The Duke Global Health Institute has tabbed Emily Smith, Ph.D., an assistant professor of global health and emergency medicine, to coordinate the institute’s growing partnrships with the University of Global Health Equity (UGHE) and its founding organization, Partners in Health (PIH), in Rwanda.
Smith, an epidemiologist whose research focuses on children’s health, healthcare economics and capacity building in low-resource settings, will work to advance cooperative research and training activities with UGHE, which was launched in 2015 by PIH, the global health organization co-founded by Duke alumnus Paul Farmer, M.D., Ph.D. Farmer served as chancellor of the Rwandan university, which offers clinical training to students from across East Africa, until his death in February 2022.
DGHI signed a memorandum of understanding with UGHE in June 2023 to expand collaborative research and education initiatives with the university and PIH in areas of mutual interest, including implementation science, mental health, the health impacts of climate change and global surgery.
“Dr. Smith will bring energy and passion to growing our partnerships with PIH and UGHE and deepening our long-standing commitment to advancing health across East Africa,” says Chris Beyrer, M.D., DGHI’s director. “Her research and interests are rooted in the same principles of global health equity that defined Paul Farmer’s career, and her efforts will help us continue to uphold Paul’s legacy and forge new ties with the university he helped create.”
“Solidarity was one of the first core themes I learned from Dr. Paul Farmer and continues to be an anchor in my own work now,” says Smith, who dedicated her 2023 book, The Science of the Good Samaritan: Thinking Bigger about Loving our Neighbors, to Farmer’s influence on her career. “I’m excited to live those principles through this role by working in solidarity with colleagues at DGHI and UGHE to build on existing partnerships and launch new ones.”
DGHI’s collaborations with UGHE began in 2018 with the launch of a global surgery course, designed and co-taught by DGHI professor Henry Rice. M.D., that is jointly offered to students at Duke and UGHE. Rice says the course reflects values central to Farmer’s approach, including a firm commitment to equity, diversity, cross-cultural dialogue, and understanding of local contexts and communities.
In recent years, DGHI has worked to forge ties between UGHE and its longstanding collaborators in other East African countries, including Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, with a goal to spark multi-national interdisciplinary research on cross-cutting issues such as climate change and access to mental health care.
“Dr. Smith is well-positioned to help nurture and grow these partnerships, as her whole career is based on similar values and accomplishments in advancement of health,” says Rice.
