WVU’s Global Health Week begins Oct. 22

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The West Virginia University Global Health Program is partnering with the WVU School of Public Health Office for Public Health Practice to sponsor this year’s Global Health Week. The lectures will feature a speaker at noon each day starting Monday, Oct. 22 through Thursday, Oct. 25 in the WVU Health Sciences Learning Center.

“The world is a global community,” Melanie Fisher, M.D., M.Sc., director of the Global Health Program, said. “We are all linked to each other. What happens in one area regarding health affects everyone, so we are all in this together to improve the health of others globally.”

The featured speakers are:

• Linda Wright, M.D., who will discuss “Helping Babies Breathe – A Global Journey,” on Monday in room 1905 in the Learning Center. She is the deputy director of the Center for Research for Mothers and Children at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute for Child Health and Human Development. Dr. Wright is also a board-certified pediatrician and neonatologist  and an adjunct professor at George Washington University.
• Kenneth Rutherford Ph.D., who will discuss “The Global Landmine Crisis: A Survivor’s Tale,” on Tuesday in room 1905 in the Learning Center. Dr. Rutherford is a professor of political science and the director of the Center for International Stabilization and Recovery at James Madison University. He is co-founder of the Landmine Survivors Network and is a renowned leader in the Nobel Peace Prize-winning coalition that spearheaded the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty and the global movement that led to the 2008 Cluster Munitions Ban Treaty.
• V. K. Raju, M.D., who will be speaking about “Avoidable Blindness in Children – A Global Tragedy but Not Hopeless,” on Wednesday in room 1905 in the Learning Center. Dr. Raju is a clinical professor in the WVU Department of Ophthalmology.  He is the founder and medical director of the Eye Foundation of America and a four-time awardee from the American Academy of Ophthalmology.
• Emily Harrison, M.D., M.P.H. who will discuss “Why in the World are Women Dying: Maternal Mortality in the Developing World,” on Thursday in room 1905 in the Learning Center. She is a clinical assistant professor of family medicine in the Department of Family Medicine at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University. She is the executive director of Shoulder to Shoulder, Inc. and has served as that organization’s director of Women’s Health since 2006.

Each lecture is open to all health profession students, residents, faculty and staff, as well as the Morgantown community.  Lunch will be provided to those who RSVP before Oct. 17, 2012, to Jacque Visyak at jvisyak@hsc.wvu.edu. Please call 304-293-5916 with special dietary needs.

For more information on the Global Health Program, visit www.hsc.wvu.edu/som/tropmed.