Many of the partners and several DGHI faculty members take a break from their meetings for a group photo in front of Duke Chapel.
Published October 11, 2016 under Research News
Last week, the Duke Global Health Institute (DGHI) convened 25 of its international collaborators for a partnership conference held in conjunction with our 10th anniversary symposium.
The purpose of gathering was to exchange information and experiences on education, research and capacity building in global health; reflect on and strengthen our partnerships; and identify new avenues for collaboration. These visitors—all a part of our priority partnership network—came from China, Haiti, India, Kenya, Nepal, Peru, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tanzania and Uganda.
“Sarah Cao, DGHI’s assistant director for international operations, created an interactive, fast paced and stimulating meeting,” said DGHI deputy director Randy Kramer. “The meeting was a great opportunity for our partners to get to know each other and to interact with a wide array of Duke faculty and staff.”
Conference activities included sessions presented by partners and DGHI faculty on our research priority areas, as well as topical sessions such as distance learning technology, challenges in research administration and competing for research funding.
Ugandan partner Charles Ibingira presented with DGHI professor
Shenglan Tang (seated) on bringing ideas to implementation through research funding.
Research working groups were convened to dive deeper into specific health areas such as non-communicable diseases, trauma/injury care and global mental health.
Tazeen Jafar (bottom right), a DGHI professor based at Duke-NUS,
and DGHI assistant professor Jerry Bloomfield (to the left of Jafar) led the
non-communicable disease working group session.
Nepali partner Suraj Koirala (center) led the global mental health
working group session with DGHI assistant professor Eve Puffer (next to Koirala).
Partners engaged in conversations exploring a range of ideas—from improving bi-directional learning at partner sites to facilitating ongoing communication across the partner network to integrating the humanities into our global health work.
“By the end of the conference, the participants had generated a list of potential new research collaborations,” said Kramer. “It was immensely gratifying to witness our partners’ enthusiasm for collaboration and to learn from their rich experiences as global health leaders.”
“Dr. Merson said we should take five ideas home; we will take home multiples of five,” said Champica Bodinayake, head of the department of medicine at the University of Ruhuna in Galle, Sri Lanka.
Partners also attended a few events designed to help them get to know each other and DGHI faculty, staff and students.
Chinese partners Di Dong (left) and Dan Hu (center)
chat with DGHI assistant professor Joy Noel Baumgartner.
And last Monday, several Peruvian partners and DGHI faculty members and students presented at a symposium on health and environmental research partnerships and progress in the Peruvian Amazon. Led by global environmental health professor William Pan, the symposium was organized by the Duke Center for Latin American and Caribbean Studies in collaboration with DGHI and the Nicholas School of the Environment.
View more photos from the partnership conference.
Learn more about DGHI’s international research partnerships.
