Global Initiatives at UTMB

12/17/2025

Student Spotlight: UTMB School of Public & Population Health MPH student Briana Nguyen completed a global public health placement in Lima, Peru, supporting a community-led childhood nutrition program. Her experience highlighted the power of partnership, cultural humility, and community-driven solutions.

As part of Briana Nguyen’s Master of Public Health Applied Practice Experience at The University of Texas Medical Branch, she completed a global public health placement in Lima, Peru, in collaboration with Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia (UPCH). El Comedor Ermitaño Alto, a community-based nutrition program serving children ages 6–59 months who had been identified with anemia through the local health center. This experience allowed her to translate her academic training and long-standing interest in maternal and child health into hands-on, field-based public health work in a global setting. The learning environment was grounded in community engagement rather than a traditional academic or clinical structure. El Comedor Ermitaño Alto functions as a neighborhood dining and nutrition support space for children and families experiencing economic insecurity and limited access to consistent food and health services.

The program emphasized collective responsibility, mutual support, and strong interpersonal relationships. Mothers were central to the program’s daily operations and long-term sustainability, reinforcing the idea that effective public health work depends on community leadership rather than external direction. One of the most significant differences Briana observed between public health practice in Peru and the United States was the importance placed on relationship-building and flexibility. Timelines and schedules were often fluid, requiring patience and adaptability. Initially, this challenged her expectations around structure and efficiency. Over time, however, she came to understand that trust and rapport were prioritized over rigid timelines, ultimately strengthening program engagement and participation.

Data collection presented another important learning opportunity. Records often relied on handwritten documentation, vaccination cards, and caregiver recall, which posed challenges for consistency and accuracy. Working closely with local partners, Briana assisted in cleaning, organizing, and standardizing data while respecting existing systems. This process required balancing methodological rigor with cultural sensitivity and feasibility. It reinforced that evaluation tools must be adapted to local capacity in order to be useful and sustainable.

Living independently within the city allowed for deeper immersion into daily life in Lima. Navigating public transportation using buses and the Metropolitano system became part of her routine, while shopping at local markets provided insight into food availability, affordability, and dietary patterns relevant to the nutrition program. These experiences helped contextualize the social and environmental factors influencing health behaviors and reinforced how closely public health outcomes are tied to everyday living conditions.

Collaboration with UPCH faculty, students, and community members was central to the experience. Academic partnerships offered exposure to global public health research and implementation, while direct engagement with families at El Comedor revealed the lived realities behind population-level data. Conversations with mothers about feeding practices, childhood illness, and access to care highlighted the importance of culturally appropriate communication and trust in maternal and child health initiatives.

One of the most impactful lessons for Briana from this experience was recognizing how informal, community-run systems often compensate for gaps in formal health infrastructure. Programs like El Comedor Ermitaño Alto play a critical role in addressing nutrition and health education needs that may otherwise go unmet. This experience deepened my appreciation for community-driven solutions and the importance of designing public health programs that align with local strengths and resources. Overall, this experience strengthened her commitment to advancing maternal child health and nutrition for all.

12/02/2025

🌍UTMB Ophthalmology in Belize!

Last month, 11/09-11/13, the UTMB Ophthalmology team sent their first group on a mission trip to Belize, partnering with the Belize Council for the Visually Impaired to provide essential eye care to the underserved community.

✅ Over 80 patients were seen in just 3 days
✅ Delivered medical and surgical care to preserve vision
✅ Supported by UTMB GME for resident participation

Special thanks to Dr. Misha Syed, Professor of Ophthalmology and glaucoma specialist, and Dr. Phillip Keys (PGY-2) for leading this impactful inaugural initiative. We look forward to continuing this work with BCVI!

11/10/2025

Student Spotlight: Nidhi Subramanian and Zeyanna Dhalla (JSSOM MS2s) spent part of the summer in Nairobi through the UTMB Global Student Experience, completing a pediatric surgery preceptorship at Kenyatta National Hospital with both clinical and research components.

Research: They were invited to write a case report after witnessing a rare cloacal exstrophy case, later learning during surgery that the child had two appendixes, consistent with a unique variant described by their team. They also began a Wilms tumor chart review exploring tumor size and histopathology relationships.

Clinical learning: They rounded on pediatrics, spent time in pediatric oncology and the NICU, and observed in the OR—experiences that helped each student clarify interests (Nidhi in NICU care, Zeyanna in the OR).

10/27/2025

Last week UTMB co-hosted with the Instituto Nacional de Salud (Peru) a webinar on sequencing for TB care.

