LIVE India Webcast – Saturday, August 13, 9:30AM-1:00PM CST

The Global Health Initiative will present a live and interactive webcast entitled “Sexual Identity, Health and Stigma in India: Traditional Statuses and Western Influences” which seeks to further current discourse on the factors that shape the lives of men who have sex with men (MSM) in contemporary India. Over the past decade, a collision of indigenous, post-colonial, and modern Western forces, along with a rapid but disparate rise in wealth and power, has fostered substantial transformations in social and sexual mores. The recent repeal of Penal Code 377 and the first male-to-male “Bollywood kiss” are tangible manifestations of the empowerment that these transformations have brought. Yet Western thought and tradition surrounding homosexual identity and behavior, including the heterosexual/homosexual dichotomy itself, is increasingly recognized as a poor framework for understanding male sexuality in India.

The webcast will include a multidisciplinary roundtable discussion with an international panel of experts in fields such as anthropology, sociology, law, economics, and medicine. Included on the panel is event organizer and GHI steering committee member, John Schneider, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor in the Department of Medicine, Section of Infectious Diseases and Global Health. Dr. Schneider is the Director of Global Health Programs in the Department of Medicine, and his interests include the social and sexual networks of high-risk men, MSM and truck drivers, network based modeling and interventions, and HIV/STI transmission dynamics and prevention. He has extensive research experience with population in the South Side of Chicago and in southern India, where he recently conducted an innovative cell-phone social network study of MSM.

The event is meant to be interactive, and participation via Facebook, Twitter (#IndiaMSM), or email (msm.in.india@gmail.com) is encouraged.  The experts will review the feedback provided by the global audience and they will address a selection of comments and questions in second session of the webcast.

This event is co-sponsored by the Center for International Studies at the University of Chicago, the University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration, and South Asia at Chicago.

Watch the webcast live here at GHI’s website Saturday at 9:30 a.m. CDT (8:00 p.m. IST), or on The University of Chicago’s UChicago LIVE site.

For more background information, visit UChicago’s Science Life blog.

University of Ibadan College of Medicine Delegation Visit

A delegation from the University of Ibadan’s College of Medicine in Ibadan, Nigeria arrived at the Global Health Initiative on Tuesday, August 9 during their visit to Northwestern’s Feinberg School of Medicine.  The delegation members included:

-Olusegun Olusina Akinyinka, MBBS, PhD, FMCPaed, FRCPCH, Pediatrician and Provost of the College of Medicine at the University of Ibadan

-Ayotunde Idowu Ajaiyeoba, MBBS, MSc., FAWCS, FMC Opth., FICS, Dean of Clinical Sciences at the College of Medicine at the University of Ibadan

-Yetunde Adebisi Aken’Ova, MBBS. FWACP. FMCPat, Department of Hematology at the College of Medicine at the University of Ibadan

-Haruna Muktar, MBBS, MSc, FMCPath., Hematologist/Oncologist and current principal investigator for the Harvard/PEPFAR program at Ahmadu Bello University

The University of Ibadan is Nigeria’s oldest university and it is generally recognized as the country’s premier institution of higher learning. The College of Medicine is a renowned training institution for medicine and medical sciences in Nigeria, while its affiliated University College Hospital is widely regarded as a center of excellence for clinical medicine, training of health care professionals, and medical research in West Africa.

Through the University of Chicago’s partnership with the University of Ibadan, the Global Health Initiative has facilitated clinical electives and research opportunities for medical students, residents and faculty members interested in gaining exposure to a different health care delivery infrastructure and a unique spectrum of diseases. The University of Chicago has an extensive history of collaborative research with the University of Ibadan in genomics and environmental health, and is committed to building capacity in other specialties. Most recently, the partnership has expanded into the fields of maternal and child health, ethics of clinical research and medical education reform through short-term training opportunities, joint grant proposals and workshops.

During their visit to the University of Chicago, the delegation toured the Knapp Center for Biomedical Discovery and Comer Children’s Hospital in addition to meeting with Dr. Paula K. Jaudes, Professor of Pediatrics, and Dr. Melissa Gilliam, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Pediatrics.  The delegation also met with Dr. Kenneth Polonsky, Dean of Pritzker School of Medicine and the Biological Sciences Division to discuss the possibility of further collaboration between the two universities. Learn more about the Global Health Initiative’s partnership with the University of Ibadan and opportunities to become involved.

Welcome to the GHI Blog!

The Global Health Initiative (GHI) at the University of Chicago was created in 2008 under the direction of Olufunmilayo (Funmi) Olopade, MD, FACP, Walter L. Palmer Distinguished Service Professor in Medicine and Human Genetics and Associate Dean for Global Health.  GHI was established in response to the many UChicago faculty members from within the medical center and across various university departments and disciplines who perform global health work at home and abroad.

GHI connects UChicago faculty and students to global health experiences at our international partner sites in over ten countries, in addition to receiving visiting scholars, students, and faculty from foreign universities and hospitals.  GHI also promotes research and development in the fields of environment, health and vulnerable populations; maternal and child health; genomics and non-communicable diseases; and health systems delivery. GHI is also committed to integrating medical ethics into all research, education and service activities.

In addition to our website, Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter accounts, this blog gives GHI staff and faculty a chance to share current projects we are working on, provide information on upcoming events and activities, and highlight some of the people and institutions that we work with around the world. If you have any questions or would like to join our mailing list, please email globalhealth@uchicago.edu.