| | 04 February, 2013
| | Healing the world: 70 graduates of International Master’s in Public Health program to attend 2nd alumni workshop, reunion in Jerusalem | |
 | | The 2010 inaugural Pears IMPH Alumni Continuing Education Workshop and Reunion (photo: Sasson Tiram) |
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Seventy public health professionals from over 20 countries in Africa and across the globe — all graduates of the International Master's in Public Health (IMPH) program at the Braun Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Public Health and Community Medicine — are due to return to Jerusalem next week. The graduates will participate in the 2nd Pears IMPH Alumni Continuing Education Workshop and Reunion.
(A video clip of the 2010 inaugural Pears IMPH Alumni Continuing Education Workshop and Reunion can be viewed at http://bit.ly/XiEDVN.)
At the nine-day gathering, to be held in Jerusalem from February 12-20, the alumni will attend seminars led by world-renowned public health experts, learn about cutting-edge research from academic colleagues and benefit from the opportunity to exchange professional experiences, challenges and successes. The workshop and reunion is being sponsored by the UK-based Pears Foundation.
The keynote address — ‘Global Issues of Reproductive Health’ — will be given by Dr. Michelle Williams of Harvard University’s School of Public Health and chair of its Department of Epidemiology at a one-day symposium on February 18. Williams, whose major research interests are women’s reproductive health and child health, has published over 250 scientific articles and is a recipient of the American Public Health Association’s Abraham Lilienfeld Award and the Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring.
The first two days will comprise a workshop on ‘Public Health Advocacy and Communication Strategies’ led by Dr. Everold Hosein of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the co-director of Indiana University’s Global Health Communication Center. Hosein will focus on a strategic communication planning methodology entitled COMBI (Communication-for-Behavioral-Impact) which he initiated and which has been recently combined with UNICEF’s Communication for Development (C4D).
Other workshop presenters include Dr. Barry Pakes of the University of Toronto, who will lead a day’s session on ‘Ethics and Public Health’. Dr. Alex Ezeh, executive director of the Africa Population and Health Research Center (APHRC) in Nairobi and director of the Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA) will lead a two-day session on institutional fund-raising and grant-writing in an African setting, focusing on the challenges of building strong research institutions in Africa and training the next generation of African Academics.
“The Pears Foundation is a strategic partner in our IMPH program,” says Braun School Director and former IMPH program Director Prof. Yehuda Neumark. “In providing support for both IMPH scholarships for students from low-income countries and follow-up alumni activities, it aims to actively build and foster a network of scholars in low-income regions of the world who benefit from academic expertise in Israel and transfer that expertise towards efforts to alleviate disease, end extreme poverty and promote health and development. Its support also helps strengthen relationships between Israel and Africa through building strong academic cooperation.”
Over 750 healthcare and related professionals from 90 countries have graduated from the IMPH program since its inception in 1971. The program harnesses Israel’s long-term and broad experience in community medicine in order to help healthcare professionals throughout the developing world and among emerging economies tackle public-health challenges and create a healthier world. The program, whose philosophy is rooted in community-oriented primary care, builds on the students’ basic knowledge and experience by offering specialized courses in such topics as epidemiology, health economics and administration, organization and evaluation of healthcare services, and sociology of health and illness
(Text courtesy of Division for Development and Public Relations.)
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