Congratulating Dr. Ingrid Katz: Director for Behavioral Sciences at the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator

The Harvard Global Health Institute (HGHI) would like to express our sincere congratulations to Dr. Ingrid Katz, MD, MHS, on her appointment as the Director for Behavioral Sciences for PEPFAR | Bureau of Global Health Security and Diplomacy at the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator.

Dr. Katz has been an invaluable contributor to HGHI since assuming the position of Associate Faculty Director in 2018. Her expertise and commitment have had an important impact on the institute’s initiatives, including HGHI’s LEAD Fellowship for Promoting Women in Global Health and the Burke Global Health Fellowship. We have no doubt that Dr. Katz’s leadership and expertise will continue to have a transformative impact in her new role.

Dr. Katz will step down from her HGHI leadership position to fully take on her responsibilities at PEPFAR beginning July 3rd where, as the Director for Behavioral Sciences, she will shape and implement strategies to address behavioral factors and social determinants of health in the global coordination of AIDS relief efforts. We eagerly anticipate the important influence Dr. Katz will undoubtedly have at PEPFAR and, once again, extend our gratitude and warmest congratulations to her. Dr. Katz will continue in her role as Associate Physician in the Division of Women’s Health at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. 

Click here to access the full event page and to register!

Harvard Global Health Institute is thrilled to announce that registration is now open for virtual attendance to our Inaugural Global Health Symposium! While in person capacity is limited, we invite our longstanding global and Harvard-based community to join us virtually on April 12th, 2023 from 9:00am to 4:00pm ET for a series of conversations centered around the theme “Global Health Equity through Community Engagement.”

Our inaugural symposium will bring together experts from across the globe and from within Harvard University to highlight innovative, community-driven approaches aimed at achieving global health equity. We will explore these approaches in the context of various disciplines, including emerging infectious diseases, human and reproductive rights, planetary health, anti-racism and decolonization, and HIV equity.

We are thrilled to have over 25 global leaders in these respective fields joining us to engage in these critical discussions. Among this stellar collection of experts, we are excited to share that Dr. Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, Acting Director of Africa CDC and Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, former Chief Scientist of the World Health Organization, will be delivering keynote remarks.

Thank you for your interest in attending virtually on April 12th. A full recording of the symposium will be available on the HGHI website following the event.

The full agenda, speaker list, and registration details are available HERE.

2022 Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change U.S. Policy Brief

On October 25th, the highly anticipated sixth annual Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change U.S. Policy Brief was released. The Harvard Global Health Institute serves as the host institution for this work – led by HGHI affiliate faculty member and Senior Author of the Brief, Dr. Renee Salas.

This U.S. Brief is a collective consensus of the nation’s leading climate change and health experts from more than 80 organizations from around the country – spanning the federal government, academia, professional societies, and NGOs. The 2022 U.S. Brief uses country-specific indicator data from the 2022 global Lancet Countdown report, as well as other recent scientific studies, to expose the inequitable health risks of climate change, including heat, air pollution, infectious disease, and mental health. It also highlights opportunities to improve health through swift action, highlighting five key policy recommendations crafted by the Working Group. This report stresses that while we all experience these health risks, they fall hardest on people of color and low-income communities.

You can now access the HTML version of the report, as well as the downloadable English and Spanish PDFs HERE.

2022 Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change Launch Event

On October 26th, The Lancet Countdown U.S. Policy Brief Authors convened for the 2022 Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change U.S. Virtual Launch Event (full recording above).

The launch event included esteemed keynote presentations, dynamic panel discussions by top experts, and presentations by the U.S. Brief authors. The U.S. Launch speakers included Senior Director for Environmental Justice at the White House Council on Environmental Quality – Dr. Jalonne White-Newsome, Acting Director of HHS’s Office of Climate Change and Health Equity – Dr. John Balbus, and others working at the intersection of climate change, health, and equity.

The launch also featured a one on one conversation between Dr. Renee Salas and Former White House National Climate Advisor, Gina McCarthy (access a full recording of their conversation HERE).

You can access the event recording and learn more about our speakers HERE.

