Source: McGill Global Health Programs
On November 6th, over 350 members of the wider McGill community participated in our annual Global Health Night. Attendees at the poster fair saw the latest work of over 80 students who had unique opportunities to take part in cutting edge research or clinical placements at sites around the world.
Participants also witnessed how far McGill Global Health Programs has come in the last five years from Director Dr. Madhu Pai. GHP’s mission is to support McGill students and faculty to succeed in their local and international global health initiatives. This was demonstrated throughout the night in the increasing numbers of award winners, new collaborations and exciting projects showcased. Dr. Pai also talked about how to contribute to, and prepare McGill students for, “Global Health 4.0”, research & other initiatives led by researchers from low- and middle-income countries.
Speaking at his fifth Global Health Night since becoming Director, Dr. Madhu Pai, updated the audience on GHP’s work in the last five years and the growth of our programs and collaborations. Dr. Pai also talked about a vision for the future of global health at McGill—including the challenges we will face as we train students and the opportunities that transdisciplinary work presents. Specifically, he discussed the idea that global health research and other activities should be led by experts based in low-resource areas instead of researchers from high income countries. While pleased with the accomplishments of the last few years he is looking forward to continued growth of global health within the School of Population and Global Health.
Finally, keynote speaker Dr. Margaret Kruk, MD, MPH, Associate Professor of Global Health at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health and current Chair of the Lancet Global Health Commission on High Quality Health Systems in the SDG Era showed the urgent need to ensure universal access to high quality healthcare systems for primary health care and to reach the Sustainable Development Goals. Low quality of care costs 5 million lives worldwide each year.
Throughout the evening the students’ passion for health equity was palpable.
Earlier in the day, over 80 awards were given to students, postdocs, residents, healthcare workers and faculty members who demonstrated a passion and dedication to solving global health issues across the world during the 2018 calendar year as well as to the winners of the McGill Global Health Case competition hosted by McGill Friends of MSF this past weekend.
All the accomplishments we celebrated at Global Health Night would not be possible without the generous support of the greater McGill Community.
We are thankful to our donors and hope you consider supporting the wonderful work being done in global health at McGill.
You can learn more at our website www.mcgill.ca/globalhealth
November 9, 2018