Welcome to the Website of Global Health & International Partnerships

Canadian Medical Teams Helping out in Haiti

Team Broken Earth is a non-profit group of Canadian healthcare professionals providing medical assistance to Haiti's earthquake victims.  In January of 2013 Team Broken Earth Calgary, led by Dr. Paul Duffy, an orthopaedic trauma surgeon at Foothills Medical Centre, spent a week at Bernard Mevs Hospital Project Medishare in Port-au-Prince, where they took over the day-to-day running of the trauma service, including providing emergency patient care and orthopaedic surgery.  A team of 22 surgeons, physicians and nurses from Foothills Medical Centre made up Team Broken Earth Calgary.   Three medical residents (Spencer McLean, Paul Cantle, and Prism Schneider) received funding from the Faculty of Medicine's Haiti Disaster Relief account to participate in this important venture.  See Spencer McLean's report attached; Paul Cantle's report attached, Prism Schneider's report attached, and click here for more photos.  For more information on the Broken Earth project check their website:  www.brokenearth.ca.  Also, check out the Globe and Mail Doctor's Diary:  http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/life-and-death-in-haiti-a-doctors-diary/article8711178/

Dr. D. Grant Gall Award in Global Health - 2013

Undergraduate students in the Faculties of Medicine and/or Veterinary Medicine are invited to apply for funding.  Deadline for applications is March 15, 2013 for projects to be undertaken between April 1, 2013 and March 31, 2014.  For details and application forms, see further details under the Funding tab (above).   

Visiting Delegation from University of Gondar, Ethiopia

The office of Global Health & International Partnerships hosted visitors from the University of Gondar, Ethiopia January 21-25, 2013.  Drs. Desalenge Mengesha Degefaw (Vice President for Academic Research and Community Services) and Atekelt Alemayehu Abeyehu (Dean of Science), were here to begin negotiations for joint research collaborations as well as student exchanges across various faculties at the University of Calgary.  Their busy itinerary included fruitful visits with faculty members and students from the Faculties of Medicine, Veterinary Medicine, Engineering, Education, and Science.  Drs. Lash Gedamu and Guido van Marle served as the local hosts.  During the visit a Memorandum of Understanding was signed by the Dean of Medicine at the University of Calgary and the Vice President from the University of Gondar, that opens the door to future collaboration and exchanges.  Thanks to the many faculty members and staff who found time in their already busy schedules to meet with our visitors.                                

Visiting delegation from EthiopiaAttending the signing ceremony:  (seated) Jennifer Hatfield, Desalegne Degefaw, Jon Meddings, (standing)  Janaka Ruwanapura, Lash Gedamu, Atekelt Abeyehu, Guido van Marle. 

Photo cedit: Stefana Pancic.                            

Opening Ceremony for Joint Liver Institute

The Faculty of Medicine welcomed a visiting delegation, from Capital Medical University and YouAn Hospital, Beijing, on Monday, December 10, 2012.  The main purpose of the visit was a ceremony to unveil a plaque celebrating the official opening of a Joint Liver Institute between Capital Medical University, YouAn Hospital and the University of Calgary.  Delegation members were:  Li, Ning, President of YouAn Hospital, Zhang, Yonghong, Director of Research at YouAn Hospital, and Qang, Jane, Director, Office of International Cooperation at Capital Medical University.  While here they had meetings with Benedikt Hallgrimsson, Deputy Provost, Jon Meddings, Dean of Medicine, and a lunch with graduate students from Capital Medical University and their supervisors.  The visit was coordinated by the Office of Global Health & International Partnerships. 

Greetings from Jon Meddings, Dean of Medicine

Attending the ceremony were (group photo, left to right):

Zhang Yonghong , Jennifer Hatfield, Stefan Urbanski, Carla Coffin, Jane Wang, Lu Zhao Feng, Jon Meddings, Sam Lee, Kelly Burak, Steven Martin, Hude Quan, Hallgrimur Benedkitsson, Ray Turner

For more information on the Joint Liver Institute see the story: http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/jointliverinstitute 

