Centers

INDIGO Doctoral Students Vincent Chipiliro Jumbe and Amarech Obse

The Mailman School of Public Health welcomed its first International Doctoral School in Global Health (INDIGO) students at a reception hosted by Dean Linda Fried, MD, MPH, on March 3rd. The students are drawn from sub-Saharan Africa, and their studies at the Mailman School provide a key foundation in their research to improve the effectiveness of public health services in their home countries.

The INDIGO program is the first in a number of curriculum developments planned as part of the Global Health Initiative (GHI) at the Mailman School.

“The INDIGO program realizes two major objectives of the GHI,” notes Alastair Ager, PhD, executive director of the Global Health Initiative. “First, future research leaders of Africa gain access to the extenstive expertise and insights of our faculty in shaping their research plans; second, these students bring the knowledge and perspective of ‘southern’ researchers into the classroom, to the benefit of all our students.”

INDIGO Doctoral Student Richard Mugambe

In the INDIGO scheme students complete a foundational first year of study in Dublin, New York and South Africa, in advance of three years at their home institution in the south. The Consortium of Trinity College Dublin (TCD) (Centre for Global Health), the Mailman School of Public Health, and the UK Cochrane Centre, Oxford, are supported with funds from Irish Aid, which has the following southern partners: Health Sciences Research Council, South Africa; College of Medicine, University of Malawi, Blantyre, Malawi; Ibadan University, Nigeria; and Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Each of the three students in this first group is assigned a Mailman School faculty mentor in their area of focus which covers such areas as communicable diseases, human resources for health, and inclusive health services. 

This first cohort of INDIGO students comprises:

• Amarech Obse of Addis Ababa University School of Public Health, mentored by Peter Muennig,MD, MPH, assistant professor of Health Policy & Management, who is  studying healthcare markets in Ethiopia with a focus on the impacts of healthcare financing reforms;
• Richard Mugambe of Makerere University School of Public Health, mentored by Joseph Graziano, PhD, professor of Environmental Health Sciences, is studying access to water, sanitation, and hygiene in HIV/AIDS affected households in Uganda; and
• Vincent Chipiliro Jumbe, University of Malawi, mentored by Alastair Ager, PhD, is studying mechanisms of health research governance and ethical review in sub-Saharan Africa.

“We are delighted to welcome this first class of students in the INDIGO program to the Mailman School,” said Dr. Fried. “You are future leaders and major engines for public health innovation in your country.  We are part of your story now, and as such, we will do our best to provide you with a rich foundation that will shape your confidence to lead and implement relevant public health policy and practice at home.

For information on INDIGO please contact Melissa Reyes, Senior Program Officer, Global Health Initiative at: mr3060@columbia.edu