Intensive Global Health Prorgam

Intensive Global Health Prorgam

6264ed7a2b3ecc831322754739The Duke Global Health Institute has selected 15 students for the inaugural Student Research Training Program. Students will learn how to develop and implement a community-based project in global health and spend eight weeks in the field this summer conducting their projects. In its first year, the research-oriented field program has attracted undergraduate students from many majors, and with previous global health experience that spans the globe.

“We are delighted to announce the selection of the first group of students for the program,” said Lysa MacKeen, fieldwork coordinator for DGHI. “This impressive group has worked in China, Honduras, Egypt, Kenya, Mexico and Uganda, as well as many locations in the US. They bring to the program these experiences as well as their previous research and campus-wide global health activities.”

Students were selected for the program based on their scholarship, past experiences and their demonstrated commitment to global health.

Working in collaboration with DGHI faculty and established community partners in six project locations, students will spend the next six months developing project activities and then work to implement them in the field this summer. Once they return to campus next fall, students will participate in various workshops, debriefing sessions and a public presentation of their project to process and reflect on their experience. The six project sites are located in India, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Costa Rica and the US.

This fieldwork model not only focuses on service to a low-resource community, but more importantly, teaches students how to use their research skills to work with community members to meet local health needs and work on making their impact sustainable. The program creates an opportunity for students to gain firsthand experience of the challenges and rewards of global health fieldwork while working to explore a research question and meet the goals of the communities they serve.