Global Health program international advisory board meets at McMaster

The international Advisory Board of the Global Health program convened at McMaster University this week for their annual meeting. 

Overseeing the consortium of seven partnership universities, the Global Advisory Board is comprised of eminent professionals with diverse backgrounds in the private sector, NGOs, and health-care consultancies worldwide. With Her Royal Highness Princess Margriet of The Netherlands as Honorary Chair, the leaders include Thijs Teeling, Luis Barreto, Mary Heersink, Priscilla Reddy, Jeff Mainland and Elizabeth Witmer.  

The board members were joined by delegates from the partnership universities including McMaster University (Canada), Maastricht University (The Netherlands), Manipal Academy of Higher Education (India), Thammasat University (Thailand), Ahfad University for Women (Sudan) and Universidad del Rosario (Colombia). 

The meeting was opened by Ambassador Lise Filiatrault, member of the 6^th Advisory Group to the Peacebuilding Fund, appointed by the United Nations Secretary General. Recognizing that solutions to today’s most pressing global health challenges will only be found through innovative coalitions that transcend barriers, an overarching theme of this week’s meeting was peace and security, and its implications for shaping higher education.  

Board members shared their perspectives on peace and security in relation to the program’s transdisciplinary and collaborative approach to programming.  Meeting attendees discussed action-oriented research taking place at partnership universities, the program’s continued expansion, and heard reflections from alumni on the impact of the competencies taught in the program on their careers.

Board chair, Dr. Thijs Teeling believes in the importance of a connected network of global health professionals and remarked that, “meetings such as this enhance partnerships and transnational collaborations which provide direction to the critical issues that need to be addressed by higher education.”  

Andrea Bauman, Director of the Global Health program at McMaster echoes this stating that, “we created this program with the thought that higher education consortiums are essential to tackling global health issues  – which requires a strong commitment to collaboration between institutions, and an interconnectedness between disciplines.”