2026-2027 Research Projects

Faculty Mentor: Jessica Kritz, Associate Professor, School of Health

Project Description: The field of health and human rights has converted health from being perceived as a need to a right. The field of public administration includes all of the fields that impact the social determinants of health (e.g., urban planning, social and human services administration, disability, transportation, infrastructure, etc.), and lacks systematic human rights study. Thus, administrators lack a globally recognized foundation for decision-making to uphold human dignity. The fellow will work with a multidisciplinary research team to build on the recently released framework, developing manuscripts analyzing public health, the human right to water, conflict, and social equity.

Work Modality: Combination of remote and in-person work

Skills Preferred: Excellent research skills; legal and/or human rights background or demonstrated interest are a plus

Faculty Mentor: Gillian Huebner, Executive Director, Collaborative on Global Children’s Issues

Project Description: We are living in the wealthiest moment in human history and with the largest generation of children and youth. Young people all over the world are facing polycrisis – political and economic instability, conflict, and climate disasters. Meanwhile, global commitments and funding to support children and youth have contracted substantially, impacting children and caregivers in an era defined by overlapping emergencies rather than isolated shocks. The Collaborative on Global Children’s Issues is examining the impact of U.S. government policy and funding decisions on children. This research project considers these realities through the lens of moral injury and repair, including processes to restore trust, a critical requirement for economic growth, democratic progress, and social stability. The fellow will work directly with the Executive Director and also have the opportunity to interact with a team of senior fellows and external stakeholders.
  
Work Modality: Combination of remote and in-person work

Skills Preferred: This project is interdisciplinary and will require the ability to bring together policy and budget analysis, social science, child development, rights, and protection, as well as philosophy and faith perspectives

Faculty Mentor: Matthew Kavanagh, Associate Professor & Chair, Department of Global Health; Director, Center for Global Health Policy & Politics

Project Description: The fellow will help produce a new Georgetown University podcast about global health and human well-being in this moment of extraordinary political and social upheaval reshaping our world. The global order of the past eight decades—the norms, institutions, and rules on which global public health has depended—is rapidly unraveling and what comes next is uncertain. This is a moment of danger, but also of real opportunity to reimagine what a healthier, more equitable world could look like. The fellow will research topics for episodes; engage with high-level guests from the U.N., governments, and academic; and build their global health political communication capacity in ways that will build a new skillset for their future careers. This is an excellent position for curious students looking to build their knowledge and their CV in communications.

Work Modality: Combination of remote and in-person work

Skills Preferred: Global health research, some knowledge of social science, interest in communication

*Areas of Focus (for Maeve Kennedy McKean Award applicants only): health policy and community-led monitoring in East Africa

Faculty Mentor: Katherine Robsky, Assistant Professor, Center for Global Health Practice and Impact

Project Description: The expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) in global health contexts is an opportunity for increased efficiency in the context of diminishing resources, but implementation and ethical challenges remain. Building on the Center’s ongoing work evaluating digital health technologies in low-resource settings, the fellow will help evaluate and disseminate real-world applications of AI in global health. Activities will include conducting a formal evaluation of AI-assisted literature review tools (such as Elicit), helping implement and monitor a crowdsourced map and data-sharing platform on AI implementation using ArcGIS and NotebookLM, and co-authoring peer-reviewed manuscripts. The fellow will also analyze platform web metrics to assess global practitioner engagement and support dissemination efforts exploring the ethical implementation of emerging technology in global health.

Work Modality: Combination of remote and in-person work 

Skills Preferred: Scientific/academic writing, literature review, data/web analytics, and coursework in global health or data science

Faculty Mentor: Jennifer Tobin, Associate Professor, McCourt School of Public Policy

Project Description: This project examines how the 2025 USAID withdrawal and shrinking European aid are reshaping public health service delivery in Malawi, Uganda, and Zambia. It studies how funding cuts and corruption jointly undermine the availability, quality, and accountability of health systems in aid-dependent states, and how correcting misinformation can build public support for protecting the right to health. This is an active, multi-country research collaboration that is expanding with new survey waves and partner sites. Depending on their skills, the fellow may help clean and analyze data, prepare research outputs, develop new surveys and experiments, or interview former USAID employees about their experiences working in East and Southern Africa.

