Weill Cornell Global Health
 



Global Health at Weill Cornell and Cornell University

Global health research is being conducted at the basic and clinical levels at Weill Cornell, and collaborators from several departments are pursuing a number of translational research projects. The Department of Medicine, the Center for Global Health within the Department of Medicine, as well as the Departments of Microbiology, and Public Health, are leading the effort in this interdisciplinary translational research.

                                                  CENTER FOR GLOBAL HEALTH
 
The Center for Global Health serves Weill Cornell Medical College and Cornell University in fostering the goals of our current NIH Global Health Network. The Center stands on the pillars of our major international programs in Haiti, Brazil, and in Tanzania. The Center is based in the Department of Medicine and welcomes the participation of faculty from both Ithaca and NY who have like-interests in addressing issues of global health inequality.
 
We define Global Health as research, service, and training that address health problems that transcend national boundaries, that disproportionately affect the resource poor, and that are best addressed by multidisciplinary solutions. Our vision is a sustainable and innovative university-wide Global Health research and training program at Cornell University that engages undergraduate, graduate, and medical students and faculty from multiple disciplines to solve problems of global health. The end result will be that more of Cornell's outstanding students and faculty in medicine, nutrition, agriculture, veterinary, social, and basic life sciences will make significant commitments to global health.
 
The objectives of the Center are three-fold:
  1. To provide global health training, in the classroom, laboratory, and field, for Cornell students at all levels: undergraduates on the lthaca Campus, medical students at WCMC, and graduate students and post-doctoral fellows on both campuses
  2. To provide reciprocal training programs at Cornell for colleagues at all levels from our network of international collaborating institutions
  3. To coordinate ongoing collaborations and to develop new programs among Cornell researchers to solve existing and emerging problems in global health
 
With the support of a NIH Fogarty lnternational Center grant (Warren Johnson MD, PI) and matching University funds, a multidisciplinary undergraduate, professional, and graduate curriculum has been developed by five Cornell University colleges: Weill Cornell Medical College (WCMC), Human Ecology, Engineering, Veterinary Medicine, Arts and Sciences, and Agriculture and Life Sciences. The curriculum combines new courses and seminars with existing courses and domestic and international researchexperiences and internships. The multidisciplinary faculty has been drawn from a number of disciplines, including infectious diseases, nutrition, economics, ethics, anthropology, epidemiology, veterinary medicine, and agriculture.

 For undergraduate Cornell students, this curriculum has culminated in a new interdisciplinary Global Health Minor, open to students with any major in any college. Currently, there are 74 students from 17 majors enrolled in the Global Health Minor. This academic year, 48 students will graduate with a Minor in Global Health, six times the number of students that graduated from the program in 2009. A critical component of Cornell’s Global Health Minor is field experience in which students live and work abroad in a resource-poor setting for a minimum of eight-weeks.  The purpose of the field experience requirement is to challenge students to apply their classroom learning to a field setting and to deepen their understanding of the health problems that disproportionately affect the resource-poor. This past summer, 47 students completed their field experiences in 13 different countries across the globe, including India, Zambia, and Nicaragua. Twelve of these students took advantage of the new Global Health Summer Session Program in Moshi, Tanzania taught by Dr. Rebecca Stoltzfus. The Global Health Program offers financial support for students traveling abroad in the form of Global Health Travel Grants ranging from $150-1,000. Click here to visit Cornell University's Global Health Website: http://www.human.cornell.edu/dns/globalhealth/about/index.cfm 

For Weill Cornell medical students, global health has been integrated into the first and second year curriculum. International electives in the fourth year have been strengthened.  Daniel Fitzgerald MD, Chairs the Weill Cornell lnternational Committee that oversees these electives. A global health track has been added to the MS program in clinical epidemiology and health services research (Mary Charlson MD, Director). US and international students in the MS program take intensive courses in New York for five months and conduct their thesis research in Brazil, Haiti, or Tanzania under the mentorship of our on-site Weill Cornell faculty: Ko, Carvalho (Brazil), Pape, Charles, Ocheretina (Haiti), Peck, Im (Tanzania), in addition to Fitzgerald, Glesby, Johnson, and Shackman in New York. The Center for Global Health proposes lnternational scholars (Weill Cornell students, fellows, or faculty) who would receive 6-12 months of support to initiate new research projects at our international sites.
 

 The Office of Global Health Education  coordinates global health electives for Weill Cornell medical students and visiting international medical students who are interested in studying global health and participating in global health clinical, research, and service electives. The OGHE was established by the Dean and is a division of the Office of Affiliations.

The International Committee is a multi-disciplinary faculty committee appointed by the Dean to review and approve all Weill Cornell medical student proposals in preparation to complete a Global Health - International Elective. The Committee, which meets monthly, is responsible for conferring academic credit and distributing medical college funding to students whose proposals were approved.

Multidisciplinary professional and graduate programs as well as an undergraduate minor in Global Health are being developed by Weill Cornell and Cornell University's Colleges of Human Ecology, Arts and Sciences, Veterinary Medicine, and Agriculture and Life Sciences. These programs are based in the Center for Global Health at WCMC and the Division of Nutritional Sciences at Cornell University.

At Cornell University, The Mario Einaudi Center for International Studies catalyses and supports research, teaching, and outreach to advance international studies at Cornell University. The center is one of the largest university international studies centers in the United States. Key global health-related programs at the Einaudi Center include the Global Health Program, Cornell Food and Nutrition Policy Program, and the Cornell International Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development.


Links for Global Health at Weill Cornell and Cornell University
 
Weill Cornell Medical College


Department of Medicine

Division of Infectious Diseases

Department of Microbiology

Department of Public Health

Office of Global Health Education

Cornell University


Global Health Program

Einaudi Center for International Studies

Cornell Institute for Food, Agriculture and Development

College of Human Ecology

College of Arts and Sciences

College of Veterinary Medicine

College of Agriculture and Life Sciences

Division of Nutritional Sciences

 

 


Contact

Weill Cornell Medical College
Center for Global Health
440 E. 69th Street
New York, NY 10021

phone:  212-746-6680
fax:  212-746-9744
e-mail: globalhealthweb@med.cornell.edu
Web Manager/Editor:  Lindsey Reif