Celebrating the U-M Global Health Movement with Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus

On March 14, the U-M Center for Global Health Equity welcomed faculty from across the institution, including many from Michigan Medicine, to celebrate the U-M global health community with WHO Director General Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus.

Dr. Tedros was the keynote speaker at the celebration event, remining the assembly that, for all the recent advancements made in health, we still have a thirty-year difference in life expectancy between countries with the strongest health systems and those with the least developed. “Access and affordability are two of the most important determinants of health outcomes,” Tedros observed. “Health is not only a fundamental human right, but it is also a means to development.”

Our thanks to all of the UMMS faculty and students who attended the event and helped make it a success. View select pictures below and read all about the celebration on the Center for Global Health Equity website.

Sr. Associate Dean and Center for Global Health Equity Director Joseph Kolars welcomes guests to the event.

Dr. Tedros talks with Professor of Ob-Gyn Tim Johnson, whose collaborations in Ghana stretch back more than three decades.

Eric Puroll, with the MyHeartYourHeart team, discusses their pacemaker re-use program for patients in LMICs where new devices are either not available or unaffordable.

Faculty members Lee Schroeder (Pathology), Cheryl Moyer (Learning Health Sciences and Ob-Gyn) and Rockefeller Oteng (Emergency Medicine) are all engaged with collaborators in Ghana.

Dr. Tedros meets with Surgery faculty members Krishnan Raghavendran and Jeffrey Punch, as well as Emergency Medicine Chair Robert Neumar.

UMMS student Peter Delaney, whose non-profit LFR International teaches life-saving lay-first responder skills in LMIC settings, meets Dr. Tedros.

Dr. Tedros and Joseph Kolars chat on the event stage.

Chair of Otolaryngology Mark Prince talks with Dr. Tedros.

Deb Rooney (Learning Health Sciences) and UMMS student Chioma Anidi are part of the team behind ALL-SAFE, an award winning laparoscopic surgery training program specially designed for trainees in low-resource settings.

Akbar Waljee (Learning Health Sciences and Internal Medicine) speaks about potential applications of Artificial Intelligence in LMIC settings.

Dr. David Flood (Internal Medicine, and Pediatrics) has long-term collaborations in Guatemala.

Also attending the event were three visiting scholars from Ghana at U-M as part of NIH Fogarty International Center training program. They include Dr. Promise Sefogah, an Ob/Gyn physician from the University of Ghana Medical School (right).