The Johnson Award for Dr. Janice Heard and R. Bruce McFarlane

On November 14th the Queen's University Johnson Awards ceremony was held in Calgary.  Bruce and Janice were joint recipients of this award.  Dr. Janice Heard is a Pediatrician, and the Executive Director of Alumni Affairs of the University of Calgary's Faculty of Medicine.  Bruce has worked with several successful junior oil & gas companies.  They are both alumni of Queen's University and between them they have many professional accomplishments.  Bruce and Janice have been extremely active in both the Queen's community (establishing several bursaries supporting students) and in the Calgary community through their work with the United Way, Salvation Army, Strathcona Tweedsmuir School, Foundation for Energy Education & Research in Calgary, CUPS and the Children's Cottage Society.  Many wonderful attributes and achievements were enumerated at the ceremony but the themes focussed on contributions to Queen's and community.  Both Bruce and Janice provided inspirational responses.  Janice included the Lao opportunities with brief comment on the Meuang Kuang School, and Bruce commented that "our obligations are proportional to our blessings."   Congratulations from all your colleagues at the University of Calgary. 

The Johnson Award pays tribute to lifelong contributors to Queen's University, the Alumni Association, and the Calgary community.  It is named after Ernie and Edna Johnson, whose generosity and dedication to their alma mater and community span more than 30 years.  The Johnson Award will proudly carry Ernie and Edna's name and spirit for future generations of remarkable Queen's alumni in Calgary.   http://www.queensu.ca/alumni/networking/branches/canada/calgary/johnson.html 

Humanitarian Award for Dr. Jean-Francois Lemay

The Department of Paediatrics at the Alberta Children's Hospital recently bestowed the Humanitarian Award to Dr. Lemay for his work in Haiti.  In presenting the award, Dr. Jim Kellner (Department Head) stated that Dr. Lemay has had a significant leadership role working with a Canadian coalition, initiated by the Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada (AFMC), in collaboration with other medical groups, and has also been involved on projects to rebuild medical programs in Haiti (2010-present) since the earthquake in 2010 killed a significant portion of faculty and students in Port-au-Prince.  His group has been successful in completing projects which allowed the faculties of medicine to resume teaching.  In addition they have been successful in securing funds for ongoing projects such as establishing visiting preceptors who are "teaching the teachers" to ensure and enhance the quality of teaching being provided to medical students.   (For more information on this project, click on the Partnerships Tab and the Haiti Medical Schools sidebar.)

 Description of the Award:

• any individual who demonstrates devotion to the promotion of human wellbing by woking to improve the lives of others
• Generally would personify such qualities as understanding, empathy, compassion, and dedication to others who others look up to
• Dedicated to the wellbeing of individuals (patients, their families or colleagues), populations or communities
• May include (but is not limited to) activities such as:  medical practice, advocacy, teaching, creation of novel programs or services, contribution to volunteer organizations
• Scope of activities may be local, provincial, national, or international
• Contributions may be a single significant recognizable achievement, or consistent behavior/activity that makes a difference in the lives of others

Congratulations to Dr. Jean-Francois Lemay on receipt of this well-deserved award. 

Definition of Global Health:

"an area for study, research and practice that places a priority on improving health and achieving equity in health for all people worldwide.  Global health emphasizes trans-national health issues, determinants, and solutions; involves many disciplines within and beyond the health sciences and promotes inter-disciplinary collaboration; and is a synthesis of population-based prevention with individual-level clinical care."  (Koplan, et al., 2009, p.1995.)

Our Vision:

"Create a socially responsible internationalization and global health program to ensure that the activities of the Faculty have a positive net impact on international development while also enhancing our international profile and benefiting our students and faculty.”  (Faculty of Medicine Strategic Plan for Global Health, May 2009)  

Message from the Associate Dean, Global Health & International Partnerships:

It is a great pleasure to be launching our new Global Health and International Partnerships Program (formerly International Health).  Our new name reflects our new vision and priorities.  I invite all faculty members, staff and students to let us know what you are doing in the areas of Research, Education and Service on the global stage.  This website will grow over time to communicate the many activities of our members and partners, and to let you know about opportunities to participate in Global Health initiatives.  I welcome your participation and look forward to your contributions.

Jennifer Hatfield, PhD

To read more about the focus of the new program, click here: 

http://medicine.ucalgary.ca/onthemove/jennifer_hatfield

To find out more about why global health IS local health, click here.  