Summaries and Additional Materials

This year’s Brief was accompanied by a suite of supporting materials in English and Spanish, including items written by Working Group members: Appendix featuring case studies, critical insight summaries, and tables; Executive Summary; Summary for the General Public; Breakdown of the New Science; Summary for Medical Professionals; Regional Summaries for the South, West, Midwest, and Northeast.

These materials were generated to serve as living tools, meant to be used to strengthen and amplify existing work around climate change and health.

You can access and download the Appendix HERE and the suite of supporting materials HERE.

See what others are saying about the report and how officials are responding HERE!

We are pleased to announce that Louise C. Ivers, MD, MPH has been appointed to serve as the new Faculty Director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, effective March 1, 2022.

In this role, Dr. Ivers will draw from her decades-long career in medicine and global health to lead HGHI in the development and execution of its intellectual vision and academic plan. Given the multidisciplinary nature of global health work, Dr. Ivers will nurture collaboration between scholars and stakeholders with an interest in global health across Harvard University’s schools and affiliated hospitals. 

Dr. Ivers has spent her career providing care to the rural and urban poor around the globe and engaging in patient-oriented investigations that offer solutions to barriers to healthcare. Dr. Ivers’ expertise in the design, implementation, and evaluation of large-scale public health programs as well as her deep commitment to health equity, inclusive practice, and interdisciplinary collaboration will shape HGHI’s strategic priorities as we seek to advance inclusive, evidence-based solutions to the most pressing threats to global health. 

Dr. Ivers will continue to serve as the Executive Director of the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Center for Global Health during her appointment at HGHI. Dr. Ivers is also the David Bansberg Endowed Chair in Global Health Equity at MGH and a Professor of Medicine and Professor of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. From 2003-2017, Dr. Ivers served in various leadership roles for Partners in Health, including Clinical Director, Chief of Mission, and Director of Strategic Implementation. Dr. Ivers has contributed to humanitarian efforts to address and published extensive research on HIV/AIDS, food insecurity, and cholera treatment and prevention.

We are thrilled to begin this next chapter of HGHI under the leadership of Dr. Ivers.

In Memoriam,

It is with a heavy heart that we commemorate the passing of one of the most iconic global health leaders of our generation, Dr. Paul Farmer, the Kolokotrones University Professor and the chair of the Department of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and the co-founder and chief strategist of Partners in Health. Paul was an extraordinary force for good in this world, always leading with humanism at the core of his tireless work to rectify the wrongs of social injustices that led to global health inequalities.

Paul was a friend of The Institute, coming to speak in both of our General Education courses offered to Harvard College students these past two years, and most recently, speaking on a panel titled, “Global Equity During Pandemics: Lessons from HIV and COVID for Designing a New Paradigm.” He joined this panel from Rwanda, where he took his last breath only a month later. In many ways, he gave his heart to Rwanda, much like he gave it to Haiti. Paul was a doctor, teacher, father, brother, husband, and son. He was also a humanitarian in the truest sense of the word.

When asked on our recent panel what are the most important lessons we have collectively learned from both the HIV and Covid pandemics, Paul spoke of the critical need to integrate prevention of illness with care of the sick, moving beyond individual fiefdoms within public health or medicine. Paul embodied the ability to bridge divides and come together across disciplines to advance our collective understanding of what global health should truly be – centered in our collective humanity and always striving for justice and equity for all.

We are grateful to Paul for sharing his light with the world. He will be sorely missed.

Allan Brandt, Ingrid Katz, and the HGHI Team

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Image by courtesy of Stephanie Mitchell/Harvard University

Ongoing global Covid-19 vaccine and therapeutic inequities threaten to prolong and exacerbate the pandemic for all countries. As advocates, academics, and policymakers alike call for the U.S. and other wealthy nations to share these lifesaving resources with the world, it is prudent to consider the lessons learned from the HIV pandemic that can be translated into this current moment. PEPFAR and the experiences of HIV health workers offer a roadmap and over 20 years of learnings for implementing vaccine and therapeutic scale-up and delivery efforts in low resource settings.

