The global health field has exploded in the past decade, with new schools opening up all over the country. In today’s San Francisco Chronicle, reporter Erin Allday takes a closer look at global health sciences and how the Bay Area - with two major centers, including Stanford's Center for Innovation in Global Health - is at the forefront of the emerging field.
As Allday explains, enrollment in global health programs has more than doubled across the country, and experts attribute the growth to an increased awareness of what's going on in the world and how that has a direct effect on U.S. health. Tachi Yamada, MD, former president of the Gates Foundation’s global health program, says it’s also as simple as people wanting to help others:
There's been a dramatic change that's occurred in the past 10 years. Up until recently, the idea of global health was mostly academic - there was a sense that people couldn't do anything about these problems. They were too big.
But I talk to young people who are going into medicine today, and they really do view their mission as helping people in need without regard to geographic boundaries. The idea that problems that happen out there don't have an impact on us here, it's probably a little bit outdated.
Previously: Ethics for medical students and researchers overseas: A talk by Michele Barry and Global Health Corps starts training at Stanford
Photo by ToddMorris