Work Modality: Combination of remote and in-person work

Skills Preferred: Quantitative (data cleaning/analysis) AND/OR qualitative (interviewing) skills

Faculty Mentor: Margaret Baker, Associate Professor, School of Health

Project Description: With increased emphasis on country leadership in global health and with reduced donor support for siloed disease programs, there is an urgent need to redesign the delivery of infectious disease control interventions. This project examines how multiple African countries have worked to integrate neglected tropical disease (NTD) interventions into routine health systems. The fellow will join an ongoing study analyzing more than seven years of program documents to identify policy strategies and implementation approaches that countries have used to ensure continuity of NTD prevention, treatment, surveillance, and other essential program functions. The fellow will be embedded in the study team, use software to support qualitative coding and analysis, contribute to identifying cross-country themes and lessons, and gain hands-on experience conducting implementation and health systems research with direct relevance to policy and practice. Fellows will lead thematic write-ups of data on specific health systems topics (e.g., governance, workforce, or financing) and contribute to a peer-reviewed manuscript and other dissemination products.

Work Modality: Combination of remote and in-person work

Skills Preferred: Experience with qualitative research methods, document analysis, or qualitative data analysis software (e.g., MAXQDA or NVivo) would be an asset but is not required

Skilled Required: Applicants should have completed coursework in health systems, health policy, or a closely related field, or have equivalent professional experience at a government or public sector health organization. Interest in implementation research and strengthening health systems to deliver infectious disease interventions is also essential

Faculty Mentor: Lawrence Gostin, Founding O’Neill Chair in Global Health Law, O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, Georgetown Law

Project Description: The fellow will contribute to the following projects, with the balance among them (and potentially other projects linked to global health law and justice) depending on Professor Gostin’s needs at the time and the fellow’s interests.

1) Prof. Gostin and two co-authors have submitted to the publisher the manuscript for a second edition of Global Health Law, Prof. Gostin’s book first published in 2014 that defined the field of global health law and has served as the leading reference. They expect to receive feedback and suggested edits from the editors during the fall semester, and will also want to update the text as needed based on more recent statistics and evolving circumstances. The fellow would support incorporating these edits and identifying and making updates.

2) Prof. Gostin regularly publishes articles on timely global and public health matters as they relate to law and policy. The fellow will provide research and writing support. Topics are likely to include such issues as the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (and other disease outbreaks), the Trump administration’s continued impact on the state of public health in U.S. and the World Health Organization in a time of transitions. 

3) Prof. Gostin is heading the Legal Sub-Group the Quality Health Information for All Commission of the journal Nature Medicine, aimed at ensure equitable access to quality health information. Major topics the sub-group of this global commission include artificial intelligence and social media regulation related to health information and balancing public health and values such as free expression. The fellow would assist with research and writing for the report, most likely including to feedback we will receive in October after the draft manuscript is shared.

Work Modality: Remote work

Skills Preferred: Strong research and writing skills will be important, along with an interest in global health issues and the potential of law to address them, with law’s potential to advance global health equity and justice

Faculty Mentor: Jesse Goodman, Professor of Medicine/Infectious Diseases, Georgetown University School of Medicine; Chair, Expert Vaccine Analysis Team