On January 20th, 2022, the Harvard Global Health Institute and the Harvard University Center for AIDS Research grand rounds event brought together members of the HIV research and advocacy communities to critically reflect upon applicable lessons for approaching Covid-19 healthcare delivery and identify necessary steps for a paradigm shift in how the world responds to global health crises. The grand rounds included a 1-hour panel discussion between Dr. Ruth Okediji, Dr. Paul Farmer, and James Krellenstein, and a 30-minute fireside conversation between Dr. Tony Fauci and Dr. John Nkengasong. These conversations were oriented towards practical, timely steps that advocates, academics, and policymakers can take to advance equity in this and future global health crisis.

Watch the full recording of the event below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KK69-CdDK6s 

“MisinfoRx Toolkit” gives health care providers the knowledge and training to tackle patient-held medical misinformation 

November 16th, 2021

Boston, MA – To help counter the offline impacts of online medical misinformation, a team of collaborators from the Harvard Global Health Institute, the Technology and Social Change Project at the Shorenstein Center on Media, Politics and Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, the University of Michigan School of Information, the Oakland University William Beaumont School of Medicine, and the Alfred Landecker Democracy Fellowship have created the MisinfoRx Toolkit. The Toolkit equips health care providers with knowledge and skills to counter medical misinformation and support patient health. 

The Covid-19 pandemic has shed new light on the challenge of online medical misinformation but this phenomenon is not new nor will it end with this current health crisis. Mis- and disinformation are longstanding challenges that operate at the interplay of psychological, social, economic, technological, and political dynamics. With the rapidly changing information environment, inaccurate and misleading health information has spread at unprecedented speed and scale. 

Harm lies in the power of false information to shape offline health behaviors and undermine individual and public health. Across a myriad of diseases and health crises, like the current covid-19 pandemic, we have seen how online misinformation negatively influences people’s decisions and behaviors, threatening individual and population level health.  For example, a recent study showed that even brief exposure to Covid-19 vaccine misinformation made people less likely to want a Covid-19 vaccine.

In clinical settings, providers have been forced to grapple with this challenge. Yet, addressing misinformation in person with patients has been largely left out of medical education and training. 

The MisinfoRx Toolkit was created to help support providers in addressing patient-held misinformation. It offers an overview of the science behind medical misinformation and why it can be so influential. Rooted in the latest evidence, the toolkit then provides strategies for addressing patient-held misinformation through empathetic and collaborative dialogue with patients, where they seek to understand what patients believe, why they believe it, and how they can best support the patient in making health-promotive decisions as a trusted partner.

Access the MisinfoRx Toolkit at misinforx.com/download

2021 Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change U.S. Policy Brief

On Wednesday, October 20th at 6:30pm EST the highly anticipated fifth annual Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change U.S. Policy Brief was released. 

The annual global report tracks the impact of climate change on human health and is a product of more than 100 experts from 40 global institutions and the companion U.S. Brief is supported by over 70 U.S. institutions, organizations, and centers. The 2021 U.S. Brief highlights the converging health crises of extreme heat, droughts, wildfires, exposes the inequitable health risks of climate change, and highlights opportunities to improve health through swift action. It also explores how expanding our understanding is essential for the United States’ ability to respond with evidence-informed policy recommendations.

You can now access the HTML version of the report, as well as the downloadable English and Spanish PDFs HERE.

2021 Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change Launch Event

On Thursday, October 21st, The Lancet Countdown U.S. Policy Brief Authors convened for the 2021 Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change U.S. Virtual Launch Event. 

The launch event included esteemed keynote presentations, dynamic panel discussions by top experts, and a Q&A by the Lancet Countdown authors, Renee N. Salas, MD, MPH, MS and Jeremy J. Hess, MD, MPH. 

You can access the event recording and learn more about our speakers HERE.

Summaries and Additional Materials

This year’s Brief was accompanied by a suite of supporting materials, including; an Executive Summary (English and Spanish), Summary for the General Public (English and Spanish), a Breakdown of the New Science, Summary for Medical Professionals, and Regional Summaries for the South, West, Midwest, and Northeast. 

These materials were generated to serve as living tools, meant to be used to strengthen and amplify existing work around climate change and health.

You can access and download this suite of supporting materials HERE.

See what others are saying about the report and how officials are responding HERE!

