Global Health Day
Global Health Day 2020
Global Health Day 2020: The Future of Global Health Research Training
In 2020, we hosted our annual Global Health Day on October 3, 2020.

Global Health Day 2020
Join us during our annual Global Health Day event to celebrate and discover more about global health research, education, and outreach efforts at the University of Minnesota.
Join us during the Center for Global Health and Social Responsibility’s annual Global Health Day event to celebrate and discover more about global health research, education, and outreach efforts at the University of Minnesota. This year, we are celebrating Global Health Day in an online format to engage with global health champions around the university system. All of the events are free, open to the public, and available online.
Global Health Panel Global Health Poster Showcase Global Health Pathways Series
Global Health Pathways Interview Series
September 21, 22, 23, 28, 30 & October 2, 2020
We are presenting a series of interviews with Global Health Practitioners from multiple disciplines around the world to inspire students across disciplines to engage in global health efforts in their future professional pathways.
Global Health Student Poster Showcase 2020
September 28–October 2, 2020
Learn more about global health efforts at the University of Minnesota by exploring the Global Health Poster Showcase.
The Future of Global Health Research Training Panel
9:00–10:30am CT | October 3, 2020
Interest in experiences and training in global health has increased substantially in the last few decades among health sciences students around the world. In response, institutions have launched multiple efforts across regions and partners to re-envision and revitalize the nature and scope of Global Health Research Training programs. Getting strong institutional commitment, and support from institutional leadership along with an engaged local partner are both integral to the success and sustainability of these programs. However, concerns keep arising regarding how best to structure and implement these programs with particular attention being drawn to unintended consequences and ethical concerns that these efforts bring.
During our Global Health Day panel, David Meya, MD and Claudia Munoz Zanzi, DVM, PhD will discuss questions on what lessons have been learned by University of Minnesota teams involved in moving forward this kind of endeavor and how these programs should be adapted to prepare the new generation of Global Health practitioners for the post-COVID era.
Global Health Day 2020: The Future of Global Health Research Training Panel
As part of our Global Health Day panel presentation event on the morning of Saturday, October 3, we are featuring researchers and practitioners that have dedicated their work to the Center's vision: Sustainable, equitable health globally.
Interest in experiences and training in global health has increased substantially in the last few decades among health sciences students around the world. In response, institutions have launched multiple efforts across regions and partners to re-envision and revitalize the nature and scope of Global Health Research Training programs. Getting strong institutional commitment, and support from institutional leadership along with an engaged local partner are both integral to the success and sustainability of these programs. However, concerns keep arising regarding how best to structure and implement these programs with particular attention being drawn to unintended consequences and ethical concerns that these efforts bring.
During our Global Health Day panel, David Meya, MD and Claudia Munoz Zanzi, DVM, PhD will discuss questions on what lessons have been learned by University of Minnesota teams involved in moving forward this kind of endeavor and how these programs should be adapted to prepare the new generation of Global Health practitioners for the post-COVID era.
Featured Speakers

David Meya, MD
Senior Lecturer, College of Health Sciences, Makerere University and Adjunct Associate Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases and International Medicine, University of Minnesota

Claudia Munoz Zanzi, DVM, PhD,
Associate Professor, Division of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Minnesota
Global Health Poster Showcase
Learn more about global health efforts at the University of Minnesota by exploring the Global Health Poster Showcase from September 28 to October 2, 2020 during the week leading up to Global Health Day.
During the showcase, we encourage you to ask questions and share feedback on the posters. You can also vote for your top 3 favorite posters during the showcase. Your votes will go toward the Audience Favorite Award presented along with the Outstanding Poster Awards on Saturday, October 3, 2020.

Global Health Pathways Series
We are presenting a series of interviews with Global Health Practitioners from multiple disciplines around the world to inspire students across disciplines to engage in global health efforts in their future professional pathways. We invited friends of the Center throughout the university, global health program alumni, and our international partners to share their professional pathways and experiences in global health.
Register to attend the live interviews during the Pathways Series.
Featured Interviews
Diego García-Huidobro, Medical School, Santiago de Chile
September 21, 2020 - 9:00am ct
Diego García-Huidobro, MD, PhD, is a family physician and researcher. He is Assistant Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile (PUC) and Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Department of Family Medicine and Community Health at the University of Minnesota. At PUC, Diego serves as his Department’s Research Director and co-directs the Family and Health Unit. He uses cutting-edge methods to develop, implement and evaluate interventions that strengthen family relationships to improve health. He has served as the principal or co-investigator in several research projects funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the United States and by the Comision Nacional de Investigacion Cientifica y Tecnologica (CONICYT) in Chile. Currently, he leads a cluster-randomized study evaluating the effectiveness of a family-centered intervention to prevent adolescent substance use and a controlled clinical study evaluating the impact of a school-based intervention to prevent and reduce childhood obesity. Diego’s work has been published in more than 35 peer-reviewed publications including in leading journals such as Pediatrics, Family Medicine, Prevention Science, and the British Journal of General Practice. For his contributions bridging science and community impact, Diego was named a member of the 2020 cohort of the World Economic Forum’s Young Scientist Community.