Highlights in the recording: targeted sequencing that can deliver multi-drug resistance profiles in about a week; when WGS adds value for surveillance and outbreak investigation; report formats that clinicians can use at a glance; and the practical pieces programs need—training, SOPs, steady supplies, strong specimen transport, and fast reporting to clinics.

Examples include Eswatini’s integration of targeted sequencing into its diagnostic algorithm and Peru’s national reference lab experience, plus Botswana perspectives on planning, community education, and ethics for publishing hotspot/cluster data.

Watch the recording: https://youtu.be/SLwTjPWWPEc

10/24/2025

Student Spotlight: UTMB John Sealy School of Medicine student, Thomas Graves, joined a medical mission along Peru’s Amazon River, providing care to remote communities while discovering the power of global connection through service.

As part of his Global Health Scholarly Concentration, Thomas Graves traveled to Iquitos, Peru, a city in the Amazon Jungle, where he lived on a medical boat for a month serving communities along the Amazon River. Each morning, the team sailed to different villages and began the day by visiting schools to teach topics such as cleaning water, dental hygiene, and preventative health.

Morning clinics were then held on the boat, where patients presented with both tropical diseases like malaria and dengue, as well as common conditions such as hypertension and back pain from farming. Thomas also assisted with interpreting, which allowed him to connect more closely with patients and build meaningful relationships. One especially memorable experience involved kayaking down a smaller river and hiking through the jungle to reach a homebound patient who otherwise would not have received care.

In the evenings, the team would hike through the jungle to see the wide variety of wildlife and plants, and visit the villages to play soccer and share meals with the communities.

During this time, Thomas worked with physicians from Peru, South Africa, and England and learned about the challenges of providing healthcare in resource-limited settings, including reliance on physical exams when laboratory testing was unavailable and the financial barriers patients face when living in isolated areas of the jungle. He also spent an additional month at the regional hospital in Iquitos, rotating through trauma, OB/GYN, infectious disease, and oncology. There, he encountered severe manifestation of diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, and dengue, as well as trauma from river accidents and burns from the frequent gas-related explosions that happened on the floating river gas stations.

In addition to patient care, Thomas worked on a project aimed at improving the medical boat’s newly adopted EMR system, designed to function offline and sync with a main database every few weeks due to the lack of internet access on the river.

He surveyed both patients and providers to assess satisfaction with the system and identified areas for improvement. This work, titled Patient and Provider Satisfaction with EMR Systems for Medical Boats Serving Communities Along the Amazon River, was later presented as an oral presentation in Taipei, Taiwan, and published as a manuscript. The experience combined clinical service, teaching, and research while reinforcing his long-term commitment to advancing healthcare delivery in underserved populations worldwide.

Click below to review Thomas's recently published article.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40776118/

10/17/2025

Student Spotlight: UTMB John Sealy School of Medicine student Zoe Fowler spent six weeks in Cusco, Peru through the UTMB Global Student Experience. She worked in a basic science research lab, gaining hands-on bench experience that introduced her to microbiology and infectious disease topics that were new for her.

Zoe is enrolled in the Global Health and Bilingual Health tracks in Spanish. While in Cusco, she took Spanish lessons three times a week for two hours and used the language daily, which strengthened her communication and confidence in clinical and lab settings.

She also observed how physicians she met often take on a broader scope of practice, including prevention guidance and chronic disease management, and learned that recent cholera cases were linked to sanitation. The experience reinforced her commitment to cultural humility and patient-centered care.

Zoe remains open on specialty choice. She plans to integrate global health into her career, build ongoing relationships with communities, and apply the flexibility she learned when schedules and plans changed.

09/26/2025

UTMB is building new connections in Kenya.
The UTMB School of Nursing in Galveston (SON) and UTMB School of Health Professions (SHP) are developing interprofessional, bidirectional partnerships with Meru University of Science & Technology (MUST) and Kenyatta University—opening two-way opportunities for students and faculty.

Dr. Kathleen Murphy (SON) teamed with SHP colleagues Drs. José Rojas and Rajkumar Rajendran to meet with MUST leadership and faculty, including Dean Dr. Mary Joy Kaimuri (School of Nursing) and Professor Patrick Kubai (Public Health), and partner Dennis Kithinji supporting SHP CLS.

At Kenyatta University, conversations continued with Senior Lecturers Dr. Priscilla Kabue and Mrs. Elizabeth Ambani. Affiliation agreements are underway.

📸 Photos: nursing labs, planning sessions with leadership teams, and even a working breakfast.

