Guest Post by Kate Klein. This post was originally published on the Northwestern Public Health Review Blog.
For the past year I have been working with the Interdisciplinary Health Network (IHN), a collective of public health and medicine students from all over the country, interested in creating free courses on important health issues from an interdisciplinary perspective. The IHN was founded on the core belief that an integrated approach across disciplines to combating disease is needed. IHN’s mission is to create a training program that addresses this need and to develop a network across different academic sectors. The goal of the IHN is to empower students to achieve their goals as future global health professionals by providing a holistic educational environment that allows for innovative thinking in global health.
As someone who has worked on HIV prevention issues, I was particularly keen to develop a course that would bring together lecturers from a range of disciplines all working on HIV/AIDS. I was able to recruit and record lectures from leaders in the fields of advocacy, laboratory work, social entrepreneurship, clinical care and operational research. I was lucky to bring in leaders in these fields who, collectively, provide a fantastic history of HIV/AIDS, what we know, how we are fighting it (in the lab, the hospital and the field) and where vaccine and prevention research is going.
Besides the HIV/AIDS Institute, my colleagues are developing Institutes on Tuberculosis and Neglected Tropical Diseases. Each Learning Institute will be a three-week online course, with lectures that you can view at your convenience and live interactive Q&A sessions. Dates and links to the full curriculums can be found here:
AIDS Learning Institute: June 23rd – July 12 Curriculum
Speakers Include:
▪ Mitchell Warren, Executive Director, AVAC: Global Advocacy for HIV Prevention
▪ Alice Gandelman, MPH, Director, California STD/HIV Prevention Training Center
▪ Dr. Shannon Galvin, Director of Clinical Programs and Training, Center for Global Health, Northwestern University
▪ Dr. Laila Woc-Colburn, Director of Medical Education, National School of Tropical Medicine and Assistant Professor, Infectious Diseases, Baylor College of Medicine
▪ Dr. Joseph Tucker, Assistant Professor, University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Director UNC-China Programs
▪ Dr. Dorothy Lewis, Professor of Infectious Diseases, Internal Medicine, University of Texas-Houston
TB Learning Institute: July 7-July 25 Curriculum
Speakers Include:
▪ Dr. Amy Bloom, Senior Technical Advisor, USAID
▪ Colleen Daniels, TB/HIV Project Director, TAG Zeroes Campaign
NTDs Learning Institute: (pending -TBD in July) Curriculum
Speakers Include:
▪ Dr. Peter Hotez, Founding Dean, National School of Tropical Medicine
These courses are meant for just about anyone with an interest in the topic. If you are would like to apply, the application can be found on the IHN website, http://www.ihealthnetwork.org.
