Projects
Here are the projects undertaken by the Center for Global Health, categorized by specialty, location, and in their entirety.
By Specialties Heading link
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Global Bone and Marrow Transplant
Patients with severe blood cancers or non-malignant blood diseases can often be saved only with a bone marrow transplant (BMT). However, in low-middle income countries (LMICs) this procedure is rarely accessible either due to the lack of physician training, hospital infrastructures, drug availability or unaffordable cost.
In 2011, the UIC GlobalBMT initiative was launched to partner with hospitals treating patients with hematologic diseases in LMICs where BMT is highly needed and patients cannot afford to travel to other countries to receive treatment.
Contact: Damiano Rondelli
UIC Global BMT Program
Patients with severe blood cancers or non-malignant blood diseases can often be saved only with a bone marrow transplant (BMT). However, in low-middle income countries (LMICs) this procedure is rarely accessible either due to the lack of physician training, hospital infrastructures, drug availability or unaffordable cost.
In 2011, the UIC GlobalBMT initiative was launched to partner with hospitals treating patients with hematologic diseases in LMICs where BMT is highly needed and patients cannot afford to travel to other countries to receive treatment.
Currently, the UIC Center for Global Health has collaborative agreements for developing BMT in Nepal, India, Cuba, Bolivia, Greece, Ukraine and Nigeria. Another project in development is in Uganda.
Our initiative’s main objectives are to facilitate: local capacity building in BMT, implementation of health services in hematology-oncology/BMT, and conducting collaborative research. We value growing through collaborative relationships with our in-country colleagues, allowing each of us to better understand the local needs, strengths, and meanings, and how to best address the medical, socio-cultural, policy, and training challenges in each country.
The approach that we have developed together with our global partners has included the following activities:
- arranging exchange visits to meet health providers and administrators and discuss implementation plans before and during the program development;
- providing education through meetings, lectures, one-to-one discussions and through hosting international providers at UIC for training;
- sharing and helping adapting UIC BMT policies/guidelines and standard operating procedures (SOPs) in local countries;
- providing continue remote assistance to LMIC partners;
- establishing research projects engaging local investigators as authors of publications and research proposals.
Thanks to the already established active collaborations with several hospitals in LMICs, we established a GlobalBMT Network which focuses on promoting continuous education and research activities to sustain the growth of BMT; promoting quality standards in BMT for better patient outcome; providing a continuous remote support to clinical BMT programs in LMIC. GlobalBMT meetings have been held in Nepal in 2017 and 2019, in Cuba in 2017, 2018 and 2019, and in Bolivia in 2019.
- National Cancer Institute in Kyiv (Ukraine): Following two visits in 2016 and 2017, UIC signed an agreement with the National Cancer Institute in Kyiv to establish a first adult allogeneic BMT Program in Ukraine. The first physician was trained in 2018 and a second in 2019. Anticipated start of allogeneic BMT in Ukraine in 2020.
- Universidad Mayor San Andres in La Paz (Bolivia): An agreement was established to support the first BMT program in Boliva. One physisician was trained in 2018 and a CME conference was held in 2019 in La Paz. Exchange of material and additional onsite training will be provided to start BMT in 2019-2020.
- Hermanos Ameijeras Hospital in Havana (Cuba): In 2016 the Director of HAH BMT in Havana spent 2 months at UIC for training and upon his return he implemented BMT from incompatible donors in Cuba. UIC-HAH BMT conferences have been held annually since October 2017.
- MS Ramaiah University in Bangalore (India): In collaboration with UIC since 2014, Ramaiah University opened a new BMT unit and implemented SOPs and clinical protocols for autologous and allogeneic BMT in 2015. The program is performing approximately 20 transplants per year.
