As we look back on a milestone year, we celebrate the expansion in our student fellowship program, the introduction of new global health initiatives, and the strengthening of key partnerships. With a continued focus on collaboration and addressing pressing global health challenges, it is the collective efforts of Georgetown faculty, students, and partners that have driven our mission forward. We invite you to join us as we reflect on the past year’s accomplishments.
Preparing the Next Generation of Global Health Practitioners
Kicking off the 2024-2025 academic year, we welcomed our fifteenth cohort of student fellows, the largest group of undergraduate and graduate students to date and the first year-long cohort. These 28 students represent eight different programs across five schools and multiple continents, ranging from Nigeria to Connecticut and Argentina to Oklahoma. Student fellows began their program with an In Your Shoes experience hosted by the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics. Employing techniques rooted in theatrical performance, this activity promotes deep listening and empathy, with the aim of forging a strong community and encouraging cross-disciplinary creative exchange.
"Participating in the program allows students to refine their research skills, build stronger relationships with mentors and each other, and potentially publish their work,” says Managing Director Oliver Johnson, Ph.D.
“What is so unique about this program is that every Georgetown student, regardless of school or major, is eligible to apply, reflecting the breadth of expertise required to tackle real-world global health challenges."
Several student fellows achieved notable milestones. Sydney Blackston (N’25, 2023-2024 GHI student fellow) became the inaugural recipient of the Maeve McKean Global Health Award. Blackston travelled to Canada to research the impact of wildfires on Indigenous communities. Bryce Robinson (L’24), a spring 2024 student fellow, was paired with the Center for Global Health Science and Security (CGHSS) to research notifiable disease laws worldwide and their impact on outbreak reporting; he earned the Outstanding Final Presentation Award for his project. Meanwhile, Caleb Oh (M’25), a fall 2023 student fellow, joined other Georgetown students to represent the university at the Eleventh Annual DC Public Health Case Challenge.
Bailey Coghlan (H’25), a student research assistant with the Georgetown Commission on Faith, Trust, and Health, presented her findings on faith-based approaches to rebuilding trust in health systems at the Health Policy Internship Poster Presentation hosted by the Department of Health Management and Policy (HCMP).
Bringing the Global Health Community Together at Georgetown
In an effort to facilitate interdisciplinary collaboration throughout the Georgetown University global health community, and ensure wide-ranging input and engagement in our strategy and priorities, we convened the inaugural meeting of our 27-member Faculty Council. The meeting brought together senior faculty and leaders from across all Georgetown schools and global health units, as well as representatives from the university’s business operations team, the student body, and Georgetown’s academic health system partner, MedStar Health, offering a space to discuss the vision for global health work at the university and our role in advancing it.
Robert M. Groves, Ph.D., interim president of the university, highlighted the pivotal moment.
“As a Jesuit university, the fact that we are in this room to make the world better just fits us. That is what we do with our knowledge. As a university, we need structures like this… Our careers, our discoveries, our impact will be greater by cooperating.”
William M. Treanor, J.D., executive vice president and dean of Georgetown Law, and Norman J. Beauchamp Jr., M.D., MHS, executive vice president for health sciences and executive dean of School of Medicine (SOM), also spoke on their commitment to global health and GUGHI.
In addition, we hosted the inaugural session of the Global Maternal and Child Health lunch series focused on addressing global challenges in childhood vaccination with the Georgetown Collaborative for Research and Education of Advance Children’s Health (GC-REACH). This collaborative is one of several planned efforts to build new interdisciplinary collaborations among university faculty.
Launching New Initiatives
We were invited to join the Pope’s Global Alliance for the Health and Humanitarian Care of Children as the lead technical partner. This initiative seeks to strengthen pediatric health services in low- to middle-income countries, focusing on underserved areas by leveraging the extensive reach of Catholic health networks. It was officially launched during a private audience with Pope Francis at the Vatican attended by GUGHI Director Deus Bazira, Dr.PH., MPH, MBA, Executive Vice President Beauchamp, and Georgetown’s Department of Pediatrics Chair Michael Donnelly, M.D.
Bazira also helped raise awareness of the initiative by participating in the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting, where he shared the stage with Chelsea Clinton, vice chair of the Clinton Foundation.
Additionally, we established the Georgetown Commission on Faith, Trust, and Health, the first flagship project of a new Faith and Global Health Initiative. The commission, partially funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will launch publicly in early 2025. It aims to address the erosion of trust in public health institutions by fostering dialogue and collaboration between faith communities and public health officials.
