The University of California today launched a new Global Health Institute with nearly $4 million in start-up funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The institute will focus the combined expertise of the university鈥檚 10 campuses on solving increasingly complex global health problems and meeting the health-care needs of the world鈥檚 most vulnerable populations.
The institute will include three centers of expertise. Two of the centers will be co-directed by faculty members at the University of California, Davis: one will address the health issues of migrating people, and the other will concentrate on the effects of nutrition, water, animals and the environment on human health.
The new institute was unveiled today during a conference at 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 San Francisco that highlighted the $75 billion impact of global health on the California economy. The global health sector, which includes companies that specialize in enterprises ranging from biopharmaceuticals to agriculture and clean energy, also supports 350,000 high-quality jobs in California and provides $19.7 billion in wages and salaries, according to a recent 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 study of the effects of global health on the California economy. The study is available online at .
鈥淚 am proud that California is such a leader in the emerging academic discipline of global health,鈥 Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger wrote in the foreword for the economic impact report. 鈥淭he formation of the University of California multi-campus Global Health Institute and the efforts undertaken by other universities, nonprofit organizations and the business sector directly impact the health of California and the world.鈥
The institute will begin by offering a one-year master鈥檚 degree, enrolling its first students in fall 2011. Eventually, it also will offer two-year master鈥檚 and doctoral degree programs, granted by the 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 campuses at which the students conduct their work. Under the institute鈥檚 umbrella, centers of expertise at the individual campuses will spearhead development of the graduate degree programs and design field projects for students at partnership sites throughout the world.
鈥溞掳拿帕喜誓谀恍畔 Davis is well-positioned to play a leadership role in creating solutions to the world鈥檚 global health challenges,鈥 said Claire Pomeroy, 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis vice chancellor for human health sciences and dean of the School of Medicine. 鈥淲e transform health through our tradition of working together collaboratively across multiple disciplines on our campus, including human health, veterinary medicine, agriculture and environmental sciences, and more. Our vision of health recognizes the interconnectedness of people, animals and the environment and aims to identify and address the fundamental causes of poor health to improve the well-being of all.鈥
新澳门六合彩内幕信息 San Francisco's Global Health Sciences is administering the $3.99 million two-year grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to plan the institute, which is intended to become self-supporting through gifts, grants and revenue from enrollment fees.
Centers of expertise
The new institute will include three multi-campus, multi-disciplinary centers of expertise: Migration and Health; One Health: Water, Animals, Food and Society; and Women鈥檚 Health and Empowerment. The first two centers will be co-directed by faculty members in 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis鈥 School of Medicine and School of Veterinary Medicine, respectively. The third center will be led by faculty members at 新澳门六合彩内幕信息SF and 新澳门六合彩内幕信息LA.
鈥淲ith experience in wildlife health issues and diseases that spread from animals to people, our veterinary faculty will make a significant contribution to the development of practical solutions to complex health problems involving people, animals, and environmental quality,鈥 said Bennie Osburn, dean of the 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. 鈥淲orking in this multi-campus effort will also help us provide unique opportunities for education and training in holistic health principles and practice.鈥
The centers were chosen using a competitive application process that involved proposals from 12 teams of faculty across the 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 system. During the 2009-2010 academic year, center leaders will work with the institute鈥檚 administrative core, based at 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 San Francisco, to plan education, research and partnership programs and intervention activities.
Migration and Health center
The Migration and Health center will be led by Marc Schenker, a professor in 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis School of Medicine鈥檚 Department of Public Health Sciences, in collaboration with Steffanie Strathdee, associate dean of Global Health Sciences at 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 San Diego. The other eight 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 campuses also will participate in this center.
鈥淭oday we live in a vast global community, linked not only by trade and travel, but also by the people who are permanently relocating from their countries of birth,鈥 Schenker said. 鈥淭hey bring with them a rich mix of talents and cultural diversity but all too often they endure higher rates of occupational injuries and illnesses, and yet have less access to health care.鈥
Some of the problems that are especially of interest for researchers studying the health problems of migrating people include domestic violence; alcohol, tobacco and substance abuse; type two diabetes and other nutrition-related diseases; occupational health and safety; reproductive health; and chronic disorders such as heart and lung disease.
Schenker noted that the new center will work closely with the new Migration and Health Research Center located at 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis and 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Berkeley, which was established in September to conduct and sponsor research related to acute and chronic illnesses and injuries among migrating people in California and around the world.
One Health: Water, Animals, Food and Society center
The One Health: Water, Animals, Food and Society center will be led by Patricia Conrad, a professor in the 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, in collaboration with Anil Deolalikar, an economics professor and associate dean of the 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Riverside College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences. Also participating in this center will be the Berkeley, Irvine, 新澳门六合彩内幕信息LA, San Diego, 新澳门六合彩内幕信息SF, Santa Barbara and Santa Cruz campuses.
鈥淚t is becoming very clear that we in the United States both receive and contribute to global health problems,鈥 Conrad said. 鈥淭his year we saw how new diseases like H1N1 influenza, (鈥渟wine flu鈥), are only a short flight away from us in California and how, within days, they can spread worldwide. We also are seeing how financial decisions made in the United States can profoundly impact the entire world鈥檚 economy, just as our carbon use can alter the world鈥檚 climate.
鈥淥ur students see this clearly, and they want the practical skills, relevant knowledge and opportunities to help solve the resulting health problems that impact vulnerable people in California and globally,鈥 she said. 鈥淣ow is the best time for the University of California to help prepare students for those challenges.鈥
Conrad noted that the new One Health center will capitalize on the success of a new 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis-based international effort, named PREDICT, which is aimed at detecting and controlling diseases that move between wildlife and people. That global early warning system was established in October with a $75 million grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development to help the world prevent and prepare for outbreaks of infectious diseases like the H1N1 flu, avian flu, SARS and Ebola.
About 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis
For 100 years, 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis has engaged in teaching, research and public service that matter to California and transform the world. Located close to the state capital, 新澳门六合彩内幕信息 Davis has 31,000 students, an annual research budget that exceeds $500 million, a comprehensive health system and 13 specialized research centers. The university offers interdisciplinary graduate study and more than 100 undergraduate majors in four colleges 鈥 Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Biological Sciences, Engineering, and Letters and Science 鈥 and advanced degrees from six professional schools 鈥 Education, Law, Management, Medicine, Veterinary Medicine and the Betty Irene Moore School of Nursing.
Media Resources
Pat Bailey, Research news (emphasis: agricultural and nutritional sciences, and veterinary medicine), 530-219-9640, pjbailey@ucdavis.edu
Marc Schenker, Medicine: Department of Public Health Sciences, 530-752-5676, mbschenker@ucdavis.edu
Patricia Conrad, Veterinary Medicine, paconrad@ucdavis.edu