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Protecting forests and changing agricultural practices are essential, cost-effective actions to prevent pandemics

Boston, Mass. – As the world struggles to contain COVID-19, a group of leading, scientific experts from the U.S., Latin America, Africa, and South Asia released a report today outlining the strong scientific foundations for taking actions to stop the next pandemic by preventing the spillover of pathogens from animals to people. The report provides recommendations for research and actions to forestall new pandemics that have largely been absent from high-level discussions about prevention, including a novel call to integrate conservation actions with strengthening healthcare systems globally. 

The report from the International Scientific Task Force to Prevent Pandemics at the Source makes the case that investments in outbreak control, such as diagnostic tests, drugs, and vaccines, are critical but inadequate to address pandemic risk. These findings come as COVID-19 vaccinations availability in many low- and middle-income countries remains inadequate—and even in wealthier nations vaccine coverage is far from reaching levels needed to control the Delta variant. 

“To manage COVID-19, we have already spent more than $6 trillion dollars on what may turn out to be the most expensive band-aids ever bought, and no matter how much we spend on vaccines, they can never fully inoculate us from future pandemics,” said Dr. Aaron Bernstein, interim director of the Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and leader of the Scientific Task Force for Preventing Pandemics at the Source. “We must take actions that prevent pandemics from starting by stopping the spillover of diseases from animals to humans. When we do, we can also help stabilize the planet’s climate and revitalize its biosphere, each of which is essential to our health and economic welfare.”

Previous research by Dr. Bernstein and colleagues found that the costs of preventing the next pandemic—by reducing deforestation and regulating the wildlife trade—are as little as $22 billion a year, 2% of the economic and mortality costs of responding to COVID-19.

The task force found that spillover of possible pandemic pathogens occurs from livestock operations; wildlife hunting and trade; land use change—and the destruction of tropical forests in particular; expansion of agricultural lands, especially near human settlements; and rapid, unplanned urbanization. Climate change is also shrinking habitats and pushing animals on land and sea to move to new places, creating opportunities for pathogens to enter new hosts.

Agriculture is associated with greater than 50% of zoonotic infectious diseases that have emerged in humans since 1940. With human population growing, and food insecurity on the rise because of the pandemic, investments in sustainable agriculture and in the prevention of crop and food waste are critical to reduce biodiversity losses, conserve water resources, and prevent further land use change while promoting food security and economic welfare.

A key recommendation from the task force calls for leveraging investments in healthcare system strengthening and One Health to jointly advance conservation, animal and human health, and spillover prevention. A successful example of this integrated model comes from Borneo where a decade of work resulted in ∼70% reduction in deforestation and provided health care access to more than 28,400 patients and substantial decreases in diseases like malaria, tuberculosis, and common diseases of childhood.

Additional recommendations for investments and research include:

Investment priorities:

• Conserve tropical forests, especially in relatively intact forests as well as those that have been fragmented.
• Improve biosecurity for livestock and farmed wild animals, especially when animal husbandry occurs near large or rapidly expanding human populations.
• Establish an intergovernmental partnership to address spillover risk from wild animals to livestock and people from aligned organizations such as FAO, WHO, OIE, UNEP, and Wildlife Enforcement Networks.
• In low- and middle-income countries, leverage investments to strengthen healthcare systems and One Health platforms to jointly advance conservation, animal and human health, and spillover prevention.

Research priorities:

• Establish which interventions, including those focused on forest conservation, wildlife hunting and trade, and biosecurity around farms, are most effective at spillover prevention.
• Assess the economic, ecological, long term viability and social welfare impacts of interventions aimed at reducing spillover. Include cost-benefit analysis that considers the full scope of benefits that can come from spillover prevention in economic analyses.
• Refine our understanding of where pandemics are likely to emerge, including assessments of pandemic drivers like governance, travel, and population density. 
• Continue viral discovery in wildlife to ascertain the breadth of potential pathogens and improve genotype-phenotype associations that can enable spillover risk and virulence assessments.

The task force was convened by Harvard Chan C-CHANGE and the Harvard Global Health Institute (HGHI). The findings laid out in their inaugural report will be translated into international policy recommendations to inform the G20 summit in October and the 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) in November.

