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Global Health and the Environment

The search for new approaches to overcome the obstacles facing public health, the environment and economic development is an exciting and rewarding pursuit.  Our scholars and students have access to coursework, research and fieldwork that promote scientific understanding of these topics and help guide public policy.  Like nearly all programs at the university, global health and environment studies benefits from its multidisciplinary offerings that provide additional perspectives from other experts with similar goals.  We provide students with an interdisciplinary set of skills to prepare them to recognize biomedical, social, economic, and other factors that affect collective health worldwide. 

Whether it’s preclinical classroom instruction or working a stint at a prenatal care clinic in a foreign country, it’s through this exposure to educational experiences that students gain a broader perspective about the roles of public health, environmental influences, and medical care practice.  The efforts vary from immunization campaigns in rural posts, to HIV research studies, to developing a heat-stable, non-degrading measles vaccine that could lead to a global eradication campaign. 

Tufts has partnerships with students, educators, researchers and institutions in India, Pakistan, China, Hong Kong, Vietnam, Panama, Ecuador, Argentina, Ghana, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and many more.  Many of our initiatives are funded by or associated with prestigious institutions such as National Institutes of Health, World Health Organization, National Institute of Epidemiology, National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Center for Disease Control, and Institute for Clinical Research and Health Policy Studies.

An Ecological Analysis of Cryptosporidium in Kenya
Led by principle investigator Jeffrey K. Griffiths, MD MPH&TM, the major goal of this research is to map the genotypes of /C. parvum/ isolates found in water, animal feces, and from cases of human diarrhea in a region of Kenya where HIV is prevalent and human-animal contact is frequent (Meru Town and Meru game park, Kenya). Collaborators include the Vice Chancellor of Kenya Methodist University and the Kenya Wildlife Service.
Borghesani Memorial Prize
This prize is awarded to second-semester sophomores and juniors who undertake a research project, internship, volunteer activity, or plan of study in any field involving international issues. The prize encourages personal growth and independence, while increasing one's understanding of all peoples and encouraging a commitment to the world community. Past recipients of the prize have traveled abroad in order to study, conduct research, participate in international internships, and become involved in social change movements.
Center for International Environmental and Resource Policy (CIERP)
Established in 1990 to support the growing demand for international environmental leaders, the Center for International Environment and Resource Policy's mission is to educate students to become policy and decision-makers who will keep environmental concerns at the forefront of the national agenda. Through the Center, students develop the skills necessary to formulate effective environmental strategies and solutions.
Cuban Experience: Graduate Research Internships in Cuba
This internship is one of many opportunities at the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. The program enables graduate students across the schools at Tufts to pursue short-term research internships in Cuba in the fields of education, agriculture, health, the environment and cultural studies. Contact the Latino Center for more information.
Effectiveness and Cost of HIV Care Delivery and Treatment in Kenya
Dr. Mkaya Mwamburi of the Tufts University School of Medicine is conducting a trial of modified, directly observed therapy for HIV, and determining the cost-effectiveness of this approach. He is also doing qualitative research to determine why some people afflicted with HIV in Kenya may elect not to undergo antiretroviral therapy when it is available. His current focus is in operational and translational research in developing countries.
Engineers Without Borders
Engineers Without Borders (EWB) promotes international awareness and responsibility by completing engineering projects designed to improve the standard of living in developing areas. EWB provides a forum and community for engineers and non-engineers alike to learn about developing countries, their cultures, and the development issues facing them. Students have worked on a model green building in Ecuador and water filtration in El Salvador in an effort to build a better world, one community at a time.
EPIIC
The Education for Public Inquiry and International Citizenship (EPIIC) program is a carefully integrated multidisciplinary program which, through its innovative and rigorous curricula and projects, prepares undergraduates to lead their communities -- local, national and global. Each year, EPIIC explores one broad global dilemma and provokes students to explore its complexity. High intellectual engagement, passion, and genuine objectivity have been the standard of EPIIC: the cornerstone of Tufts University's international relations education for the 21st century.
Feinstein International Center
The Feinstein International Center strives to improve the lives and livelihoods of communities caught up in emergencies, war, and other humanitarian crises. Established in 1996 as part of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, the Center conducts field-based research in complex emergency situations on the politics and policy of helping the vulnerable. It works in partnership with national and international organizations to bring about institutional changes that enhance effective policy reform and promote best practices.