Advancing Global Health through Public Engagement
Building Interdisciplinary Connections at Georgetown
At the start of the 2024-2025 academic year, we hosted our annual Open House to showcase the various global health programs and research opportunities available to students, faculty, and staff across the university. The event featured 18 booths from departments, centers, institutes, schools, academic programs, student organizations, and career development services, including Earth Commons, the School of Nursing, and Project RISHI.
We organized eight seminars addressing global health topics, among them trust in science and public health, mental health services for refugees in Sweden, and digital activism in Kenya. These seminars were held in collaboration with CGHSS, the School of Health’s HCMP and Department of Global Health, and the Center for Global Health Practice and Impact.
Prominent global health leaders joined us for intimate, thought-provoking discussions as part of Conversations in Health: Global to Local, a course led by John Monahan, J.D., a senior advisor to GUGHI. Among them were Anthony Fauci, M.D., a distinguished university professor in the School of Medicine and the McCourt School of Public Policy, and Michele Goodwin, J.D., SJD, LL.M., the Linda D. & Timothy J. O’Neill Professor of Constitutional Law and Global Health Policy.
We also partnered with the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics to support The Art of Care, a theatrical production directed by Derek Goldman, Ph.D., a professor of theater and performance studies in the Department of Performing Arts. This moving performance brought to life stories of caregiving as told by nurses, teachers, policymakers, and performers.
Strengthening Policy and Research Connections
We co-hosted the launch of The Outbreak Atlas by Mackenzie S. Moore (G’21) and Rebecca Katz, Ph.D., MPH, director of CGHSS and professor in SOM and the School of Foreign Service (SFS), in collaboration with the Mortara Center for International Studies and SFS. Moore first connected with Katz as a spring 2020 GHI student fellow, a relationship that shaped Moore’s career and ultimately led to their collaboration on this book. The Outbreak Atlas explores outbreak preparedness, response, and recovery through case studies and visuals.
We held three high-profile policy events with the Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria. The first was a March convening on the Capitol Campus on how the private sector can support civil society and help preserve civic space at risk in healthcare, leading to a report. In September, we organized a briefing on Capitol Hill on the role of faith-based organizations in addressing global health challenges. Katherine Marshall, M.A., MPA, a professor of the practice at SFS, emphasized that integrating faith-based leaders into public health systems is crucial for addressing crises like COVID-19 and preparing for future pandemics. We capped off the year by bringing together leaders from academia, government, civil society, and the private sector on emerging innovations to accelerate ending HIV, TB and malaria in low- to middle-income countries, with keynote speeches from Sandeep Dahiya , Ph.D., a professor of finance and director of the Initiative on Business of Health; Mark Lagon, Ph.D., a distinguished senior scholar at SFS; and Mark Dybul, M.D., a professor at GUMC and chief strategy officer at CGHPI.
In November, we co-sponsored a timely meeting on the status of H5 vaccines amidst an unprecedented H5N1 avian influenza outbreak, with support from the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown Law, the Center on Medical Product Access, Safety and Stewardship (COMPASS), and CGHSS. The event featured university experts, including Jesse Goodman, M.D., MPH, director of COMPASS; Lawrence Gostin, J.D., a distinguished professor and the founding Linda D. and Timothy J. O’Neill Chair in Global Health Law; Director of CGHSS Rebecca Katz; and Bruce Gellin, M.D., MPH, an adjunct professor of medicine at GUMC and GUGHI senior advisor.
Working Closely with Advancement
Global health is an official university strategic initiative for Called to Be: The Campaign for Georgetown. To promote Georgetown’s leadership in global health, Oliver Johnson accompanied Interim President Groves on both domestic and international trips. These included a panel in Dublin, Ireland, during John Carroll Weekend, as well as keynote speeches at events in Boston, Massachusetts, and Sonoma, California.
Building Our Team
We strengthened our leadership team by welcoming Phyllis Magrab, Ph.D., a UNESCO-endowed professor of pediatrics, and Bruce Gellin, who previously served as senior vice president and chief of global public health strategy at the Rockefeller Foundation, as senior advisors. They join John Monahan and Jack Leslie (SFS’76), a distinguished professor in the Department of Global Health.
Additionally, we expanded our team by welcoming Johanna Cajina, M.A., as communications and events manager; Amna Qayyum, Ph.D., as research program director of our Faith and Global Health Initiative; Olivia Wilkinson, Ph.D., as senior fellow of our Faith and Global Health Initiative; and Sophie Zou, MPH, as program coordinator.
Expanding Communications Efforts
We built our communications platform by launching a newsletter. This effort is part of our ongoing process to expand our engagement across the university community. In 2025, we will build on this momentum by unveiling a new website and a public events series. Join our mailing list to stay updated on these exciting developments.