Should we establish a North American school of global health sciences?
Since 1997, an unprecedented amount of American philanthropy from both private and federal sources has been directed toward research and control programs for the major tropical infectious diseases of developing countries. The US and Canadian capacity to respond to these new initiatives might prove inadequate, however, as tropical disease research and training infrastructures have deteriorated at most North American academic health centers over the last three decades. Training opportunities in clinical tropical medicine, parasitology laboratory diagnostics, vector control, and public health practice are especially depleted and portend a lost generation of experts in these areas. In addition, unlike some of the European schools of tropical medicine, no North American medical or public health school currently boasts a comprehensive faculty in the global health sciences, with expertise that spans laboratory investigation, clinical and translational research, health policy, and international development. To meet the challenge presented by the new philanthropy targeting the global diseases of poverty, a North American school of global health sciences should be established. The North American school, possibly in association with one of the existing schools of medicine or public health, would provide interdisciplinary training to produce a new generation of global health scientists.
Department of Microbiology and Tropical Medicine, Global Health, Epidemiology and Biostatistics, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20037, USA. mtmpjh@gwumc.edu
Peter J
PJ
Hotez
D002170:Canada; D006801:Humans; D011634:Public Health / Q000193:education*; D012109:Research Support as Topic; D012581:Schools, Public Health; D014330:Tropical Medicine / Q000193:education*; D014481:United States