Flowers of the Alps
Flowers of the Alps is a biology and environmental studies course offered at the Tufts campus in Talloires, France, during the first Summer Session. The course focuses on the Savoy region's world-class display of montane and alpine floral diversity. Sessions highlight outstanding representatives of important plant families, their human and ecological relevance, and the design of dichotomous keys. Outdoor field sessions are devoted to recognizing species in their native environment, evaluating shifts in alpine vegetation, and enhancing agricultural diversity in the region's farm community.
Food Policy and Applied Nutrition
Built around a high-quality, multidisciplinary teaching and research curriculum, the FPAN program seeks to equip students with the diverse skills and comprehensive knowledge base needed to make a successful impact on food policy and nutrition intervention worldwide. With its three fields of specialization, FPAN provides conceptual and analytical skills, as well as a solid foundation in applied statistics and research in the technical aspects of program planning, design, implementation, and evaluation.
Global Development and Environment Institute
The Global Development and Environment Institute (G-DAE) was established to investigate how nations and societies at differing stages of economic development can pursue development in an environmentally and socially sustainable manner. It also seeks to assist the public and private sectors in creating policies that promote sustainability. Through research, curriculum development, a visiting scholars program, conferences, and faculty seminars, the institute offers opportunities for shared activities between the Fletcher School and Graduate and Professional Studies; it also provides employment opportunities for graduate students.
Global Health Framework Interdisciplinary MPH
This three-year program funded by the National Institutes of Health links all the Tufts graduate schools around the topic of Global Health. The program, which was first held in September of 2006, promotes interdisciplinary education and research at Tufts through a series of workshops. It is designed to integrate Tufts courses with those of institutions in East Africa, and soon in South Africa, India, and other sites, using the curriculum co-development model.
Global Health Interest Group
The premise behind this Tufts University School of Medicine student organization is that students who have a positive experience abroad early in their training are likely to be more sensitive to issues of international health and to engage in such work in the future. The Global Health Interest Group strives to provide a monthly international health series seminar, help students engage in international work after their first year, establish an international summer selective program for first-year students, and encourage students to spend a fourth year rotation abroad.
Global Health Internship at Father Muller Medical College
Father Muller Medical College and the Public Health & Family Medicine Department at TUSM offer Tufts medical and public health students two-month summer fellowships in Mangalore, India. Each summer since 2005, six Tufts students have participated in a rich didactic and clinical program taught by Father Muller faculty. In addition, students visit local hospitals, community health centers, homeopathy clinics and other medical facilities including uniquely Indian health settings such as ashrams and ayurvedic medicine centers.
Global Health Internship in Panama
This program was developed in collaboration with the School of Medicine at Panama University (Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Nacional de Panama). Students are assigned to a community health center in the Panama West Health Area, where they have the opportunity to work as volunteers. Their days are divided between volunteer work and the study of Spanish, with an emphasis on medical terminology.
Global Health Internships in East Africa
This project, based on work conducted by Dr. Jeffrey Griffiths, Associate Professor of Public Health and Family Medicine, places students at the Institute of Public Health at Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, and the School of Public Health at Muhimbili University College of Health Sciences in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Students function as facilitators, helping faculty at the participating institutions learn how to use Tufts University Sciences Knowledgebase (TUSK).
Global Health MPH Concentration
The Global Health Master's Degree in Public Health at Tufts University School of Medicine is designed for students who anticipate studying, identifying, and solving public health problems in a global environment. It seeks to provide students with an interdisciplinary set of skills; to prepare them to recognize biomedical, social, economic, and other factors that affect health; and to identify, design, monitor, and implement interventions that address health disparities. The concentration takes full advantage of the great breadth of global health-related courses and scholarship at Tufts.
Global Masters of Arts Program (GMAP)
The Global Masters of Arts Program at the Fletcher School is an intensive, year-long graduate program that combines three two-week residency sessions with Internet-mediated study and discussions to enable mid-career professionals to find better, more innovative solutions to global problems without leaving their current positions. GMAP helps participants understand the complex and nuanced intersections between the worlds of international business, international organizations and NGOs, and governments. GMAP II expands upon the groundwork laid in the first session, and comprises primarily professionals interested in security issues.
Hickey-Peyton International Travel Fellowship
The Hickey-Peyton Travel Fellowship was established through an anonymous gift to the Tufts School of Medicine to support students interested in public health research/activities in international settings. It is hoped that, by taking advantage of this opportunity, students will gain a broader perspective on the roles of public health and medical care practice. Fellowships are awarded annually to first-year medical students.
Hummingbird Cay Tropical Field Station
The Biology Department collaborates with the Environmental Studies Program to offer a unique off-campus program at Hummingbird Cay (HBC) Tropical Field Station on a remote privately-owned island in the Bahamas. Each March, up to 15 students attend HBC for ten days of research and seminar activities related to the international aspects of climate change, disturbance ecology, land and water use, waste management, and ecotourism.
