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NU Global Health Week Highlights Research and Education Opportunities

The Northwestern University Global Health Week, held April 5-8, brought together leaders from around the world to discuss Northwestern’s global health successes and opportunities.

The conference aimed to foster research and collaboration between Northwestern and international partners from more than a dozen countries, including Burkina Faso, Chile, China, France, India, Mali, Mexico, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania, and Uganda. Presentations throughout the week showcased exciting global health initiatives, provided insight into research and public health issues faced around the world, and highlighted educational opportunities and potential for further collaboration with Northwestern participants, including students, faculty, and researchers.
 
Northwestern’s leadership, including President Morton Schapiro; Provost Daniel Linzer and Jay Walsh, vice president for research, among others, outlined their vision of how Northwestern will offer international research and training opportunities that reflect a global approach to complex and shared health needs.
 
The McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science was well represented as one of four schools that actively organized and supported NU Global Health Week 2011. Matthew Glucksberg, professor of biomedical engineering at McCormick, discussed today's role of biomedical engineering and the significance of engineering programs in global health: “I don’t think I have to explain to anyone here how critical engineering is to medicine, … and engineering medical devices for the developing world,” he said. Glucksberg also led a live videoconference from Cape Town, South Africa, where David Kelso, professor of biomedical engineering and director of the Center for Innovation in Global Health Technologies (CIGHT) at McCormick, and three Northwestern engineering students are currently working on several medical device projects. Biomedical engineering students Eric Liu, Kelly Sheldon, and Aneesha Suresh are part of the Global Health Technologies program at the University of Cape Town, where, as Glucksberg explained, “we train students in an immersive environment.”
 
NU Global Health Week 2011 is the first summit of its kind at the university and is expected to provide the impetus for productive collaborations between Northwestern and leading institutions worldwide.
 
For more information visit Northwestern’s Global Health portal.