09/15/2025

UTMB Global Initiatives Coffee Hour: Asia — Recap
Hosted by Dr. Scott Weaver and supported by the Moody Thompson Endowment, this Coffee Hour highlighted collaborations that bridge education, research, and service across Asia. Thank you to everyone who joined and shared ideas for future partnerships.

Lawrence E. Ginsberg, MD (Radiology/Otolaryngology)
Dr. Ginsberg’s recorded “Academic Travel” remarks underscored how international teaching creates enduring, bidirectional relationships that strengthen curricula, mentoring, and scholarly work at home and abroad.

Gregory C. Gray, MD, MPH, FIDSA (Infectious Diseases; Microbiology & Immunology; Global Health)
UTMB’s One Health work in Asia includes surveillance and pathogen discovery, diagnostic assay development, virology laboratory training, and vaccine trials. Current projects span air pollution and respiratory viruses in Mongolia; spillover investigations in Vietnam; and training/research in Sarawak, Malaysia—where ~15 UTMB students have trained in tropical medicine.

Ahmar H. Hashmi, MD, MPH & Blair H. Brown, MS, RDN, LD, CNSC (Nutrition Sciences & Health Behavior)
Partners along the Thai–Myanmar border (Borderland Health Foundation) expanded access to maternal–newborn–child health by establishing satellite outreach clinics serving migrant communities; UTMB placed its first student with the team. With Chiang Mai University, collaborators are co-developing Thailand’s first ASCEND-accredited registered dietitian training program, supported by curriculum co-design, faculty workshops, and a values-alignment process; local leaders recently signaled they are moving forward.

Mansoo Ko, PT, PhD (Physical Therapy & Rehabilitation Sciences)
South Korea updates included MOUs with partner universities (e.g., Yonsei; Daegu), a growing PT/OT student pipeline shaped by international dissection workshops, and a planned interprofessional Global Health core course (Spring 2026) centered on the South Korean health system.

Karthik Mani, OTD, OTR, FACOT (Occupational Therapy)
Dr. Mani discussed scope-of-practice and workforce development, contributing to the WFOT Global Strategy for the OT Workforce (major scoping review; multiple countries adopting) and engaging with government and professional bodies in Malaysia to advance OT capacity.

Norman Miles Farr, MD, MPH (Internal Medicine; Community Engagement & Education)
Japan exchanges are growing: UTMB residents and faculty spend time rounding and teaching in Hokkaido (Sapporo), with reciprocal activity in Galveston and expansion discussions in Yokohama and Kurume. This year also launched medical student participation. Reflections from other UTMB residents and faculty emphasized cultural humility, teaching, and case-based learning—underscoring the bidirectional value of the exchange.

We appreciate our speakers and partners for strengthening UTMB’s collaborative footprint across Asia and look forward to future Coffee Hours that connect more faculty, trainees, and collaborators.

More info here: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/utmb-global-initiatives-coffee-hour-asia-utmb-spph-54bkc

09/12/2025

Please help us welcome four visiting students from Mexico who are beginning their MPH journey at UTMB’s School of Public & Population Health through the ConTex Research in Public Health Fellowship.

Welcome, Paulina Alcocer González Camarena and Valeria B. Galán Trujillo from Universidad Panamericana Ciudad de México, and Andrea Villalobos Montoya and Oscar David Almaraz Aguilar from UASLP Universidad Autónoma de San Luis Potosí.

They are medical students who will complete MPH coursework over two years while engaging in a research residency that fulfills Mexico’s social service year. Three fellows will focus on Public Health Practice and one on Bioethics.

ConTex is a joint initiative of The University of Texas System and Mexico’s Secretaría de Ciencia, Humanidades, Tecnología e Innovación, building long-term, bi-national collaborations in education and research.

09/08/2025

09/05/2025

Student Spotlight: Akash Hemanth, UTMB John Sealy School of Medicine student, recently returned from a UTMB Global Student Experience in Maua, Kenya, where he participated in a community-based research initiative centered on social health and empowerment.

Akash helped pilot a PhotoVoice project, inviting local participants to use cameras to visually document how a grassroots program had shaped their intimate partner relationships. The selected photos, ranging from new homes and shared meals to children returning to school, captured narratives of resilience and growth.

He also engaged with a rehabilitation program for children previously living on the streets, joining soccer games and seeing firsthand how reintegration efforts support education and family life.

During his time abroad, Akash also experienced the realities of delivering care in complex environments. The care he saw, and in some cases helped provide, affirmed his commitment to global service and care in high-need settings where community dynamics can change unexpectedly.

Outside of his research, he explored the natural beauty of Kenya through safari and crater hikes. “This was my first time traveling internationally on my own,” he shared. “It solidified the kind of physician and person I want to become.”