Duke has collaborated with Mahidol University on research topics like medical tourism.
Published June 12, 2012, last updated on February 19, 2013 under Education News
Thirty health professionals, students, policy makers and practitioners across Southeast Asia will have the opportunity to enhance their careers in a new global health short course being offered this summer at Mahidol University (MU) – a premiere university in Thailand that has a longstanding history of public health training and programs.
Recognizing that global health requires a global and collaborative approach, the innovative two-week short course in Bangkok will offer participants an intensive study of health disparities, key challenges and solutions in the 21st century. Program participants will gain a deeper understanding of the complexities of global health and explore strategies for improving health outcomes.
The short course is co-led by David Boyd, faculty director of international education at DGHI and associate professor of the practice of global health at Duke, and Araya Phonghanyudh, deputy dean for academic affairs at Mahidol University.
Duke faculty members teaching in the short course are David Boyd (DGHI), Larry Helfer (Law), Joanna (Asia) Maselko (Psychiatry), Manoj Mohanan (Public Policy) and Cecilia Oh (DGHI adjunct based in Thailand). Mahidol faculty include Kanittha Chamroonsawasdi, Suphot Denduang, Saranath Lawpoolsri, Nonglak Pancharuniti and Lawan Thanadsillapakul.
“I am excited that DGHI and Mahidol University have partnered to create this Short Course on Global Health. Mahidol is a leader in public health in Thailand and draws students from all over the world,” said Boyd. “Our strengths combined with Mahidol’s allows us to create an intensive short course that will provide training in global health to meet the needs of both graduate students and professionals in Thailand and other countries in the ASEAN community. I am particularly pleased that our Duke faculty will be drawn from units all over the university: global health, medicine, public policy and law.”
The curriculum consists of five courses: an overview of global health, epidemiological approaches to global health challenges, comparative health care systems and financing, health promotion and behavior change, and global health law, policy and ethics.
Participants will complete an independent study and final project that addresses a current global health issue of their choice. Students will explore why that issue is important in the field of global health and will recommend priority actions and a research agenda.
Students participating in the short course come from a diverse set of backgrounds and levels of experience. They range from public health and medical students to academic leaders, public health professionals and policy makers in the Southeast Asian community.
The Duke-MU program mirrors the global health diploma program already being offered at Peking University in Beijing, China.
The formal partnership comes at a time when DGHI is working to foster deeper cross-campus collaborations in Thailand and Vietnam. Faculty members at Duke and Mahidol are already working together on a variety of projects in areas such as intellectual property, medical tourism and tobacco control.