Project Description: There have been striking recent changes, and continuing threats, to vaccines and immunization in the U.S. The CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices was stacked with anti-vaccine activists and some previously routine vaccines removed from the U.S. recommended schedule. Experienced government scientists have left or been removed from their jobs and those remaining at times overruled, interfering with vaccine review and approval by FDA and recommendations from CDC. High-level government officials have become sources of misinformation, eroding public trust. Hundreds of millions of dollars in vaccine research and development has been cancelled, including on emerging infectious diseases, and the system protecting manufacturers against catastrophic liability claims is under threat. Along with US withdrawal from WHO and,in part, from GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, the complex global vaccine ecosystem is at risk. The fellow will work with Dr. Goodman and colleagues, including from the Expert Vaccine Analysis Team, to perform a high-level scoping evaluation of how U.S. changes have or may impact the vaccine-related actions and policies of other nations, identifying patterns of impact across country and organizational contexts and potential approaches to prevent or mitigate such effects. The fellow will help produce a written report and/or presentation of the findings suitable for a public health audience.

Work Modality: Combination of remote and in-person work

Skills Preferred: Although not essential, applicant should have some background, knowledge and interest in vaccines and infectious diseases

Faculty Mentor: Leticia Bode, Professor, Communication, Culture, and Technology  

Project Description: The project will design, conduct, and analyze a cross-national online survey to assess use of AI chatbots for public health information, trust in AI chatbots, and the critical appraisal of the health information offered by those tools. The study focuses on the countries with the largest populations in each of five continents – spanning Africa (Nigeria), Asia (India), Europe (Germany), North America (United States), and South America (Brazil) – with a combined population of over 2.3 billion people, nearly one-third of the global population, allowing for the identification of cultural differences in usage and trust. The fellow will assist in compiling and summarizing literature related to the project, coordinating the international team, and other tasks as they emerge. 

Work Modality: Combination of remote and in-person work

Skills Preferred: Experience with desk research, project coordination, or fluency or cultural competence in any of the major languages spoken in the included countries would be a plus

Faculty Mentor: Shabab Wahid, Assistant Professor, School of Health

Project Description: As formative research for a clinical trial of heat-resilience interventions in Nepal and Sri Lanka schools, this project will conduct qualitative interviews and body-mapping workshops with school-going adolescents to understand emotional, cognitive, and social pathways through which extreme heat exposure heralds the onset of depressive and anxiety disorders. The fellow will conduct focused literature reviews, qualitative data analysis of textual and visual data, and scientific writing for 1-2 journal article manuscripts.

Work Modality: Combination of remote and in-person work

Skills Preferred: Experience analyzing cross-cultural qualitative mental health data from low- and middle-income countries is a significant advantage. Proficiency in Dedoose software is preferred, but not required.

*Areas of Focus (for Maeve Kennedy McKean Award applicants only): global mental health and stigma reduction interventions; climate change & mental health; culture and mental health; ethnopsychology; ethnography; psychiatric epidemiology

Faculty Mentor: Wu Zeng, Associate Professor, School of Health

Project Description: As many low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) strive to eliminate cervical cancer by 2030, scaling up HPV vaccination has become a key strategy to achieve this goal. The fellow will support a comprehensive literature review to identify implementation barriers and opportunities for expanding HPV vaccination in LMICs. The findings will help inform the design and implementation of future HPV vaccination campaigns.

Work Modality: Combination of remote and in-person work

Skills Preferred: Basic knowledge of public health/global health

Faculty Mentor: Ellen Moscoe, Assistant Professor, School of Health

Project Description: The fellow will have the opportunity to contribute to developing an R01 proposal to support the design and implementation of a mental health intervention that will be integrated into group pre-natal care in Zanzibar, Tanzania. This proposal will build on an existing partnership with WAJAMAMA, a community-based maternal health organization. The fellow will work with me to conduct a literature review and will be able to work with WAJAMAMA staff to help design the mental health intervention and the evaluation design for the funding proposal. The fellow will be able to contribute to all the stages of the R01 application, will develop skills and experience in working remotely with the Zanzibar-based implementation team, and will have the opportunity to co-author a literature review publication. This position is particularly well-suited to students with an interest in primary research, maternal and child health and/or mental health, and those who are interested in gaining grant-writing experience.