Related Materials:

• Read the Report
• Video: Harvard Report: How To Prevent Future Pandemics
• Video: Harvard Report: Health Care, Conservation Can Work Together To Prevent Pandemics

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About Harvard Global Health Institute

The Harvard Global Health Institute is committed to surfacing and addressing some of the most persistent challenges in human health. We believe that the solutions to these problems will be drawn from within and beyond the medicine and public health spheres to encompass design, law, policy, business, and other fields. At HGHI, we harness the unique breadth of excellence within Harvard and are a dedicated partner to organizations, governments, scholars, and committed citizens around the globe. We convene diverse perspectives, identify gaps, design new learning opportunities, and advise policy makers to advance health equity for all. You can learn more at globalhealth.harvard.edu.

About Harvard Chan C-CHANGE

The Center for Climate, Health, and the Global Environment at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health (Harvard Chan C-CHANGE) increases public awareness of the health impacts of climate change and uses science to make it personal, actionable, and urgent. Led by Dr. Aaron Bernstein, the Center leverages Harvard’s cutting-edge research to inform policies, technologies, and products that reduce air pollution and other causes of climate change. By making climate change personal, highlighting solutions, and emphasizing the important role we all play in driving change, Harvard Chan C-CHANGE puts health outcomes at the center of climate actions. To learn more visit https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/c-change/. 

By Toochi Uradu, HGHI Intern and Carissa Novak, HGHI Program Manager

The HGHI Lead Fellowship for Promoting Women in Global Health is designed to equip women leaders in global health with the skills and networks to mentor future female leaders and to affect far-reaching change in their communities. This unique program offers an opportunity to for fellows to advance their knowledge across a host of global health issues and cultivate their leadership and mentorship skills. Although the COVID-19 pandemic transformed the fellowship into a virtual experience this past year, the 2020 LEAD fellows engaged in a rich curriculum, took part in personalized leadership training and closely collaborated with faculty mentors throughout the fellowship year.

As Aida Kurtovic, Carmen Contreras, and Cynthia Mambo wrap up their fellowship this summer, we asked them to reflect on their time as LEAD fellows and to share how the fellowship has shaped their personal and professional journeys. We were given a glimpse into the profound impact the LEAD Fellowship has had on each of the fellows, and how they will collaborate as a network of women leaders to inspire and support other aspiring global health leaders around the world.

Aida Kurtovic 

Aida joined the fellowship program from Bosnia as the Head of Partnerships in Health (PH). As a LEAD fellow, Aida engaged in several impactful courses, including Negotiation Strategies: Building Agreements Across Boundaries and Women Leading Change at the Harvard Kennedy School, as well as The Art of Communication and Advanced Negotiation and Conflict Resolution Strategies: Mastering the Science and Art at the Harvard Extension School. Through a variety of workshops and events, Aida was able to enhance her communication, policy development, and mentorship skills. A highlight from her time as a fellow was when Aida spoke at a Brown Bag Seminar with the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health; her presentation “Civil Society Organization Support to the Bosnian Health System under COVID-19 Pandemic Circumstances: How to Maintain the HIV Response in Focus,” explored interventions designed to increase the accessibility of ARV treatment and streamline new clinical testing protocols in Bosnia. 

Watch Aida’s full interview below to hear her takeaways from the 2020 fellowship year.

At the conclusion of the fellowship year, Aida plans to expand the scope of her work, shifting her focus from a national perspective on HIV/AIDS policy development to new regional initiatives. Aida credits her mentors, Margaret Bordeaux, Annemarie Sasdi, and Salmaan Keshavjee, who have empowered her to continue advocating for marginalized communities. Ultimately, she hopes to “contribute to the development of future women leaders in global health, but also in our societies.”

Cynthia Mambo

Cynthia joined the fellowship program as the Deputy PEPFAR Coordinator in Malawi. For Cynthia, “the beauty about this fellowship is that [she] could design [her] own program.” With this mindset, she engaged in courses that would further develop her leadership skills such as, Influence and Persuasion in Leadership at the Harvard Extension School, and Women Leading Change at the Harvard Kennedy School. Leveraging her expertise and position to empower young women in global health is of fundamental importance to Cynthia. For this reason, she provided mentorship to several undergraduate students throughout the year. Cynthia’s HSPH Brown Bag presentation, “Promoting Access to HIV Services among Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW) in Malawi,” reflected her dedication to equipping young women with health promotive resources.

