International scholars join HSPH in three programs

The Department of Population and International Health at the Harvard School of Public Health (SPH) has a long-standing tradition of training international scholars through nondegree fellowship programs. The department has three fellowship programs that focus on different areas of international health.

Now in its 21st year, the Takemi Program in International Health, an interdisciplinary research program, focuses on the problems of mobilizing, allocating, and maintaining limited health resources. To address these issues, the program brings together a small group of midcareer professionals from around the world, with particular emphasis on those from developing countries.

This year there are seven Takemi Fellows working on a variety of projects. The fellows and their areas of health are as follows: Adebola Adedimeji (Nigeria), knowledge of HIV/AIDS/STIs and condom use among slum adolescent inhabitants of Nigeria; Gabriel Leung (Hong Kong, China), quantitative methods for research on emerging and re-emerging infections and infectious diseases in Hong Kong; Jui-Fen Rachel Lu (Taiwan), equity implication of the health care system in Taiwan; Chang-yup Kim (Korea), health policy analysis to reduce health disparity in the United States; Takashi Nagata (Japan), establishing a trauma databank system in Japan and contributing to the improvement of emergency and trauma care and world safety in developing countries; Yasuyo Osanai (Japan), strategies for improving maternal health; and Fahimeh Ramezani (Iran), multidisciplinary preventive/management program on HIV/AIDS in high-risk areas of Iran.

The Program on Ethical Issues in International Health Research, funded by the Fogarty International Center of the National Institute of Health, focuses on increasing research ethics capacity in the developing world, particularly in Asia. Now in its fourth year, the program brings professionals from Asia with a strong interest in research ethics together and exposes them to various courses, programs, and research ethics committees throughout the Harvard community.

The five ethics fellows and their research topics this year follow: Lin Zhang (China), ethical issues of testing traditional medicines; Peter Sy (Philippines), sociology of ethical review committees; Sui Suli (China), law and ethics; Anoop Thekkuveetil (India), the ethics of biotechnology assessment; and Linying Hu (China), conceptions of life in China.

The David E. Bell Fellowship Program at the Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies provides opportunities for research and leadership training in a flexible nondegree program for researchers and practitioners in the field of population and development.

This year, the center welcomes four Bell Fellows, each examining issues related to the center’s mission. The fellows and their areas of research are Kavi Bhalla (India), the growing epidemic of road traffic injuries in developing countries; Myoung-Hee Kim (Korea), the effect of gender on socioeconomic inequalities in disease prognosis; Sangeetha Madhavan (United States), the impacts of HIV/AIDS mortality and morbidity on households in Agincourt, South Africa; and Kevin Thomas (Sierra Leone), demographic and health outcomes of migrant populations in Africa.

Fellows from all three programs are encouraged to interact with faculty and students in the department and throughout the University through classes, seminars, and individual contacts.