Innovative Curricula in Water & International Research
The Innovative Curricula in Water & International Research is a five-year NIH-funded "Roadmap" program. Its goal is twofold: to develop and implement a health and water curriculum in the new Tufts University Water: Systems, Science, and Society interdisciplinary program, and to create novel interdisciplinary Internet-based curricula linking Tufts University with East African public health educators, researchers, and institutions.
International Environmental Policy
The Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning offers a dual-degree program in International Environmental Policy in collaboration with the Fletcher School. This three-year program provides an opportunity for a select number of highly qualified students to earn a Master of Arts degree in urban and environmental policy and planning and a master's in diplomacy (M.A.L.D.) at the Fletcher School.
International Food & Nutrition Center
Established in 1993 by nutrition professor Marian Zeitlin, the International Food and Nutrition Center has been under the leadership of Professor F. James Levinson since 1995. The Center focuses on addressing malnutrition in women and children, encouraging existing strengths in communities, and investigating the effects of agriculture policies and programs on food consumption and nutrition.
International Institute for Prosthetic Rehabilitation of Landmine Survivors
The International Institute for Prosthetic Rehabilitation of Landmine Survivors is a Tufts-affiliated non-profit organization which strives to help landmine survivors regain their quality of life. The Institute was founded in April 1998 to contribute to the international effort to rehabilitate amputees, especially civilians, many of whom are children.
International Marine Shrimp Environmental Genomics Initiative (IMSEGI): Monitoring Ecosystems, Animal and Public Health
This initiative at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine conducts research designed to monitor the structure of the meta-population of wild penaeid shrimp species, the levels of genetic diversity and differentiation of selected species, and the presence of pollutants such as pathogens, heavy metals, pesticides and antibiotics in penaeid shrimp populations along their natural range in Asia and Latin America.
International Nutrition and HIV Project in Hanoi, Buenos Aires, and Chennai
The Tufts University School of Medicine has established an HIV-related project in Argentina that studies the nutritional and metabolic status of intravenous cocaine users, as well as their co-infection status (i.e., hepatitis B, hepatitis C). This project is funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Another project that examines the risk of HIV in non-injecting cocaine users is also submitted.
International Veterinary Medicine Certificate Program
The International Veterinary Medicine Certificate Program is a comprehensive, mentor-centered program for Tufts veterinary students. The program includes cross-cultural seminars, elective courses, international conferences and training opportunities, an international project, a thesis or a peer-reviewed publication, and a comprehensive oral final exam. Students in the certificate program can choose one of five areas of specialization: conservation medicine, veterinary public health, livestock production and development, veterinary diseases of international importance, or livestock in humanitarian assistance.
International Veterinary Medicine Signature Program
The International Program at Tufts Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine is one of Tufts University's five Signature Programs. It is recognized nationally and internationally as a leader in the field of international veterinary education, and for innovative approaches taken to support animal health in the developing world. The full and part-time faculties are joined by a large network of adjunct faculty based throughout the world and working in areas ranging from livestock health to wildlife conservation.
Journal of Humanitarian Assistance
The Journal of Humanitarian Assistance (JHA) promotes the exchange of new ideas, previously unpublished research and the critical write-up of field experience by field workers and researchers in humanitarian assistance. JHA offers the humanitarian assistance community the opportunity to receive and provide rapid public feedback on cutting-edge ideas. This community includes humanitarian field workers and agency officials, scholars and researchers, government officials and residents of countries affected by crises and disasters, and donor agency officials. The JHA is published by the Feinstein International Center, part of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy.
Kwabeng Project
Presently funded by Tufts University's Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service, the Kwabeng Project builds upon the fieldwork of environmental engineer John Durant and epidemiologist David M. Gute in Kwabeng, Ghana, examining the area's increased rates of urinary schistosomiasis (Schistosoma haematobium) since the onset of surface gold mining activities in the early 1990s.
Master of Arts in Humanitarian Assistance
The Master of Arts in Humanitarian Assistance (MAHA) is a one-year joint degree offered by the Friedman School and the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. In conjunction with the Feinstein International Center, the program was designed for mid-career professionals who have significant field experience in humanitarian assistance. Practitioners study humanitarian theories, programs, and policies.
Pharmacology, interactions between HIV and TB Medications
Led by program investigators Christine Wanke, MD, and David Greenblatt, MD, the program trains individuals in pharamacologic techniques to look at interaction of antiretrovirals with TB therapy. It relies on collaborations with the ICMR TB research institute in Chennai, India.
