The Global Health Initiative at Dartmouth has been awarded a $250,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health, the College announced on Tuesday. The initiative was founded in 2004 as a collaboration between the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding and Dartmouth Medical School to promote research and educate students about global health.
"This is very exciting for us because it will allow us to expand programs, rather than be concerned about scaling back, though the Dickey Center has been very committed to making sure that student programs continue even in the face of budget cuts," DMS professor Lisa Adams, the initiative's director, said in an interview with The Dartmouth.
The Dickey Center and DMS were notified about the grant on March 6, but were not allowed to make any public announcements until May 12, when the NIH issued a formal press release.
DMS and the Dickey Center researchers originally applied for the grant, the Framework Programs for Global Health Award, in 2007, but were not among the original 12 schools selected to receive it, Adams said. The 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the economic stimulus package signed into law by President Barack Obama in February, allowed additional institutions to receive funding.
Although the grants normally last for three years, the initiative will receive funding for two since the College was admitted one year after the other institutions, Adams said. The the University of New Mexico, Yale University and the University of California, Irvine, will also receive funding for two years.
The funds will allow Dartmouth to support multiple new programs under the initiative, including additional courses in global health for undergraduate and graduate students interested in the field, Adams said.
"The grant will specifically address opportunities for students, both at the undergraduate and medical schools," Amy Newcomb, student programs officer for the Dickey Center, said. "We will make sure that both will have access to them."
The Global Health Initiative will offer a non-credit course, "Essentials of Global Health Research," during the 2009-2010 academic year. The course will address three topics in global health -- epidemiology, information science applied to global health research and research ethics, Adams said.
DMS will also add an elective course, "Global Health and Survival," Adams said. The course will focus on diseases, morbidity and mortality affecting children worldwide.
The courses will use faculty members with extensive research experience as resources, including professors at The Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice, DMS, the College and graduate schools, according to Adams.
Growing demand student for global health courses has created a need for more classes, Adams said.
"Interest [in global health] has been high and continues only to grow," she said. "A colleague has referred to it as a 'tsunami of interest' among students, and this certainly speaks true among Dartmouth students."
Another portion of the grant will be used to invite guest speakers for one major conference on global health issues annually, according to Adams. The Dickey Center is planning to hold the first conference, "Challenges and Opportunities in Global Health Clinical Research," next spring.
The grant will also be used to expand the number of internships offered through the Dickey Center. The center currently funds 40 to 50 students each year, Adams said.
The grant will cover the cost of three internships for undergraduates, three for medical school students and two for other graduate students to conduct research in Tanzania, Vietnam, India, South Africa or Geneva, Adams said.
"These additional internships will be unlike traditional leave terms where students find their own site and mentor," Adams said. "We are calling them 'mentored research internships.' Each student will go work in one of the five cities where existing faculty have ongoing research and will be closely mentored."
The Dickey Center is also working to create a certificate in global health using the grant. Students who complete a certain number of courses and a global health internship will be eligible for the certificate, Adams said.
"It is a means of showing that the student has had a step-wise progression in global health eduction and has had a core level of competency in training," she said.
The award also includes salary support for faculty and administrative personnel, Adams said.
"Coming on the heels of the announcement of the new president, it is a very exciting time to be able to let our global health programs grow," she said, referring to College President-elect Jim Yong Kim. "Timing could not be better."
