School of Public Health faculty and students have actively engaged in research, service and education activities aimed at improving health across the globe and partnering with communities to accomplish these goals since the school's launch in 2007. While the impact of their work has been felt around the world, in countries as diverse as Cuba, Bangladesh, Peru and Tanzania, awareness of these global health activities – and coordination across the UMD campus – will be elevated through a new Global Health Initiative, announced July 2018 by Dean Boris Lushniak. Research Professor Dina L.G. Borzekowski, Ed.D., is serving as the interim director. You may contact her with questions.  

Read more about the launch of the Global Health Initiative.

Also, you may subscribe to our global health listserv by emailing Dr. Elisabeth Maring, director of global health engagement.

Global Health Initiative

Global Public Health Scholars

The Global Public Health (GPH) program, sponsored by the School of Public Health, offers an interdisciplinary examination of the complex connections between health, culture, economic growth and development, and environmental sustainability. First and second-year College Park Scholars students who participate in the GPH program gain an understanding of the conceptual and practical foundations of community health, explore global public health challenges and consider ways to improve population health within diverse contexts. Dr. Elisabeth Maring directs the GPH Scholars program. Visit the GPH Scholars website for more info. 

Certificate in Global Health 

The Graduate Certificate in Global Health is designed to provide basic knowledge in global health delivery to enable individuals who may not have public health backgrounds to work effectively in agencies and programs providing global health services. This 12-credit post-baccalaureate program emphasizes translational health issues and combines population-based prevention methods with evidence-based, community-supported initiatives. The program prepares students to identify and analyze major health problems in the global society and to develop skills for designing targeted programs, interventions and campaigns to address those challenges. Students collaborate with leading global health experts to design solutions, and prepare for careers implementing global health strategies.

For more info, email Maurice Rocque.

Public Health Without Borders

Public Health Without Borders is a student-run organization supported by the School of Public Health that assesses health disparities affecting disadvantaged communities around the world and creates sustainable interventions to alleviate these disparities. In partnership with the UMD Engineers without Borders chapter, PHWB students have recently travelled to Compone, Peru and to Calaba Town, Sierra Leone to work on projects focused on improving water sanitation and conducting community organizing and health education activities to improve hygiene and prevent disease.

For more info, visit the PHWB Facebook page, PHWB website (student curated) or the  UMD Public Health Meets EWB blog archive.

Email PHWB president June Solow at phwbpresident@gmail.com for information on how to get involved.

View a video from their 2017 Launch campaign to learn more: 

 

 

 

Study Abroad Opportunities

East Meets West: Contrasting Public Health Priorities, Pragmatics and Polemics in the US and India (winter term)

As we head further into the 21st century, India and the U.S. represent our two largest democracies. Based on culture, history, governance and politics, these two countries have adopted similar and unique ways of addressing public health concerns. This course, designed for students who are interested in public health in a global context, will expose you to policy and programmatic frameworks for the delivery of public health services in these two cultures. 

Cuba: Law, Public Health and the Cuban Family (summer term)

Join Professor Kerry Tripp on a summer adventure to Cuba for a truly unique opportunity in this comparative family law, public health/medicine and impacts of poverty course. During this blended travel and on-line learning course you will be among the first in a generation to travel to exotic Havana for eight days of dialogue, educational experiences and cultural events as we contrast Cuba's socialized health care and legal systems with our own. FMSC486 4 credits

UMD offers additional Study Abroad experiences which can be found on the Global Maryland page and the Education Abroad page. Internationalize your UMD experience through a myriad of innovative and exciting global opportunities here and abroad!

Past Study Abroad Opportunities

International Public Health in Germany 

This course examined key health issues and compares the practice and venues of health promotion and injury control as they occur in Germany with those in the US. You will gain further understanding of the role of history, culture, and geopolitics on the development of health care and health promotion in a developed country; interact with students involved in similar academic activities at a university in another country; and participate in educational, cultural, and social activities of people from another country.

Couple Relationships in China 

Professor Norman Epstein and graduate students from the Couple and Family Therapy (CFT) program travel to China to participate in the International Forum on Marriage and Family Therapy at Beijing Normal University (BNU). The conference is a gathering of family scholars and clinicians from several universities in the U.S. and across China. Its goal is to enhance the young but rapidly growing field of Marriage and Family Therapy in China. Dr. Epstein and the CFT students present at the conference and have discussions with the Chinese faculty and students about family therapy research and practice in China, and plan further research projects to continue the ongoing collaboration between our CFT program and the Institute for Developmental Psychology at BNU.

Half the Sky Movement at University of Maryland

Half the Sky is a movement inspired by the best-selling novel and the work of journalists Nicholas Kristoff and Sheryl WuDunn to turn oppression of women into opportunity worldwide.  Hidden in the overlapping problems of sex trafficking and forced prostitution, gender-based violence, and maternal mortality, women are facing gender-based violence all over the world. The Half the Sky Movement at University of Maryland is not only raising awareness of women’s issues, but also mobilizing faculty, staff and students to share ways to empower women. Annually in the fall semester, Global Public Health Scholars hosts a screening of Half the Sky, gathering about 250 students to view the film, grapple with sensitive issues, and discuss women’s empowerment in relation to stories presented in the film. In fall 2013, various student organizations whose goals align with Half the Sky presented after the screening, giving students the opportunity to get involved. For information on how to get involved, email Elisabeth Maring. 

Global Handwashing Day

Each year, on October 15, over 200 million people are involved in Global Handwashing Day celebrations in over 100 countries around the world. Promoted on a wide enough scale, handwashing with soap could save more lives than any single vaccine or medical intervention.  In 2012 and 2013, the School of Public Health celebrated Global Handwashing Day by visiting the Center for Young Children (CYC), a laboratory school for children ages 3-6 on the UMD campus. In 2014, the School of Public Health expanded the educational reach of global handwashing with a program on Maryland Day on April 26.  

Watch a video of the Global Public Health Scholars students celebrating Global Handwashing Day with the CYC school in 2013: