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Duke Receives Grant for Master's in Global Health

The Duke Global Health Institute (DGHI) has received a three-year grant of about $400,000 to develop an interdisciplinary Master of Science in Global Health program atthe university.

The grant is one of 12 Framework Programs for Global Health awarded this year from the Fogarty International Center at the National Institutes of Health.

"Resources from governments and foundations to support global health research have increased more than ten-fold over the past five years," said DGHI Director Michael Merson. "This has created an urgent demand for a new generation of global health leaders with skills and knowledge in the field."

Duke is responding to this demand by developing a Master of Science in Global Health that draws upon theexpertise of faculty in many of Duke's graduate and professional schools. Asteering committee with broad faculty representation is developing thecurriculum and will present the proposal for approval to Duke's AcademicCouncil and Board of Trustees this fall.

As planned, the program would be administered by DGHI and conferred by Duke's Graduate School.The program would prepare students to engage in clinical, epidemiological, social-behavioral and policy-oriented research, as well as to contribute to thedesign, implementation and management of health programs.

"In creating a Master of Science in Global Health, we plan to develop a deeplyinterdisciplinary curriculum with a strong field component," Merson said. "The financial support from the Fogarty International Center, for which we are most grateful,will provide us resources for course development, development of field sites for student projects, and support for student research."

In recent years, Duke has created a Certificate in Global Health for undergraduates and graduate students, a Global Health Focus Cluster for first- and second-year undergraduates, a Global Health Third Year Study Program for medical students, and the Global Health Residency offered jointly by the Hubert-Yeargan Center for Global Healthand DGHI.

Other recipients of this year's Fogarty awards are Brown University, Fudan University (Shanghai, China), Harvard University, National Institute of Public Health (Cuernavaca, Mexico), Northwestern University, Ohio State University, Oregon Health and Science University, Tulane University, University of California-San Francisco, University of Pittsburgh and University of Texas Medical Branch (Galveston).