Work Modality: Combination of remote and in-person work

Skills Preferred: N/A

Faculty Mentor: Sam Halabi, Bette Jacobs Endowed Professor, School of Health

Project Description: Pathogen Data Governance and Preparedness: Recent episodes involving hantavirus and Ebola – in addition to experiences with COVID and the ongoing pandemic agreement negotiations – have demonstrated the core significance of global networks of researchers and public health decision-makers who can rapidly receive, research, and develop pathogen data. This project is a bridge between teams of pathogen data researchers and public health planners who are developing mechanisms by which pathogen data may be more readily shared and used by these key constituencies. The student for this project will develop short research analyses for use by public health decision-makers; presentation materials that visualize networks and underlying data; and, participate in meetings that seek to bridge the worlds of scientific researchers (especially bioinformaticians) and local, provincial, and national planners across the world.

Work Modality: Combination of remote and in-person work

Skills Preferred: Experience with Tableau or other data visualization software useful but not required. Similarly, knowledge of French or Portuguese helpful but not required

Faculty Mentor: Jun Han, Adjunct Professor, McCourt School of Public Policy

Project Description: The global health sector lacks a standardized unit for measuring and comparing the social value generated by diverse interventions—making it difficult to answer a fundamental question: which projects deliver the greatest improvement in beneficiaries’ lives per dollar spent? This project introduces the WELLY Standard, a new measurement framework that quantifies social value in a standardized unit (the “WELLY”), defined as one year of dignified living improvement, adjusted by local community weights and global health utility calibration. The student fellow will work with me to explore how WELLY can be applied to evaluate global health programs—such as mental health services, community health worker initiatives, or water and sanitation projects—using its dual-layer (organizational credibility + beneficiary well-being) and four-dimension (physical/mental health, economic participation, social inclusion, environmental safety) architecture. Anticipated outputs include: (1) a comparative analysis applying the WELLY framework to 2-3 existing global health case studies; (2) a co-authored policy brief or working paper on standardizing social value measurement in global health; and (3) a research poster presented at the GUGHI end-of-year symposium.

Work Modality: Remote work

Skills Preferred: Strong academic writing and literature review skills. Basic familiarity with quantitative research methods (e.g., descriptive statistics, survey design, or cost-effectiveness analysis concepts). Interest in or coursework related to global health, social impact measurement, or health economics. Proficiency in Excel or other basic data analysis tools. No advanced statistical or programming skills required; motivation and intellectual curiosity are more important than technical background

*Areas of Focus (for Maeve Kennedy McKean Award applicants only): social value measurement and evaluation; impact investing; sustainable finance

Faculty Mentor: Adam Koon, Assistant Professor, School of Health, School of Foreign Service

Project Description: This fellowship supports research on representative health worker organizations (unions, professional associations, etc.) in sub-Saharan Africa.  This includes theoretical work on representation, labor rights/protections, and symbolic actions involved in labor disputes.  It may also include a mixed-methods longitudinal study examining how political polarization shapes health worker strikes and health workforce governance in Kenya from 2010 to the present. The project draws on a unique strike database, survey data, and key informant interviews to trace how shifting political dynamics have affected health system performance over four politically distinct periods. The fellow will support data analysis and visualization, literature review, and preparation of IRB and manuscript materials, working closely with Georgetown faculty and collaborators in the US and in Kenya. They may also help organize a workshop with up to 10 leading scholars in this area at Georgetown next year.  This is an excellent opportunity for a student interested in global health policy, politics, health systems research, or African studies to gain hands-on experience conducting research and building a community of practice in this area.  

Work Modality: Combination of remote and in-person work

Skills Preferred: N/A

*Areas of Focus (for Maeve Kennedy McKean Award applicants only): health workforce; governance; health financing; commercial determinants of health; health systems; theories of the policy process; health politics