And the Best Global Health Photos and Posters Are …

Man and Mobile Phone

Master of Science in Global Health student Alexandra Whitcomb won this year's photo contest with “Man and Mobile Phone,” taken in Bungoma County, Kenya.

Published November 8, 2016 under Education News

Each year, the Duke Global Health Institute (DGHI) sponsors a student fieldwork photo contest in conjunction with the Global Health Showcase event. This year, we added another competition: a research poster contest. Contest winners were announced at the Showcase event last Thursday.

Photo Contest Winners

This year, 18 Duke undergraduate and graduate students submitted nearly 75 photos to the seventh annual student fieldwork photo contest. Taken in all corners of the globe, the images reflect students’ work in areas such as rapid diagnostic testing for malaria, prenatal care and mobile technology for family planning. (View all of the entries here.)

The photos were judged by a five-member panel, including an undergraduate global health student, a graduate global health student, a DGHI faculty member, a DGHI staff member, and a member of the Duke Photography team. In addition to the judged competition, DGHI also held a People’s Choice Award contest on Facebook.

Prints of the winning images will hang in the hallways of Trent Hall as part of the Institute’s permanent photo collection.

The winners are as follows:

First Place

Alex Whitcomb - Man and Mobile Phone

“Man and Mobile Phone,” taken by Master of Science in Global Health student Alexandra Whitcomb, in Bungoma County, Kenya. 

Caption: A new father uses his mobile phone to call Nivi, a digital platform that empowers men and women to access family planning information over the phone, choose the method that is right for them, and get a referral to a nearby healthcare facility.


Second Place

Window to the Future

“A Window to the Future,” taken by junior Mathama Bility, public policy studies major and global health minor, in El Naranjo, Honduras. 

Caption: This girl was one of the daughters of a participant in our research study on prenatal health in the Cangrejal Valley in rural Honduras. The data collected from her mother and other women helped to inform workshops on maternal health and family planning, which we presented to teenage girls not much older than the girl featured in this image. Women and girls remain very marginalized in these communities, yet increased education and opportunities bring hope for the next generation.

Third Place

Carrying Rice

“Carrying Rice,” taken by Lydia Greene, a third-year PhD student in the Ecology Program at Duke, in Mandena, Madagascar.

Caption: A young girl carries rice in a bucket on her head across the village. Rice is a hugely important food staple in Madagascar and is eaten with almost every meal. The SAVA region has incredibly fertile soil for rice, and good years can produce three distinct rice crops. Nevertheless, climate change, soil erosion, and deforestation all threaten the longevity of this agricultural system.

People’s Choice Award

Jesus and Ernesto

“Jesus and Ernesto,” taken by Liane Emerson, a junior biology and global health major, in Loreto, Peru. 

Caption: Jesus was one of the children in a household in which we were conducting our insecticide-treated bed net study. At three years old, he had already gotten malaria twice.


Poster Contest Winners

Four DGHI post-doctoral scholars—Bonnie Kaiser, Joao Vissoci, Caren Weinhouse and Amy Finnegan—served as poster judges. Awards were based on several criteria:

  • Whether the research aims were presented clearly
  • Whether they described the research methods
  • How they described the scope of their project and reached a logical conclusion
  • Visual clarity, appeal and layout

The winners are as follows:

Undergraduate Posters

  1. First place – “SRT Guatemala: Indoor Air Pollution,” by Emma Heneine, Casey MacDermod, Maria Perez and Noor Tasnim
  2. Second place – “Common Stressors and Effects among Haitian Women,” by Sarah Beaverson, Caroline Keefe, Natali Rey and Haley Talbot

Graduate Posters

  1. First place – “Stakeholder Perspectives on Patient Experience with Transitional Care after an Acute Neurological Event in Argentina,” by Michelle Roberts 
  2. Second place – “Point of Care Tampon Colposcope: Increasing Access to Cervical Cancer Screening for Resource-Limited Settings,” by Denali Dahl

Bass Connections Posters

  1. First place – “Global Value Chain Analysis of the POCkeT Colposcope,” by Manish Nair  
  2. Second place – “The Effects of Cooking Practices on Human and Environmental Health in Rural Madagascar,” by Tommy Klug, Laura Guidera, Anna-Karin Hess, Lydia Greene, Melissa Manus and Brittany Carson

Congratulations to our contest winners!

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