Watch Cynthia’s full interview below to hear her takeaways from the 2020 fellowship year.

Cynthia is looking forward to transitioning into her new role with the Global Fund in Geneva at the conclusion of the fellowship year. She intends to continue working with her mentors, Wafaie Fawzi and Mojisola Odeku, to adapt her fellowship project, which aims to support interventions that promote health-seeking behaviors among adolescents. Cynthia has enjoyed building a sisterhood with both former and current LEAD Fellows, and with their influence hopes to support young Malawian women.

Carmen Contreras

Carmen joined the fellowship program from Perú, where she is the Director of Mental Health for Socios En Salud, Partners in Health. Carmen’s background in mental health inspired her coursework selection during the fellowship year. Courses she completed include Case Studies in Global Mental Health Delivery, Women, Gender and Health: Critical Issues in Mental Health, and Foundations of Global Mental Health through the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Over the year, Carmen shared her wealth of knowledge through speaking engagements, including Integrating TB and Mental Health Services to End the Epidemic, and Salud para todos: 25 años de salud y esperanza para las comunidades más vulnerables del Perú. 

Watch Carmen’s full interview below to hear her takeaways from the 2020 fellowship year.

As the fellowship year concludes, Carmen will continue to work with Partners in Health on her grant projects that promote mental health development in vulnerable communities in Perú. She will also continue working with her fellowship mentors, Ana Langer and Shekhar Sekena, to design interventions for mental health providers. Join Carmen this October at the Youth Tech Health Initiative Live Global 2021 Event, where she will speak on efforts to link youth to mental health care in communities affected by COVID-19 in Perú.

Learn More About The LEAD Fellowship

While the 2021-2022 LEAD cohort has been selected, you can learn more about the fellowship program and how to apply for future years on our website. 

In an effort to support the development of a diverse pool of women leaders in global health, the Harvard Global Health Institute (HGHI) and the Women and Health Initiative (W&HI) within the Global Health and Population Department at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health offers the Harvard LEAD Fellowship for Promoting Women in Global Health, a year-long program designed to advance the leadership skills of talented global health leaders from low- and middle-income countries who are committed to the mentorship of future women leaders in medicine and public health.  

HGHI and the W&HI are thrilled to introduce and welcome the 2021 Cohort of Harvard LEAD Fellows. 

Based on their specific goals, our 2021 fellows will spend their time at Harvard University engaging in tailored leadership training, mentoring, and networking opportunities, including independent work supported by Harvard-based faculty mentors. During the fellowship year, the fellows will have access to world-class faculty, classes, and executive education programs. They will be both encouraged and challenged in new and inspiring ways. 

The full fellowship curriculum, including leadership workshops, mentorship relationships, and classes will begin virtually in the fall of 2021 due to COVID-19 pandemic-related restrictions. In early 2022, we are looking forward to welcoming the fellows to Cambridge and Boston, MA. 

Learn more about the 2021 Cohort of Harvard LEAD Fellows:

Bridget Msolomba Malewezi, MD, MPH | Malawi

“As a leader of various local women’s organizations, I believe the skills and knowledge I will gain from participation in the fellowship will elevate the quality and standard of work that I individually as well as the organisations I work with produce. The executive leadership training and courses will help build cohesive and collaborative teams as I intend to share what I learn with my fellow women and leaders and generate thriving and active women-led organizations that will contribute as entities to the women’s health agenda in Malawi and globally.”

Bridget Msolomba Malewezi is a medical doctor, public health practitioner, motivational speaker, activist & health columnist. She is a graduate of the University of Malawi College of Medicine & Emory University, where completed her MPH with a focus on Global Health. She is currently the Vice President of the Malawi Chapter of Women in Global Health (WGH) as well as Acting Chair of the task force for the establishment of the Women Doctors Association of Malawi (WDAM). She is one of the founding members and currently an executive member and chairperson of Public Relations and COVID Public Awareness for the Society of Medical Doctors Malawi (SMD).

She has worked in various capacities including Country Director for Seed Global Health Malawi focusing on health systems strengthening and human resources for health (HRH). Prior to that, she served in various roles including Program Manager at Clinton Health Access Initiative (CHAI) providing technical assistance to several government departments on the introduction of new vaccines for childhood illnesses as well as reproductive health.