- University of Ioannina (Greece): An agreement was established in 2018 to support the development of BMT at UOI. One physician has been trained in Chicago in 2019 and exchange of guidelines as well as SOPs will help starting transplant within 2020
- University College Hospital in Ibadan and University of Lagos Teaching Hospital (Nigeria): This BMT project in Ibadan started with training of one physician and meeting with local leadership in 2015. A second physician was trained in 2019. The BMT project in Lagos was started in 2018 and two physicians will complete their training in 2019. BMT in Nigeria is a high priority due to the elevated number of inhabitants (over 200 millions), as well as the highest worldwide incidence of sickle cell anemia (over 5 million patients), whose only hope for a cure is a BMT. Anticipated start of BMT in 2020.
- Civil Service Hospital in Kathmandu, Nepal: Through continuous collaboration with UIC since 2011, partly supported the Binaytara Foundation and capital investment of Nepalese Government a BMT Unit and Stem Cell Processing Lab opened in August 2016. The Nepal BMT Program has now completed over 50 transplants.
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Global Cancer
The Global Cancer program seeks to improve access to quality primary health care services within existing local health care systems, including improving access to quality cervical cancer prevention services. Through collaboration with local partners, the program works to strengthen local health care workforce and service delivery systems.
Contact: Andrew Dykens
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Global Emergency Medicine
The Global Emergency Medicine program works in several regions of the world to improve both emergency care and disaster risk reduction capacity. UIC faculty collaborate with partners at local universities, healthcare facilities, and Ministries of Health to evaluate capacity, develop and deliver training opportunities, and create infrastructure to improve care.
Contact: Stacey Chamberlain
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Global Mental Health
The Global Mental Health (GMH) Program is a program of research, training, capacity building and advocacy of the Center for Global Health at the University of Illinois College of Medicine. It is comprised of faculty, staff, and students from diverse disciplinary backgrounds, from UIC and partner organizations.
Contacts:
Stevan M. Weine
Mary Bunn- Family and Community Support for Arabic-Speaking Refugees in Chicago
- Addressing Mental Illness and Physical Comorbidities in Migrants and Their Families
- Scaling-up Stepped Care for Women’s Mental Health in Primary Care in an LMIC
- Low Intensity Family Support for Syrian Refugees in an LMIC
- Turkish Red Crescent Psychosocial Program Evaluation
- Family and Community Support for Arabic-Speaking Refugees in Chicago
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Global Pathology
The Global Pathology program is focused on capacity building activities through collaborating with local partners to create teaching and training opportunities. The program involves faculty from departments across the UIC College of Medicine including pathology, surgery, and dentistry.
Contact: Maarten Bosland
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Global Surgery
The Global Surgery Program at UIC collaborates with institutions and programs in several countries to pursue the goal of safe, effective, affordable surgical care accessible to all. Students, residents, fellows, and faculty from multiple surgical departments, including Anesthesia and Obstetrics/Gynecology, assist through training, clinical care, research, and innovation to achieve that goal.
Contact: Thomas Sims
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Global Womens Health
The Global Women’s Health Program supports sustainable development of women’s health through clinical, educational, and research efforts and with initiatives in women’s reproductive and gynecologic health. Many of the program’s efforts focus on capacity building in order to improve both access to and quality of women’s healthcare in the regions where they work.
- The Mela Project – Mek’ele, Ethiopia
- Jimma University – Jimma, Ethiopia
- The INCLEN Trust International (International Clinical Epidemiology Newtork) – New Delhi, Dehli
- The Africa Center of Excellence in Materials, Product Development and Nanotechnology (MAPRONANO ACE) – Makerere University – Kampala, Uganda
By Location Heading link
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United States
United States
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St. Kitts and Nevis
St. Kitts and Nevis
All Projects Heading link
Sort the projects by Specialty or search for projects. Click on the project title to read more about the project.
