2024 Year in Review

As 2024 comes to a close, the Global Health Center wishes you a happy and healthy holiday season. We are excited to reflect on this year’s accomplishments — achieved through the unwavering support of our team, collaborators and community members — and look forward to what lies ahead in 2025. We thank you for your continued support!

This year, Global Health Center co-Director, Mark Huffman, MD, MPH, was named the inaugural William Bowen Endowed Professor and received a Career Development Award from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in recognition of his contributions to advancing late-stage translation research funded by the Center for Translation Research and Implementation Science (CTRIS). Congratulations to Dr. Huffman on his achievements!

Zainab Mahmoud, MD, MSc, was promoted to Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Cardiovascular Division. Congratulations, Dr. Mahmoud!

We were also joined by two new staff -- Jana Casteel, MHSA, research administrator, and April Houston, MSW, MPH, knowledge translation and communications director. Welcome to the team, Jana and April!

students trained in the Summer Research Program

The 2024 Institute for Public Health Summer Research Program saw 23 students from 21 universities, including participants in the RADIANCE track (sponsored by NHLBI) and the Public & Global Health track, spend eight weeks at WashU attending training seminars and workshops, conducting mentored research projects, and experiencing St. Louis. Students in the program receive vital hands-on training and learn lifelong skills.

students on the Global Health Student Advisory Committee

The committee for the 2024-25 academic year includes 15 students from seven WashU schools. The 2024-25 Chair is Danielle Serota, a medical student, and our Vice Chair is Nwaliweaku Anidi, a graduate student in the Brown School. The committee supports the center with planning student-focused events and programs.

global health events

event attendees

Students networked with faculty across various fields at the Global Health Student Social: Meet the Experts Event, hosted by the Global Health Student Advisory Committee. Other highlights from the week included an inspiring talk on overcoming research challenges from Juliet Iwelunmor, PhD; insights into childhood malnutrition through Project Peanut Butter from Mark Manary, MD; and a look into groundbreaking research on air quality in Central Asia from Jay Turner, PhD. 

This year our Global Health Work in Progress meetings got a new name -- the Global Health Seminar Series! We saw great talks from WashU faculty, international collaborators, and an International Distinguished Visiting Scholar on topics ranging from refugee health to participatory action research to the growing burden of early-onset cancer. 

The March 2024 symposium featured keynotes from Dariush Mozaffarian, MD, Dean of the Tufts Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, and Patrizia Fracassi, Senior Nutrition and Food Systems Officer at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, highlighting interdisciplinary collaboration to tackle global challenges related to food security, hunger and malnutrition.

early stage investigators

engaged in global health

new grants received by faculty participating in the Global Health Early Stage Investigator Group

Our Global Health Early Stage Investigator (ESI) Group meets monthly to present work in progress, discuss their work with peers and senior faculty, and participate in workshops from WashU experts. In 2024, six faculty and postdoc fellows present their recent work to the group, Doug Luke, PhD, delivered a workshop on the Translational Science Benefits Model, and Juliet Iwelunmor, PhD, presented on sustaining a global health career through grant-writing. 

early stage investigators training in cardiovascular disease

In the summer, six mentees from across the U.S. began the eleventh cohort of the Program for Inclusion and Diversity Among Individuals Engaged in Health-Related Research - Cardiovascular Disease Comorbidities, Genetics, and Epidemiology (PRIDE CVD-CGE). This NIH-funded program supports early career investigators from diverse backgrounds to enhance their research skills in heart, lung, blood and sleep disorders as they prepare competitive NIH grant proposals and develop independent research careers.

trainees participating in health data science training in Rwanda

Rwandan trainees in the DS-I Africa Research Training in Data Science for Health in Rwanda program and SYNAPSE program were introduced to new methods in data science and machine learning and competed in the Datathon as a way to practice their skills. A team of faculty from WashU, University of Rwanda, and the African Institute of Mathematical Sciences judged the eight Datathon project presentations and awarded a prize to the first place team.

publications authored

by core faculty

As we close out an impactful year, we want to extend our heartfelt thanks to all of you for your continued support in 2024. Your dedication to advancing global health has made a significant difference in our work, and we are deeply grateful for your partnership. We are excited to build on this momentum as we look ahead to 2025 and continue our shared mission to create a healthier, more equitable world for all. Together, we can achieve even greater progress in the year to come!

~ The Global Health Center Team ~