MORGANTOWN, W.Va. –The West Virginia University Global Health Program is partnering with theWVU Department of Community Medicine’s Public Health Program to sponsor Global Health Week this year. The lectures will feature a speaker every day at noon starting on Monday, Nov. 14 through Friday, Nov. 18 in the WVU Health Sciences Learning Center.
“The goal for Global Health Week is to promote awareness of global health issues among the Health Sciences students, faculty and staff as well as the community at large,” Melanie Fisher, M.D., director of the Global Health Program, said. “It is important for WVU to be a leader in fostering global health interest and knowledge, because our state is an integral part of the global community. Our health and future in West Virginia is linked to the health of the world.”
The featured speakers are:
• Douglas Shaffer, M.D., who will discuss “A Decade of Pictures from Kenya: Focusing Upon HIV,” on Monday in the Okey Patteson Auditorium. He is the director of the Kenya Medical Research Institute/Walter Reed Project HIV Program.
• Elizabeth Suda, who will be speaking about “Buying Back the Bombs Film: A Bracelet with a Story of War and Peace,” on Tuesday in room 1909 in the Learning Center. She will lead the lecture by speaking about Project PeaceBomb, an initiative that uses bracelets made from Vietnam War bombs to tell a story about the Secret War in Laos (1964-1973).
• Patrick Perri, M.D., who will discuss “Primary Care Outside the Box: Healthcare and Health for the Homeless,” on Wednesday in room 1909 in the Learning Center. Dr. Perri serves as a medical director of a new program in homeless and urban-poverty medicine based at Allegheny General Hospital. He also volunteers as a street clinician with Operation Safety Net, an acclaimed outreach-based homeless health care organization.
• Student and resident representatives from each Health Sciences Center school, who will discuss “Cultural Intelligence in Healthcare: Student and Resident Panel Perspectives,” on Thursday in the Fukushima Auditorium. The panel will discuss viewpoints on improving healthcare to patients from diverse cultures.
• John Sutter, M.D., who will be speaking about “Team Rubicon and Opportunities to Impact Global Health,” on Friday in room 1909 in the Learning Center. Dr. Sutter volunteers as the Chief Medical Officer of Team Rubicon, which deploys small, quick, effective and self-sustaining teams of medical professionals and U.S. veterans to areas of disaster and humanitarian crises, both domestically and internationally.
For more information on the Global Health Program, visit www.hsc.wvu.edu/som/tropmed.