Her health column in the national newspaper is now in its 11th year and she has broadened this into social media pages on Facebook & Instagram – ‘DrBonHealth’ – sharing information on health and most recently on COVID. In November 2020, she was awarded a Doctor of Excellence award by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Malawi (CPSM) in recognition for her dedication, leadership, and years of service to the medical fraternity. 

Mareli Claassens, PhD, MBChB | Namibia

“The Harvard LEAD fellowship will hone my expertise in organizational leadership for a founding presidency of WoNam, in networking with organizations with similar aims and objectives, and in preparation for a leadership position in Global Health.”

Mareli Claassens is a clinical epidemiologist with a passion for Africa and its many peoples. She is enthusiastic to address the interesting challenges of finding drug-resistant tuberculosis (DR-TB) cases, map the transmission of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex, investigate pharmacogenomics and pharmacokinetics of DR-TB treatment in African populations, and the interface between COVID-19, TB, and HIV. While employed at the Desmond Tutu Tuberculosis Centre, Stellenbosch University, she had been involved in many research studies, focusing on TB case finding, TB infection control, TB in healthcare workers, initial loss to follow-up in presumed TB cases, antiretroviral treatment in TB patients and modeling studies investigating TB prevalence and incidence. 

Currently, she is an Associate Research Professor at the University of Namibia (UNAM), funded as an African Research Leader by the UK Medical Research Council and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and as a Senior Fellow by the European and Developing Countries Clinical Trials Partnership, to investigate DR-TB case finding in three regions of Namibia. She is a Research Fellow at Stellenbosch University, a Research Associate at the South African Centre for Modelling and Epidemiological Analysis, a member of the Global Burden of Disease Collaborator network, and a member of the Global Young Academy. She is collaborating with colleagues from Stellenbosch University, Imperial College London, Research Centre Borstel, University of Bern, Emory University, National Taiwan University, and others, with the aim of building local research capacity by involving local students who will have the opportunity to participate in study activities at UNAM and collaborating centers.

Preethi John, PhD  | India

“It is a privilege and honour to be a Harvard LEAD Fellow and I expect it will offer a life-changing transformative experience. I hope to utilise this period to expand my leadership skills to not only build sustainable institutes but also further enhance my capability in mentoring and capacity building. It would be my dream if this could inspire and motivate several others to join the women in global health movement and strengthen the resilience of the health system. The learning I will get from world class resources at Harvard will not only develop my calibre to be a better teacher, trainer, and researcher but also equip me to give back to my organisation, healthcare professionals, women, and to India.”

Preethi John is a health and development management professional with 25 years of experience in public and private sector organizations. Her expertise and experience have groomed her as a leader and institution builder. Her career track started with the Institute of Health Management Pachod, Pune, India where she was able to contribute to the spectrum of rural and urban healthcare management and action research programs. A long stint at Aravind Eye Care System (A WHO Collaborating Centre) enabled her to gain expertise in capacity building of healthcare human resources from developing countries across South Asia, Africa, and Latin America. At Chitkara University, Punjab, India she got the opportunity to pilot a model for the development of allied health professionals and establish the Chitkara School of Health Sciences as its Founder Dean.

She is currently the Director of the Chitkara Global Health Institute. She also serves as Advisory Board Member to Health and Development NGOs and is the Co-Founder of the Women in Global Health India Chapter. She holds a Ph.D. from IIT Madras and a postgraduate degree from TISS, Mumbai, India.

Alice Kayongo, MPH | Uganda

“This LEAD Fellowship comes at the perfect time when I am taking on a new senior leadership role at WACI Health, an organisation deeply committed to improving health policy and outcomes in Africa. I strongly believe in the under-utilized potential for women in Africa to lead and inspire future generations and the LEAD fellowship simply has all the ingredients I believe are critical to this aspiration. I am therefore deeply honoured and privileged to be part of the next cohort and will take this once-in-a lifetime opportunity to make a difference in my country, continent and globally.”

