Explore Global Health with Rob Murphy, MD

Agnes Binagwaho, MD, PhD, is a Rwandan pediatrician and former Minister of Health of Rwanda. She was recently recognized and celebrated with an Honorary Doctor of Science from Northwestern University for her work in building an equitable health system in the years after the 1994 genocide in Rwanda. In this episode, she talks about her path in medicine and as a leader in global health and what led her to this moment in her career.

During a research experience in Mali, West Africa her junior year of college, Sera Young, PhD, then a budding anthropologist, realized the importance of biomedical global health research and started a career trajectory that that took her from cultural anthropology to medical anthropology, to eventually a PhD in nutrition and a postdoctoral reproductive infectious disease fellowship. She is now leading innovative research in water insecurity, a growing global health issue that impacts nutrition, health and well-being. In this episode, Young shares her career journey and explains why it's important to be able to shift gears when needed, to ensure your research is asking the right questions and having the greatest impact.

From a young age, Hema Magge, MD, knew she wanted to make an impact on the lives of children and families. This drive took her to medical school, becoming a pediatrician and later to Africa where she spent a decade leading non-governmental organizations and research dedicated to improving the welfare of women and children. Today, Magge is a Senior Program Officer, Maternal, Newborn, & Child Health for Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In this episode, she describes her career journey thus far and why she says proximity to the people you serve matters in global health pursuits.

As a neuro-immunology fellow and global neurology fellow at Northwestern University, Gina Perez-Giraldo, MD, has gained expertise in treating and studying people with Long COVID syndrome. She joins Dr. Murphy to talk about how she is extending this work into low- and-middle income countries in Africa and South America, where there has been very little investigation into Long COVID.

Through his career in global health, Satish Gopal, MD, MPH, has called many places home, from Tanzania and Malawi to Bethesda, MD, where he now lives and serves as Director of the Center for Global Health at the National Cancer Institute. In this episode of the Explore Global Health podcast, Gopal shares his path into global health and how he carved out an impactful niche in cancer care and research in Malawi through the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's UNC-Project Malawi. He shares what it was like to embark on this career journey with his spouse and two young children by his side and offers career advice for students and trainees interested in making a difference in global health.

As the founding executive director of the Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH), Dr. Keith Martin, is working to break down silos and connect research, education, advocacy and service to help create meaningful change for people and our planet. He talks with Dr. Murphy about his career in medicine and politics and why he thinks reforming academia can help solve some of the great challenges facing our world today.

In this episode, Global Health Now editor-in-chief Brian Simpson and managing editor Dayna Kerecman Myers join Dr. Murphy to share practical advice for global health students, faculty, and researchers on how to work with journalists to bring their research and global health insights to a wider audience.

It is estimated that five billion people around the world cannot access safe, affordable and timely surgical care. And more specialized procedures, such as neurosurgery, can be rare in many countries. Dr. Roxanna Garcia wants to change that. She talks about the state of global neurosurgery, her time as a Fogarty Global Health Training Program fellow, working on projects related to neurosurgery and her goals for advancing not only neurosurgical care, but neurointensive care, internationally.

Northwestern University biomedical engineer, Sally McFall, PhD, co-developer of a new 15 minute PCR testing platorm for COVID-19, discusses the technology and how it can be used to diagnose COVID and other infectious diseases within low- and middle-income countries where advanced medical technology is limited.