U.C.-Wide School of Global Health Planning

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Investigator: Haile Debas, MD
Sponsor: Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Location(s): United States

Description

The UC Global Health Institute was launched on November 9, 2009. The innovative idea of a system-wide global health initiative generated enormous enthusiasm in the UC system and beyond. In addition to the several hundred faculty, administrators, and students from across the UC system who participated in the planning process, other academic, corporate, and philanthropic entities became significantly involved.

2007
  • An Exploratory Committee was established to consider the possibility of forming a system-wide global health initiative.
  • The Committee recommended that organizing global health activities into a system-wide school provided the best chance for attracting outside resources and advancing the UC contribution to global health.
2008
  • Faculty committees were convened to develop the framework for the proposed UC School of Global Health.
  • An External Scientific Advisory Board was appointed to provide high level advice and expertise.
  • In September, the UC School of Global Health was presented to the UC Regents and was met with enthusiastic support.
  • The All Campuses Planning Committee defined multi-campus Centers of Expertise (COEs) as the functional unit of the School.
  • Letters of Intent were received from 20 faculty groups interested in establishing COEs.
  • The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation provided a multi-million-dollar grant to fund the next phase of planning.
2009
  • Twelve revised COE Letters of Intent were submitted. The External Scientific Advisory Board recommended that three COEs form the foundation of the UCGHI: Migration and Health, One Health, and Women’s Health and Empowerment.
  • Given the economic downturn and tremendous difficulty in opening a new school at a time when the UC campuses faced unprecedented funding cuts due to the broader economic collapse, UC leadership decided to establish the UC Global Health Institute as the first phase of the proposed system-wide school.
  • The UCGHI published an economic analysis of the impact of global health on the California economy.