As an internationally renowned health sciences institution, the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) maintains a reach that goes well beyond US borders. Accomplishments and contributions by UCSF basic science and clinical research teams have transformed health and health care in the global community in HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, tobacco use and numerous other areas.
At the center of international outreach is UCSF Global Health Sciences, which works with partners in countries throughout the world to improve health and reduce the burden of disease in the world’s most vulnerable populations.
Global Health Sciences student Amy Penn plays with children in an orphanage in Lusaka, Zambia, where the Flip Flop Foundation (http://www.flipflopfoundation.org) provides malaria education and other life skills and basic necessities to disadvantaged Zambians.
Established in 2003, Global Health Sciences involves an innovative team of educators, researchers and health care professionals working around the world to train global health leaders and build sustainable solutions to improve health and eliminate disease.
Among current programs are the Tanzania Projects Consortium in East Africa, which includes HIV/AIDS prevention research, and the Global Health Diplomacy Initiative, which is focused on developing a framework for this new field that integrates international health assistance and political relations. The UCSF initiative includes defining a research agenda for the field and developing curricular content to educate members of the academic community and others who plan to work abroad.
UCSF currently has many active projects in scores of countries throughout the world that represent all four UCSF schools, basic science departments and specialized, interdisciplinary units such as the AIDS Research Institute.
For a look at Global Health Sciences’ growing number of international partnerships, see this map.
