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China | Malawi | Colombia
 China: Marissa Domino, Associate Professor, Department of Health Policy and Management
As part of the current effort to promote collaboration
between UNC-Chapel Hill, Peking University, and other major universities in
China, Dr. Marisa Domino, Associate Professor of health economics in the
Department of Health Policy and Management in the UNC School of Public
Health traveled to Beijing and Chengdu, China in July 2007 to meet with
researchers to establish a collaborative arrangement to conduct mental health
services research in China. The trip was funded by the SPH Office of Global
Health Fogarty-funded UNC Framework Program in Global Health.
As a
result of her meetings, Dr. Domino and her Chinese colleagues will conduct two
small-scale studies as a start to the collaboration. One project will involve using
inpatient medical charts from the previous 20 years, examining 40-50 randomly
selected inpatient episodes in each of three years for diagnoses, lengths of
stay, insurance status, and treatments received. The data will be collected by
psychiatric residents of the hospital and overseen by Dr. Wei (Wilson) Zhang of
Peking University. The analysis will be conducted at UNC by Dr. Domino and a
HPM doctoral student.
A
second research study developed during Dr. Domino’s visit will be a brief
patient survey of individuals receiving outpatient treatments in order to
describe treatments received, insurance coverage, interaction with the primary
care system, and burden of disease. An original survey will be developed for
this study, headed by Dr. Zhang.
These
two small-scale pilot projects are intended for the research team to gain
experience with the patient population and data, and for the research team to
build synergy.
Dr.
Domino sees several benefits from her trip to China over the summer. As a
start, this is one of the first concrete research projects proposed for the
on-going collaboration that has been established between UNC and Peking
University, an initiative endorsed by Chancellor James Moeser. As well, Dr.
Domino learned that the Chinese collaborators are very welcoming of research
projects and have data that is available for research. The pilot studies are
the first step towards funded research projects that would be initiated by UNC.
Finally, as a researcher who has focused on domestic health care projects,
largely because of data availability, this trip has allowed Dr. Domino the opportunity
to build on the work she has conducted in the U.S. and expand her focus to an
international setting.
Malawi: Steve Meshnick, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Epidemiology The Spring 2006 issue of Carolina Public Health describes the School of Public Health's work in Malawi, as well as other global health projects.
Dr. Steven Meshnick is a professor of Epidemiology in the UNC School of Public Health and a professor of Microbiology and Immunology
in the UNC School of Medicine. Dr. Meshnick has been working in Malawi
since 1996 where he is a visiting Professor at the University of Malawi
College of Medicine. He travels to Malawi frequently to teach and
conduct research. He is PI of a Fogarty grant which trains Malawians in
Infectious Disease epidemiology both at UNC and in the University of
Malawi's MPH program. Dr. Meshnick's research interest is in the use of
molecular tools to understand the pathogenesis of malaria and HIV in
pregnant women, and the epidemiology of drug-resistant malaria and
pneumocystis. In Malawi, he has carried out both observational studies
and clinical trials on malaria in pregnant women. Recent observations
from his group include observations that mother-child microtransfusions
and maternal syphilis are risk factors for mother-to-child transmission
of HIV. He and others have recently demonstrated that Pneumocystis
jiroveci pneumonia (PcP) is uncommon in Malawi. Recently, his group has
developed and applied new methods for the detection of antimalarial
drug resistance. In addition to Malawi, Dr. Meshnick's group works in
the DR Congo, Thailand and Cambodia.
The
Malawi-Carolina Summer Public Health Institute, based in the SPH Office of Global Health, is held in Blantyre, Malawi,
during the summer each year. Funding is provided by the Fogarty-funded programs the UNC
Partnership in Global Health and the UNC-University of Malawi Fogarty Infections
Disease Epidemiology Training Program Additional funding is provided through the UNC-Duke GSK Global Health Project, funded by the GlaxoSmithKline Foundation.
The UNC Project in Lilongwe, Malawi organized and directed by the UNC School of Medicine encompasses much of the ongoing work throughout the rest of the country.
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Map of Malawi |
Steve Meshnick and his project team in Blantyre, Malawi |
A health education class for expectant mothers. |
A community water pump.
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 Colombia: Andre Villaveces, PhD, Research Assistant Professor, Department of Epidemiology
Dr. Villaveces conducts injury prevention research in Colombia. The purpose of this project is to conduct a study of the built environment in two metropolitan areas of
Colombia (
Cali and
Bogotá), and to study its
influence on the incidence of pedestrian-related deaths. This study
will serve as a basis for a larger proposal that will be submitted to
the NIH. Specifically, we will
use aggregate measures of the built environment and evaluate their
spatiotemporal association with mortality data on pedestrian injuries. View the full article of his research project featured on the website of the SPH Office of Research. Also, view his archived webstreamed seminar Dr. Villaveces gave as part of the Office of Global Health seminar series during the 2006-07 academic year.
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