Global Health Symposium spans disciplines, generations and the world

From avian influenza to empowering women in agriculture to improving access to pain medicines in Africa, Global Health Symposium 2015: Advancing Health in an Interconnected World gives the UW community a place to explore the complex determinants of health in Wisconsin and across the world.

The symposium begins at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 8, in the Health Sciences Learning Center, 750 Highland Ave. More than 50 undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff members, and health care professionals will deliver oral presentations and display posters of their global health work. 

Keith Martin, executive director of the Consortium of Universities for Global Health and a former member of the Canadian Parliament, delivers the keynote address. With “Bees, Bats and Buffalo: Bring One Health to Global Challenges,” Martin will explore the intersection of animal, environmental and human health. He also challenges universities to evolve in their global health work, connecting the products of research to an equal passion for implementing those solutions.

“The symposium is both important and symbolic to the work of GHI,” says Acting Director Christopher Olsen. “Although we support a wide variety of events throughout the year, the annual symposium provides an opportunity for a larger group to come together and celebrate and learn with one another.”

Hosted by the UW–Madison Global Health Institute, the symposium is co-sponsored by the Global Health Consortium and the Schools of Medicine and Public Health, Nursing, Pharmacy and Veterinary Medicine.

This year’s presenters represent 10 campus units, including the Schools of Medicine and Public Health, Pharmacy, Veterinary Medicine, Social Work and Human Ecology, the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies. The presenters’ projects took them to more than 20 countries and Wisconsin for collaboration, research, action and education.

The 2015 oral presentations showcase projects that build health capacity, improve women’s well-being, ensure health for all, expand food security and connect health and the environment. The presentations include:

Insect farming as a possible sustainable protein source in Zambia
Mapping soil lead levels in Madison, Wisconsin, community gardens
Promoting gender equity in Ethiopia
Helping babies breathe in the Philippines
Developing curriculum for international rotations
The ecology of plague in U.S. grasslands

The symposium is free and open to all. For more information and to RSVP, visit the event website.

—Ann Grauvogl