Last Update: August 2007

For some months we have provided monthly activity reports to GHEC's Board of Directors. Now we are making these available, occasionally edited for a general audience, to the GHEC membership. We hope these will keep you informed about developments and facilitate your participation in activities of interest. If you have comments or questions regarding any of GHEC's activities do let us know.

PROJECTS

ORGANIZATIONAL MATTERS

Atlantic Philanthropies Projects
These two projects* have started. Andre-Jacques Neusy moved with his family to Brussels in July and will be in South Africa shortly to conclude negotiations with one of the proposed medical school sites.
* Developing an evaluation framework to assess the impacts of four innovative medical schools; and a collaboration with Cuba to develop modules.

Bibliography Project
With the aid of students we now have about 700 citations on our master list, held by Kevin Chan at the University of Toronto. Many references are internet accessible. Soon we will post this to the membership with a request that those with expertise in one or another of the topic categories review and comment on them. After revision we'll post this on GHEC's website. We are in discussion with The Lancet about offering GHEC members and students one-click access to Lancet articles.

Curriculum Guidebook Project
A first edition guidebook was completed in 2005. Substantial editing and updating have been completed and a 2nd edition should be available in several months.

GH Website Project
A major update of annotated GH-relevant listings was completed with help from 3 student organizations and in July was sent out for review. Suggested changes have been incorporated and the list will be posted on the website.

Medical School GH Survey Project
AAMC, in collaboration with GHEC and FAIMER, carried out a medical school GH education survey in 2005. Raw survey information is linked to GHEC's website but no analysis has yet been made. Breyette Lorntz at UVa has obtained AAMC permission to do a basic analysis for GHEC.

Modules Project
Sixteen draft modules are online at www.globalhealthedu.org and three are 'in process.' We will start the online review process in the fall. Marketing, distribution, IT capabilities, and module packaging into courses need to be discussed soon. We are discussing with a section of the American Academy of Pediatrics about a collaboration to prepare course modules for pediatric residents interested in GH.

Residency Guidebook Project
A core committee of four has launched an online survey of residencies, drafted a content outline for the guidebook, allocated drafting responsibilities, and two chapters are in draft. A guide for conducting telephone interviews is under development for a selection of pioneering residencies. We hope to complete the guidebook by December.

TRAIN & Survey Analysis Projects
Full title is: "Trans-University Alliance of Institutes Networking for Global Health." Breyette Lorntz and colleagues at the Center for Global Health at the University of Virginia has compiled a list of 130+ programs, departments, centers and institutes for GH/IH in the US and will soon obtain similar information for Canada. Short telcoms are used to obtain basic information on these programs. She will do a search for literature on 'partnerships', their development and support, and will also do a basic analysis of the 2005 AAMC/GHEC/FAIMER survey of 127 medical schools... Planning for a one day workshop/symposium immediately before the April 2008 Sacramento conference will start soon. This project is a trimmed down, more feasible version of the one originally planned.

Audit Review
We have contracted with a NYC audit firm specializing in NGO audits to 'review' our financial information and procedures for 2006. This review, starting soon and lasting about 10 days, is not an audit but will tell us whether we are in a position to initiate a formal audit in 2008, once co-located in California.

Committee work
Tom Hall has talked with Jerry Paccione about the Program Development Committee matters and with Richard Deckelbaum on governance matters. The possibility of an online membership survey to set program priorities is under consideration. The last survey was done in 2004.

Conference 2008
Anvar Velji and colleagues have prepared a draft program, a number of speakers have been confirmed, student input is being sought, and a draft White Paper is on the website. We are discussing with The Lancet the possibility of one or several Lancet awards for students, and Lancet co-sponsorhip of the GHEC conference. Venue arrangements have been confirmed and A Call for Abstracts will be posted soon. The Univ. of Washington/Seattle will host the 2009 conference.

Partnership Negotiations with CFHI
Child Family Health International and GHEC are exploring a partnership whereby: CFHI would assume under an agreement certain GHEC administrative and support functions; GHEC would be co-located at CFHI's San Francisco offices; and each organization would maintain its legal, financial and programmatic independence, with independent Boards. CFHI is a leading sponsor of overseas international health placements, and their mission nicely complements that of GHEC. We expect to sign an agreement in September following review and approval by both Boards. We believe the partnership will be of mutual benefit and will enhance GHEC's ability to grow. Karen Lam would move to San Francisco in November.

Student Collaborations
The Student Advisory Committee has had several conference call meetings and will be making proposals for GHEC activities... Three Yale University medical students have proposed a collaboration with GHEC that would involve creating an online forum and other IT capabilities to meet student (and faculty) needs. This would fit in nicely with GHEC's new website, www.globalhealthedu.org, and we have given a positive response.

Website and IT Activities
Our initial contract with Stanford Digital Vision and Jose Arocha has been satisfactorily completed. Our new, not yet formally inaugurated website, www.globalhealthedu.org has much potential... GHEC's information technology capabilities will be increasingly important, and costly. An IT Subcommittee will convene to help sort out the options. We are in discussions with Regalix, the IT firm in Silicon Valley that handles CFHI's IT needs, to have this firm maintain and improve GHEC's IT capabilities.