News:

Profile of Medical Resident's Elective Experience in Peru

- Stephen Vaughan click here

Elective time in Peru

- Christina Disipio - click here - Elective time in Rwanda

IMPORTANT FUNDRAISING EVENT: 

"Rich Man, Poor Man" Dinner & Silent Auction, Saturday, October 26, 2013 

The Global and Public Health Interest Group invites you to be a part of the fifth annual Rich Man Poor Man dinner 2013!  This year the dinner will be held on October 26, 2013 at the MacEwan Hall Ballroom on main campus at the UofC.  Look forward to ticket sales in August 2013!  Each year we raise money through this dinner to support an organization that promotes awareness of the disparities betwen rich and poor, either locally or globally, and the Student Run Clinic at UofC.  The organization is picked through an application process, in which we strive to be transparent in our selection of an organization that we will support.  We encourage any and all orgnaizations and proejcts to apply for sponsorship.  Applications will be due May 24, 2013.  We hope to see you on October 26th and thank you for your continued support.  Submitted by GPHIG Executive, Amanda Comeau and Carmen Binding, VPs RMRM 2013. 

Upcoming Conferences/Seminars: 

May 1-3, 2013:  16th Annual Health Reearch Methods 2013: Integrating Evidence into Real World Settings.  Office of Continuing Medical Education & Professional Development and Alberta Innovates Health Solutions.  Register on-line:  https://cmeregistration.ucalgary.ca. 

May 4-7, 2013:  Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) Meeting, Washington DC.  Symposium "Developing Faculty Competencies in Global Health" on May 4.  "Major Global Diseases of Childhood: Training for Sustainable Clinical Care on May 5.   www.pas-meeting.org/2013DC/default.asp

May 8, 2013:  "Bulding a Transformative Approach to Grand Challenges in Global Health"  Keynote Address:  Dr. Peter Singer, CEO, Grand Challenges, Canada.  Folowed by presentations and dialogue with Grand Challenges Canada Awardees.  1.00 to 3.00 p.m., Health Sciences Centre, room G500.  Co-sponsored by:  Faculty of Medicine, Veterinary Medicine and Institute for Public Health. 

May 8-19, 2013:  The 2013 Canadian Disaster and Humanitarian Response Training Program.  Toronto.  A 12-day intensive course that will prepare you for work in global health, development, international affairs, leadership, administration, management of people, organizations and work abroad.  More information:  fiona@humanitariantraininginitiative.org

June 3-7, 2013:  "Knowledge Translation for Global Health Summer Institute" hosted by Queen's University, Global Development Studies Department in partnership with the Canadian Coalition for Global Health Research, Kingston, Ontario.  Knowledge translation for global health is the science and art of bridging the gap between what we know about global health and social problems, and what is being done to improve or solve them.  Intended audience: researchers, practitioners, and graduate or professional-level university students with an interest in global health issues and who would like to build knowledge and skills in research and knowledge translation.  CME credits will be granted to participants who have continuing medical education requirements.  More information:  http://wwwqueensu.ca/cds.gds.html  Registrations close:  May 1, 2013. 

October 27-29, 2013:  "Global Health in 2013: Are we Having an Impact?"  20th Caandian Conference on Global Health.  Westin Hotel, Ottawa.  Deadline for abstracts April 30, 2013.  More information:  www.csih.org

Other News:

Canadians Making a Difference:  Canada has potential for even greater contribution to Global Health, according to a new report by the Canadian Academic of Health Sciences.  A year-long evidence-based assessment conducted by a Canadian Academy of Health Sciences-apponted expert panel, released at the 2011 Global Health Conference, outlines how Canada can make an even greater contribution to global health.  The report outlines 5 key roles:  Aboriginal Health Research, Population and Public Health, Primary Care, Smart Partnerships, and Innovation.  Full report and executive summary from the CAHS website (www.cahs-acss.ca) plus video with interview clips, facts and figures to highlight the key messages of the report. 

MedJet:  UofC's Alumni Association has a new partnership with MedjetAssist.  MedJet is a world leader in medical evacuation.  They offer preferred rates to our faculty, staff and students.   As a Medjet member if you become hospitalized 242 kms or more from home, virtually anywhere in the world, Medjet will arrange medical transfer to the hosital of your choice.  For more information check  www.ucalgary.ca/alumni/benefits/medjetassist

What we do:

Click here to find out more.