Burke Fellowship
fellowship

HGHI Presents the 2022 Burke Global Health Fellows

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 Fellowship to help launch and advance the careers of promising junior faculty in global health.

We are thrilled and honored to introduce the 2022 Burke Global Health Fellows: 

Crystal North, MD MPH

Dr. Crystal North is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and an Attending Physician in Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital. As a Burke fellow, Dr. North will research air pollution and lung health in resource-limited settings: understanding the impact of biomass. 

“The Burke Global Health Fellowship is making it possible for me to expand my research from a single site to a regional air quality network and to create collaborative opportunities to study the impact of ambient air pollution on communicable and non-communicable health outcomes among vulnerable populations in Uganda, positioning me at the forefront of global health researchers working to ameliorate the impacts of air pollution on lung health” – Crystal North 

Jocelyn Kelly, PhD

Dr. Jocelyn Kelly is an instructor in Emergency Medicine at Harvard Medical School and the Director of the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative’s (HHI) Gender, Rights and Resilience (GR2) program. As a Burke fellow, Dr. Kelly will develop an evidence-based intervention to improve human and climate resilience in fragile settings. 

“The Burke Global Health Fellowship gives me a unique chance to expand my research intersection of public health and climate solutions. This support comes at a critical time when the role of women in addressing climate change is being increasingly acknowledged, but there is a gap in identifying successful locally-led solutions. I’m honored to contribute to research at this important intersection of issues, and grateful for the chance to expand my work with our incredible project partners.” – Jocelyn Kelly 

Pooja Chitneni, MD

Dr. Pooja Chitneni is an Instructor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School and an Infectious Disease and Internal Medicine physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. She is also an affiliated researcher at the Massachusetts General Hospital Center for Global Health. As a Burke fellow, Dr. Chitneni will develop an STI partner notification services delivery intervention in southwestern, rural Uganda. 

“I am thrilled to be the recipient of a 2022 Burke Global Health Fellowship. This fellowship support will allow me to pursue research related to global STI care and prevention which is a relatively understudied and under-funded area. This award would allow me to focus specifically on STI partner notification to develop a novel STI partner notification services delivery intervention which I would then be able to further develop and test in the future, thus launching my career as an expert in STI care and prevention in resource-limited settings.” – Pooja Chitneni

Zahir Kanjee MD, MPH 

Dr. Zahir Kanjee is a hospitalist and firm chief at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and an Assistant Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. As a Burke fellow, Dr. Kanjee will develop a Professional Development Course for Medical Students for the University of Global Health Equity in Kigali, Rwanda 

“By developing, implementing, and studying this curriculum, I hope to make a lasting impact on health professional education in Rwanda and beyond. The Burke Fellowship will allow me to continue to work and innovate at the intersection of my two greatest professional passions: global health and medical education.” – Zahir Kanjee 

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