Awareness and Inspiration Resonate Campuswide with Global Health Week

By Kayla Falk

From the Main Quad to the Fuqua School of Business, the energy of this year’s Global Health Week reverberated across Duke University. Inspiring engagement and activism at Duke for the sixth year in a row, the annual student-led Global Health Week was a success.

More than 20 student groups across campus engaged the Duke community in a variety of activities and presentations to explore some of today’s most prominent health concerns and present some innovative solutions.

This year’s activities included an alumni panel, the launch of a new global health entrepreneurship initiative, information sessions on the new global health major and minor, medical screenings, a photo contest and Zumba on the quad. The daily activities highlighted a theme pertinent to global health, from social justice and advocacy to innovation and sustainability.

“Global Health Week was a success,” said Sanjana Marpadga, a lead student organizer. “Over the past six years, our vision, resources, and support for efforts have grown because of student drive for social change.”

Marpadga said this year’s team of organizers was focused on the power of student action -- what they are doing and can do to inspire innovative solutions for global health. She was most impressed by the level of collaboration between the various student groups. The “Know Your Status” student organization helped debunk myths and stigma associated with HIV/AIDS, while offering free HIV testing to students on the BC Plaza.

The most popular event was the Global Health Alumni Panel, “Translating Passion Into Impact,” which featured four young alumni who spoke to more than 80 students about their experiences in global health and how they carried their passion into their careers. The panelists shared information about their job trajectories and advice for the future.

“We ran out of chairs [at the alumni event],” said Marpadga, “It was an opportunity for students to hear the stories of young, impactful, and inspiring people with different paths and focuses but each with their own unique perspective on innovation in global health.”

This year was a big year of firsts, including the involvement of Student Wellness, library exhibits, the forum on investment responsibility, a focus on innovation, and the screening of a student-produced documentary. The events emphasized the social-science aspects of global health by going beyond the context of biology and biomedicine.

“In my opinion, [this year] was the best yet,” said Katie Guidera, another lead student organizer. “Each year, we pull together more organizations on and around campus and are able to build upon our successes of the year before. We had an incredible turnout of students, faculty, and staff who were so engaged in the interactive opportunities put together by student organizations.”

The excitement continued with the launch of the Social Entrepreneurship Accelerator at Duke (SEAD), a new interdisciplinary program funded by USAID that will provide knowledge, systems, and networks for social entrepreneurs in global health.

Increased awareness and inspiration resonated on campus as the sixth successful Global Health Week came to a close.