Probiotics in Growth Faltering in Pakistan
This National Institutes of Health grant to Dr. Christine Wanke supports a collaborative research project examining the feasibility and efficacy of a probiotic intervention to prevent growth faltering in a birth cohort in Karachi, Pakistan. Malnutrition is associated with more than half of the 10 million deaths per year in children under the age of five in the developing world. In areas where breast-feeding is supplemented by additional foods, there is an increased risk of exposure to contaminants that cause diarrheal disease. Many communities in the developing world lack the resources for controlling such illnesses. The project studies the feasibility of using probiotic Lactobacillus GG (LGG) to break the cycle of malnutrition and diarrheal disease in these areas.
Study of Helicobacter Infection in Quito Children
Dr. Jeffrey Griffiths is Associate Professor of Public Health in the Department of Public Health and Family Medicine, and is the Global Health concentration leader in the MPH program. He is currently doing research on natural immunomodulation by agents such as Helicobacter pylori and Toxocara in children in Quito, Ecuador.
Surface Mining Impact on Spread of Schistosomiasis in Ghana
Dr. John Durant is a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the School of Engineering and teaches undergraduate- and graduate-level courses on environmental chemistry and chemical fate and transport. His research interests involve the human health consequences of environmental chemistry, particularly in air and water. Currently he is studying the influence of surface mining on changes in hydrology and its impact on the spread of schistosomiasis in Ghana.
Sustainable Sweden Tour and Internships in Swedish Eco-Municipalities
Sweden is developing a growing number of "eco-municipalities" in which the principles of sustainable development are put into practice at the municipal level. For the past two years, Urban Environmental Policy and Planning students, with help from the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service and Tufts Institute for the Environment, have arranged their own Sustainable Sweden tours and internships in a variety of eco-municipalities. Students then spend the second half of their internship in a U.S. municipality that has the potential to become an eco-municipality.
The Educational Resource Center - Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine
The Educational Resource Center (ERC) for children with disabilities and their families at Beit Hana College in Dnepropetrovsk is known as a "little Eliot-Pearson" in the Ukraine. Teams of Tufts professionals and students in the fields of child development, pediatrics, and occupational therapy collaborate with colleagues in the Ukraine for this pioneering teacher-training program. Pilot research for a dissertation funded by the U.S. State Department was conducted at the ERC in 2004. Contact Child Development for more information.
The Quito Integrated Environment and Policy (QUIEP) Program
This three-year National Institutes of Health-funded program, directed by Dr. Jeffrey Griffiths, represents an international collaboration to encourage research in developing countries on topics that combine the issues of health, environment, and economic development. The goal is to improve understanding of the relationships between these topics and to help guide policy. The program encourages faculty and student exchanges at the Schools of Medicine, Engineering, and Fletcher.
Thermo-stable Measles Vaccine Research
In Sub-Saharan Africa, where measles is one of the top killers of children, vaccines are often rendered useless by lack of refrigeration. Led by Dr. Jeffrey Griffiths, an interdisciplinary team from the Famine Center, the School of Veterinary Medicine and the School of Medicine seeks to reverse that trend by developing a heat-resistant measles vaccine.
Tropical Ecology / Conservation - Bio181ww/Envi181ww
This fall semester seminar and field trip, listed under both Biology and Environmental Studies, provides 12 students with an in-depth understanding of terrestrial tropical ecology and first-hand experience in tropical Central America. After the fall semester, students travel to Costa Rica for a two-week field experience conducting hands-on research, hiking, and collecting data.
Vitamin A and Zinc: Prevention of Pneumonia Study
Tufts School of Medicine's Vitamin A and Zinc: Prevention of Pneumonia (VAZPOP) Study, completed in 2004 by primary investigators Simin Meydani and Dr. Jeffrey Griffiths, researched the effectiveness of vitamins A and zinc in treating malnourished children at high altitude in Quito, Ecuador. This four-year, nutritionally stratified, placebo-controlled, double-blind study helped to increase understanding of pneumonia and its treatments, as well as to control respiratory and diarrheal infections, improving the lives of many sick children.
Water: Systems, Science, and Society
Water: Systems, Science, and Society (WSSS) is an integrated, multi-disciplinary approach to managing and understanding the complexity of water issues worldwide. Students who elect to enroll in the program to complement their graduate studies in a related field emerge with both their degree and a WSSS certificate. Students in the WSSS program conduct research and plan projects related to global water issues, take courses and seminars, and undertake a field internship, learning on-site skills from professionals.