Eunoia Global Health Podcast

Rachel Thompson, Women in Global Health Policy and Research Associate, has over a decade of experience across humanitarian, global health, and development sectors, and is passionate about tackling gender and health inequities. She has worked with the Red Cross Movement and several NGOs in program roles across Africa and Asia. Previous research projects have looked at family planning, the Ebola response, universal health coverage, and healthcare in conflict zones. More recently Rachel has returned to the UK where she has worked as a researcher at Chatham House and as a policy advisor at the World Obesity Federation. With Women in Global Health, Rachel has led several research projects.

Abhijit Dhillon serves as a Research and Policy Assistant for Women in Global Health’s State of Women Leadership in Health Report. She is an interdisciplinary social sciences researcher with research focus on gender, human rights, governance,  policy analysis and health systems. 

Dr. So is recognized worldwide for his expertise in chronic hepatitis B and primary liver cancer prevention, research, treatment and health policy. He served as a consultant for the FDA and was a member and co-chair of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Minority Health’s Hepatitis B Expert Panel. He was also a member of the Board of Population Health and Public Health Practices of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, and a committee member of the 2010 IOM report on “Hepatitis and Liver Cancer: a national strategy for the prevention and control of hepatitis B and C”, and the 2016 National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine report on “Eliminating the Public Health Problem of Hepatitis B and C in the United States. He also serves as a special adviser on viral hepatitis for the World Health Organization Western Pacific regional office. In 2010, he received the CDC and ATSDR Honor Award for mobilizing people and resources in ways that have changed global public health policies related to hepatitis B, and was recognized in 2014 by the White House for global and national leadership in the prevention and control of viral hepatitis.

In this episode, Rhea joins Sama in discussing her extraordinary work in mental health youth-led legislation in Australia and policy translation with the Harvard STRIPED Initiative.

Rhea is a half-Indian, half-German high school student with a passion for creating tangible social impact through highlighting and promoting interdisciplinary approaches, especially in the field of mental health. She currently leads the Australian Policy translation at the Harvard STRIPED Initiative, based at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and the Body Confident Youth Initiative. In this position, she has led a team of 15+ young Australians and has pioneered community projects supporting mental health and body image by receiving a $50,000 grant from the federal Australian Government, impacting over 2000+ young people. She has played an integral role in successfully implementing legislation, lobbying the Victorian Government to provide $16.5 million dollars towards E-Waste legislation. Moreover, as an Australian Future Leader in Mental Health, Rhea presented at the Mental Health Foundation Australia’s annual mental health summit for 600+ people. Currently, she is helping co-design mental health and wellbeing technologies suitable for people of CALD background with the University of Sydney and is developing an eating disorders educational module for adolescents in collaboration with the Columbia University Valegos College of Physicians. For her community initiatives, she was recently awarded the 2022 Australia Day Young Citizen of the Year. She hopes to continue to empower interdisciplinary approaches to solve public health issues in the future, by bridging geographical and socioeconomic inequities exacerbated by pertinent global issues.

In this episode, Sama joins Eugenia in discussing her research on this issue, whilst also discussing how this aspect of global health can be managed on a public and individual level.

Sama grew up in Egypt with a dream to work in the research field. She has assisted in microbiology and medicinal chemistry research labs and has gained practical skills. She also has been an active member of her community, launching campaigns to raise awareness about current healthcare issues for students. Her favorite quote is "be the change you wish to see in the world" by Gandhi.

Since she is passionate about public health and volunteering, she served as an English teacher assistant in an orphanage and recently founded a journal club to raise awareness of the recent research findings for students. She also joined the IYRC program and wrote a systemic review paper about the multidrug-resistant bacteria in particular Acinetobacter baumannii entitled “Antibiofilm and efflux pump inhibitory effect of Silver nanoparticles in combating multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii.”

Simar Bajaj is a sophomore at Harvard who conducted research with the thoracic surgery and obesity medicine departments at Massachusetts General Hospital on everything from health equity to the impact of delays in treatment, publishing in journals such as New England Journal of Medicine and Lancet Respiratory Medicine. He is also the founder and host of The Medic Network which provides a student's take on all things medicine through interviews with leaders in the healthcare space from policymakers (Dr. Shalala, Secretary of U.S.  Department of Health and Human Services under President Clinton) to startup founders (Dr. Pooviah, Co-founder of Google-backed Elly and  Shark Tank Winner) to researchers (Dr. Michael Chiang, Director of the  National Eye Institute). In high school, Simar presented several abstracts at national conferences and published first-author papers at Stanford University School of Medicine. In this episode, Simar joins Eric Gu to give advice on how to engage in research as a high school student.

This episode of the Eunoia Global Health Podcast features a deep dive into palliative care with Columbia medical student Paul Lewis.

Dr. Anthony J. Alberg is an epidemiologist who currently holds the position of Professor and Chair of the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at the University of South Carolina’s Arnold School of Public Health. Dr. Alberg’s research has primarily focused on cancer epidemiology, the health effects of tobacco, and tobacco control. Dr. Alberg has longstanding commitment to working to eliminate health disparities. Today, the nationally renownwed Dr. Alberg joins Eric Gu to discuss the far-reaching economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, analyzing the disparities in access to healthcare highlighted by the pandemic.