Global Health Program Wins Grant from the Innovation Fund
The U.S. Department of State, the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City and Partners of the Americas announced new grant winners in the latest 100,000 Strong in the Americas Innovation Fund grant competition. The UIC School of Public Health’s Global Health Program and its Office of Diversity and Inclusion, along with partner institution the Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública (National Institute of Public Health of Mexico), is one of eight winning partnerships. “Growing opportunities for more of our students to conduct an international field experience directly aligns with objectives in our school’s new strategic plan,” says Alyson Lofthouse, senior associate director of the global health program. “Additionally, we’re excited to host more MPH students from Mexico.”
The Innovation Fund is the U.S. Department of State’s signature education initiative in the Western hemisphere region for leveraging commitments from public and private sectors, regional governments and higher education networks to expand academic mobility, strengthen regional education cooperation and enhance workforce development in the Americas. “What makes [the Fund] work so well here is the dedication of U.S. and Mexican institutions to work together for the benefit of students and faculty in both countries and the investment by private sector donors… to give them the resources to succeed,” says Chargé d’Affaires John Creamer.
The fund inspires U.S. universities to team up with higher education institutions in Latin America to create partnerships to provide students with access to new exchange and training programs. These partnerships provide students with more opportunities to work in teams, gain skills, solve real-world problems and become better prepared for today’s workforce.
This year’s program at UIC SPH represents a joint effort to increase the racial/ethnic and economic diversity of graduate public health students who pursue global public health field experiences abroad. “We like to see the diversity of our student body reflected in the students who pursue international study and practice opportunities. This funding helps us achieve that goal,” says Dr. Nadine Peacock, associate dean for diversity and inclusion. Students in the program will be matched with a project site based on their interests and qualifications in order to conduct an applied practice experience in collaboration with the partner institution.
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This past summer, Lofthouse and Peacock facilitated an exchange for two MPH students: Vania Lara from Mexico and Sara Izquierdo, a second year student in UIC SPH’s division of community health sciences. Lara worked on a diabetes education program at UIC’s Midwest Latino Health Research, Training and Policy Center. She helped create a manual for patients with diabetes in both English and Spanish, and ensured the Spanish version included culturally relevant details. She partnered with the Juan Diego Community Center, a grass roots organization on the South Side of Chicago, to evaluate the manual within the community and made changes based on feedback.
Izquierdo traveled to Cuernavaca to complete her applied practice experience where she learned about the health of migrants in transit through Mexico toward the United States. She was able to attend a forum on immigration at the Mexican senate in Mexico City, conducted field work at a migrant shelter and edited numerous papers and diagrams. As the daughter of an immigrant herself, Izquierdo says she hoped this experience would allow her to continue learning and contributing to the creation of solutions and promotion of health, both in Cuernavaca and when she returns to Chicago.
“The current program builds on a collaboration between UIC School of Public Health and Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública that was initiated in the summer of 2014,” Lofthouse explains. “The funding we received from the Innovation Fund will help us expand this partnership and we’re eager for this year’s program to launch.”