MD, MSc, adjunct professor of medicine at UMSOM, went so far as to call upon those in the crowd and upon the president of the university to ensure the growth of UMB鈥檚 global health effort. 鈥淚 promise,鈥� Perman replied.
Sow has been director general of CVD-Mali since its inception in 2001, and he credited CVD for facilitating the introduction by 2014 of five vaccines new to Mali. Among these is Hib pentavalent to help address high infant mortality.
During that period, he said, a coup in 2012 forced him to take refuge under his bed for nine hours while he talked with his colleagues at UMB. Unlike other funders that withdraw after coups, CVD continued its support that included funds to pay the staff. 鈥淭hey never abandoned me when I was in trouble,鈥� Sow said. 鈥淭his is global health.鈥�
A democratic government was elected in 2013, and by the end of the year, Mali and neighboring Guinea were facing the Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) crisis. 鈥淐an you imagine if CVD-Mali dies because of the coup, and then Ebola would come?鈥� he asked.
On a Friday afternoon, the first three suspected cases were brought to one of his center鈥檚 community clinics. 鈥淎ll I had were gloves鈥� to protect against the lethal pathogen that had already killed the first physicians in Guinea, he said. In preparing to draw blood, he said he put plastic bags over his body and took a taxi to spare his driver in case the exposure would be fatal.
He also armed himself with knowledge. 鈥淚 called university people,鈥� he said. Quickly UMB helped set up a communications network with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health. 鈥淭his must be part of the history of the university; this must be part of the history of global health,鈥� Sow said.
He went on to establish an Ebola treatment center at CVD-Mali after contending with a large snake at one potential clinic site and with community members who objected violently to all sites. 鈥淭he military had to protect me,鈥� he said.
鈥淚t went very well,鈥� Sow said of his Ebola experiences, including his becoming principal investigator in the groundbreaking clinical trial of a new Ebola vaccine (ChAd3-EBO-Z) in collaboration with Myron M. Levine, MD, MD, DTPH, associate dean for global health, vaccinology and infectious diseases at UMSOM, and its team of researchers. The compared the clinical acceptability and immune responses of 20 adults in Baltimore and 91 in Mali, among them Sow.
鈥淭he PI must take the first dose,鈥� he said, recounting the deliberations of the Institutional Review Board that met in Mali.
He also told the summit how his work on Ebola led to a stint as Mali鈥檚 minister of health. And, again, he leaned on CVD in Baltimore for documentation needed to push for health reform. Though he is no longer in Mali鈥檚 government, Sow said, he remains hopeful about reform.
Strides are being made in curtailing infectious diseases not only in Africa but also across several continents, according to a panel discussion on CVD鈥檚 impact. Moderator Kathleen M. Neuzil, MD, MPH, FIDSA, professor of pediatrics at UMSOM and director of CVD, said it remains unique among academic centers for its full range of activities, from discovery through delivery.
Panel discussions also were conducted by representatives from the 网红爆料, College Park, who presented on the ; by clinicians and researchers from UMSOM and the 网红爆料 Medical Center, who presented on antimicrobial resistance; and by researchers at CVD and UMSOM鈥檚 , who presented on the power of genomics to advance the global health agenda.
鈥淥ne of our real research strengths is in applying the tools of genomics to the study of infectious agents,鈥� such as new diagnostics and outbreak tracking, said Claire Fraser, PhD, director of IGS and the panel鈥檚 moderator.
A panel on UMB鈥檚 global education offerings was designed to share information on assets such as Cooperative Online International Learning, or COIL, presented by Caroline Burry, PhD, MSW, director of global initiatives, , and the Global Health Certificate for nurses and health and human services professionals, presented by Yolanda Ogbolu, PhD, CRNP-Neonatal, FAAN, director of the Office of Global Health of the .
The panel was moderated by Virginia Rowthorn, JD, LLM, a senior lecturer on global health law at the and executive director of CGEI, which is marking the 10th anniversary of its Interprofessional Global Grant Program. 鈥淲e鈥檙e very proud of the diversity of projects we鈥檝e supported for students,鈥� said Rowthorn.
Among them is 鈥淎 Comparative Analysis of Emerging Infectious Disease Outbreak Preparedness and Response in Costa Rica and the U.S.,鈥� presented by Mike Vesely, JD, academic program director of the , . In 2018, six students from UMSON, UMSOM, and the went to Central America to examine the highly regarded response to Zika in Costa Rica. The mosquito-borne virus causes severe birth defects.
Vesely told the summit audience that the most powerful part of the grant project occurred at a national children鈥檚 hospital. UMB students met with physicians who care for children whose Zika has completely manifested. 鈥淭his condition, this lifespan, these limitations are not going to change,鈥� he said. 鈥淔or our students, that was the most moving part of the trip.鈥�
Additional parts of the three-day summit were tours for foreign visitors, a strategic planning meeting, and a poster session to showcase international collaboration. At the latter, for example, Valli Meeks, DDS, MS, RDH, clinical associate professor at the , presented on oral health education at the primary level in Rwanda, where UMSOD and UMSON had each participated in that nation鈥檚 Human Resources for Health program to strengthen the health care system.
Pausing during the poster session, panelist Koech commented on the summit. 鈥淚t is an opportunity to share with others what we鈥檝e done well, and discuss what are the strengths and weaknesses.鈥� Koech observed that, in her role as CIHEB country director in Kenya, she values the chance 鈥渢o meet and network鈥� and to learn about resources.