Walter James, Aid Worker
September 22, 2020 - 3:00pm ct
Walter Y. James is an aid worker with 14 years of humanitarian relief experience in over 10 countries/emergency responses, including Haiti, DR Congo, Nigeria, Ebola Response (Liberia), Syrian Conflict Response, South Sudan, Rwanda, Venezuelan Migrant Response (Colombia), and Burma. His technical areas of professional focus include project management and humanitarian logistics/supply chain, often in health-related programs. Walter holds bachelor degrees from the University of Minnesota and a master’s degree in public policy from the University of Maryland. In his spare time, Walter enjoys eating street food, learning new languages, and recovering from tropical diseases.

Darlisha Williams, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Minnesota
September 23, 2020 - 10:00am ct
Ms. Darlisha Williams is a project manager in the Division of Infectious Diseases at the University of Minnesota. She graduated with an MPH in Epidemiology in 2006 from the UMN School of Public Health, and completed a 3 year fellowship with the Centers for Disease Control which focused on Maternal and Child Health and HIV policy. She has worked in the field of global health since 2005 on projects including reducing rates of waterborne diseases, and polio eradication in Tanzania. She lived and worked in Uganda for 8 years, coordinating several multi-site, randomized clinical trials involving HIV associated meningitis before moving back to Minnesota in 2019. Her main interests are project implementation, management and program evaluation in global health settings.

Karthik Natarajan, Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota
September 28, 2020 - 3:00pm ct
Karthik Natarajan is an assistant professor of Supply Chain and Operations at the Carlson School of Management, University of Minnesota. His research interests are in socially-responsible operations and specifically, managing global health supply chains and increasing access to and availability of essential health commodities in developing countries. Within this context, his works have explored several key issues including understanding the impact of uncertainty and delays in donor funding, designing incentives to patients and healthcare providers to maximize the number of people benefitting from a humanitarian healthcare program, and identifying supply chain strategies to lower the likelihood of health commodities (e.g., reproductive health supplies) at last-mile facilities in developing countries. He has consulted for global health agencies including USAID and also actively works with Minneapolis-based non-profits. Natarajan’s research has been published in several leading journals including Manufacturing and Service Operations Management and Production and Operations Management. His comments on global health issues, including the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, have been featured in several media outlets including the New York Times, Star Tribune, PBS, Kare 11 and Fox9.

Peter Larsen, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Minnesota
September 30, 2020 - 3:00pm ct
Dr. Peter Larsen is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences. He leads a diverse research program focused on Evolutionary Medicine and One Health and is Co-Director of the Minnesota Center for Prion Research and Outreach. Dr. Larsen is a classically trained mammologist and evolutionary biologist and he has participated in and led several collaborative international field expeditions aimed at cataloging mammalian biodiversity and discovering emerging zoonoses associated with mammalian wildlife. These expeditions resulted in the discovery of two new species of bats in the Caribbean and South America, novel tick-borne parasites circulating in Madagascar, and a novel strain of Tick-Borne encephalitis virus in Kyrgyzstan. Dr. Larsen is currently collaborating with faculty at the University of Malaysia Sarawak in Borneo to establish a collaborative research program focused on field-based metagenomics and zoonotic pathogen discovery. Ongoing projects conducted by students and staff in the Larsen Lab include molecular characterization of viruses and bacteria at the rodent-livestock interface, real-time surveillance and discovery of tick-borne pathogens, molecular diagnostic R&D for Chronic Wasting Disease causing prions, and micro/macro-parasite discovery in Amazonian bush-meat.

Kaylee M Errecaborde, Faculty, College of Veterinary Medicine; Consultant, Tripartite Initiative, World Health Organization
October 2, 2020 - 3:00pm ct
Kaylee Myhre Errecaborde, DVM PhD, is a policy researcher and a veterinarian. Kaylee supports researchers and practitioners to situate their technical work within the context of global policies and frameworks. As a Technical Consultant with the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland, she supports member countries to utilize the Tripartite Zoonoses Guide to build capacity for multisectoral, One Health preparedness and response for zoonotic disease. As faculty at the University of Minnesota she leads the development of policy programs at the College of Veterinary Medicine and consults on global health projects. She previously worked for the US Congress on global health, border health and food security issues with both the US House Foreign Affairs Committee and the US Senate Homeland Security Committee.

Past Global Health Days at the University of Minnesota
To recognize and celebrate the significant achievements in global health work at the University of Minnesota, the Center for Global Health and Social Responsibility hosts a Global Health Day in early spring of every year. During the event, students, staff, and faculty from a wide variety of schools and colleges, areas of study, perspectives, and diverse identities showcase their work, attend the event, or present on major global health issues.
Global Health Day 2019 Global Health Day 2018 Global Health Day 2017