Projects Heading link
| Speciality | Project Name | Location | UIC Lead Faculty |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bone & Marrow Transplant | National Cancer Institute in Kyiv, Ukraine | Kyiv, Ukraine | Damiano Rondelli |
| Bone & Marrow Transplant | Universidad Mayor San Andres in La Paz, Bolivia | La Paz, Bolivia | Damiano Rondelli |
| Bone & Marrow Transplant | Hermanos Ameijeras Hospital in Havana, Cuba | Havana, Cuba | Damiano Rondelli |
| Bone & Marrow Transplant | MS Ramaiah BMT | Bangalore, India | Damiano Rondelli |
| Bone & Marrow Transplant | University of Ioannina, Greece BMT | Ioannina, Greece | Damiano Rondelli |
| Bone & Marrow Transplant | University College Hospital in Ibadan and University of Lagos Teaching Hospital (Nigeria) | Ibidan and Lagos, Nigeria | Damiano Rondelli |
| Bone & Marrow Transplant | Civil Service Hospital BMT | Kathmandu, Nepal | Damiano Rondelli |
| Cancer | Global Community Health Partnership | Kedougou and Tambacounda, Senegal | Andrew Dykens, MD |
| Emergency Medicine | A Community engagement in disaster risk reduction model for the Caribbean | St Kitts and Nevis (a two-island federation) | Janet Lin |
| Emergency Medicine | Emergency Care Capacity Building in Kisumu, Kenya | Kisumu, Kenya | Janet Lin |
| Emergency Medicine | Global Emergency Care Training Program | Masaka, Uganda | Stacey Chamberlain, MD, MPH |
| Emergency Medicine | Community Engagement in Disaster Risk Reduction and Social Entrepreneurship | Port-au-Prince, Haiti | Janet Lin |
| Emergency Medicine | Heart Rescue India | Bangalore, India | Bellur Prabhakar, PhD |
| Mental Health | Family and Community Support for Arabic-Speaking Refugees in Chicago | Chicago, Illinois | Mary Bunn |
| Mental Health | Addressing Mental Illness and Physical Comorbidities in Migrants and Their Families | Dushanbe, Tajikistan and Prishtina, Kosovo | Stevan Weine |
| Mental Health | Addressing Mental Illness and Physical Comorbidities in Migrants and Their Families | Kumasi, Ghana | Maarten C. Bosland, DVSc, PhD |
| Mental Health | Low Intensity Family Support for Syrian Refugees in an LMIC | Istanbul, Turkey | Stevan Weine, MD |
| Mental Health | Scaling-up Stepped Care for Women’s Mental Health in Primary Care in an LMIC | Dushanbe and Sughd, Tajikistan | Stevan Weine, MD |
| Mental Health | Turkish Red Crescent Psychosocial Program Evaluation | Istanbul, Turkey | Stevan Weine, MD |
| Mental Health | Restoring Social Bonds: Group-Based Treatment and the Social Resources of Syrian Refugees | Amman and Zarqa, Jordan | Mary Bunn, PhD, LCSW |
| Pathology | Capacity Building in Pathology | Accra and Kumasi, Ghana | Maarten C. Bosland, DVSc, PhD |
| Pathology | Capacity Building in Anatomy, Dentistry, Radiation Oncology, and Family Medicine | Kumasi, Ghana | Maarten C. Bosland, DVSc, PhD |
| Pediatrics | Leveraging Existing Health Systems to Promote Early Childhood Development | Belagavi, India | Reshma Shah, MD |
| Pediatrics | Early Childhood Development Grant | Kenya | Reshma Shah, MD |
| Surgery | General and Pediatric Surgery Research, Training and Capacity Building | Mekelle, Ethiopia | Thomas Sims, MD |
| Surgery | Pediatric Surgery Capacity Building | Lviv, Ukraine | Thomas Sims, MD, Thom Lobe, MD |
| Women's Health | Mapronana Ace | Kampala, Uganda | Gelila Goba |
| Women's Health | The Inclen Trust International | New Delhi, Dehli | Gelila Goba |
| Women's Health | The Mela Project | Mek’ele, Ethiopia | Gelila Goba |
| Women's Health | Jimma Universtity | Jimma, Ethiopia | Gelila Goba |