Contact: Jane Kelly
434-243-0124
UVA's Center for Global Health Announces 2008 Scholars
View a complete list of the CGH Scholars here.
Charlottesville, Va., March 25, 2008 - Third year biology major Hugh Lyford has a busy summer ahead of him. While many of his classmates will be enjoying some time off, Hugh will be taking charter flights to several far-flung villages in rural Alaska to asses the state's telemedicine system. "I grew up in Alaska and have experienced the disparities between the Eskimo population and the rest of the Alaska population on a daily basis."
Lyford plans to become a doctor and work outside of the United States with underserved populations. "I see this trip as an opportunity to learn more about what it means to work outside of the US with disadvantaged citizens." UVa's Center for Global Health is helping make that dream a reality.
Lyford is a member of the 2008 class of Center for Global Health (CGH) Scholars.
This year's pool of applicants drew students from nearly every school across Grounds. It includes students from such disciplines as nursing, bioethics, religious studies, studies in women and gender, foreign affairs, medicine, and anthropology.
Applications were submitted by both individual students and groups of students working together, with 33 scholars chosen for scholarhips. For individual projects, each of the awardees will receive up to $3000 and most of the UVa faculty mentors supporting each project will each receive $500. Each group project was awarded $3000, which can be used as leverage in continued fundraising efforts. These projects will take students to places such as rural Alaska, China, Ethiopia and India.
The review panel had a difficult time choosing this year's Center for Global Health (CGH) scholars. "This year we had a real problem with our applications, a terrific problem-there were too many excellent proposals" says Assistant Professor of Medicine, Rebecca Dillingham. "It was truly inspiring to see the innovative ways our students and faculty worked together to develop projects that explore global health challenges. I only wish we had the resources to fund all of the qualified applicants."
Six of the scholar awards were given jointly with the Center for Undergraduate Excellence (CUE). In a new endeavor, the Center also partnered with the Office of African American Affairs (OAAA) to create two additional scholar awards. OAAA Dean Maurice Apprey is pleased about this new pairing. "We are delighted that our Office of African American Affairs is collaborating with the Center for Global Health to co-sponsor two new CGH-OAAA Scholar Awards this year, as this provides unique opportunities and stellar role models for our students and collaborators."
In addition, the Pfizer Initiative in International Health (PIIH), which is directed by Michael Scheld, MD, the Bayer-Gerald L. Mandell Professor of Infectious Diseases, has announced its awards for this year. PIIH has awarded funds for two fellowships, one in South Africa and the other in Uganda. It has also joined with CGH in supporting five individual projects as well as a group enterprise.
The major purpose of PIIH is to foster and enhance bidirectional research training for treating infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. The Pfizer Initiative also builds on the research and administrative infrastructure of the Center for Global Health.
The Center for Global Health began making the CGH Scholar Awards available in 2001 to further its goal of engaging UVa faculty, students, and international partners in efforts to address health disparities.
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