Alice Kayongo is a public health practitioner and human rights advocate with 16 years of development experience working largely with civil society where she has held several positions. In addition to her academic training, she has more than 13 years of experience working with extremely vulnerable and voiceless grassroots communities affected by HIV on health literacy, advocacy, and empowerment. Together with these communities, she has worked to identify key advocacy priorities in a manner that triggers ownership and increases the communities’ meaningful participation.

Alice is an active researcher within the health, women’s, and children’s rights development sector in Uganda, Africa, and internationally. Her research interests for the health development sector are in: Health Financing, Intellectual Property Rights and Access to Medicines, the impetus for community mobilization and engagement in monitoring and evaluation of health service delivery at the community level. She has a proven record in conducting research on Health Systems Strengthening with particular emphasis on task shifting to improve indicators on Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission of HIV. She has vast experience conducting research amongst and for young women and adolescent girls in vulnerable communities of the region specifically focusing on predictors of loss to follow-up amongst young people enrolled in HIV Treatment and Care. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Sociology as well as a Master of Public Health.

Alice volunteers on several boards including the Public Health Ambassadors Uganda board, the Health GAP board as well as the Uhuru Institute Board. 

Julieta Kavetuna, MPhil | Namibia

“Life is a school which gives us opportunities to learn every day, thus I am ready to explore new avenues and improve on my current abilities and capabilities of leadership. I will capitalize on acquiring additional skills aiming to elevate Maternal and Mental Health among the top priority in our healthcare system. Namibia will be the Center of Excellence, with a global standing in issues of Maternal Mental Health in Africa. The policy I will be drafting during this fellowship will be a model instrument, which will ensure that every expecting mother receives the desired physical and mental care during and after birth.”

Julieta Kavetuna has been a community activist her entire life. Her activism is centered on the promotion of gender equity and the provision of quality health care for all, especially in the area of mental health. She has spent more than 13 years as a parliamentarian, where she was politically assigned for 5-year terms as Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Youth, and the Ministry of Health and Social Services. During her tenure in the Ministry of Youth, she launched a campaign “Operation Hope”, which successfully inspired hundreds of unemployed young people to identify their needs and pave their own ways to take up studies or create their own employment. While with the Ministry of Health she became a Mental Health champion.  She has also served as Secretary General of the National Youth Council, where she established the Credit for Youth Scheme and the Young Women Leadership structures.

She is a Registered Nurse and holds a string of post-graduate qualifications including; a diploma in gender and development, an Honors Public Management and Policy Planning certificate, and a Master of Philosophy in Public Mental Health from the University of Cape Town.

To learn more about the LEAD Fellowship for Promoting Women in Global Health, click HERE.

The Burke Global Health Fellowship program at the Harvard Global Health Institute provides funding for Harvard junior faculty members from across the University for innovative research and curriculum development and teaching in global health. The Fellowships are made possible through the generous support of Harvard alumna Katherine States Burke, AB ’79, and her husband, T. Robert Burke, who established the Burke Fund to help launch and advance the careers of promising junior faculty in global health.

We are thrilled and honored to introduce the 2021 Burke Global Health Fellows:

Kavitha Ranganathan, MD

Dr. Kavitha Ranganathan is the Assistant Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and Director of Craniofacial Reconstruction within the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She is also part of the Center for Surgery and Public Health and Program of Global Surgery and Social Change. 

Matthew Gartland, MD

Matthew Gartland, MD, is the Director of the MGH Asylum Clinic at the MGH Center for Global Health and a faculty member in the MGH for Children Division of Pediatric Global Health. Dr. Gartland is also a Hospitalist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and an Instructor at Harvard Medical School. 

Oludare Odumade, MD, PhD

Dr. Oludare (Dare) Odumade, MD/PhD, is a clinical instructor and attending physician in the Division of Medical Critical Care Intermediate Care Program at Boston Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, MA. Currently, she works as a faculty member for the Boston Children’s Hospital Precision Vaccines Program.

John Naslund, PhD

Dr. Naslund is an Instructor of Global Health and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School. He holds expertise in psychiatric epidemiology, implementation science, and digital mental health. He currently leads the scientific activities of ESSENCE, Enabling Science to Service to ENhance Depression CarE.

To learn more about our 2021 Burke Fellows, including their full bios and project descriptions, please click here.