|  | | Community Outreach by IHD Students and Humphrey Fellows
The Hubert H. Humphrey Fellows joined Returned Peace Corps Volunteers in a community outreach activity, “Rebuilding Together”. They scraped and primed the home of an elderly disabled couple in the old St. Roch neighborhood of New Orleans, an area devastated by Hurricane Katrina. It was moving to see so many coming together and contributing to the rebirth of the city. This is just one of the many ways in which our students and fellows are involved in the rebuilding process. Want to see more photos? Click here. Want to know more about the Humphrey Fellows at Tulane? Click here to see their profiles. |  | | Volunteer Fundraising for HIV/AIDS by IHD Students, Faculty and Humphrey Fellows
Faculty, MI/RPCV students, and Humphrey Fellows walked 5 K in the NO/AIDS Walk this fall. They raised funds for the treatment and care of HIV/AIDS patients in New Orleans and Louisiana. This was a unique opportity for everyone to observe public health advocacy and volunteerism in action. Want to see more photos? Click here. |  | Humphrey Fellows in the Classroom
One of the things which makes Tulane truly unique is the diversity and wealth of experience represented by our international scholars and visitors. Their contributions to the classroom enhance and complement the learning process. A recent example was when Tulane University students in the BSPH program received an in-depth look at global health in SPHU 101, "Epidemics, Revolutions, and Responses" from the 2008-09 Humphrey Fellows. Dr. Happy Agoudavi provided and in-depth look at the establishment of a faith based NGO providing health care in rural Togo. In a second session, the other fellows met in small discussion groups and discussed the successes and challenges of public health in their countries. See more pictures by clicking here. | 
| | Latest IHD Newsletter -- Full of Alumni News -- Now available The latest newsletter for the Department of International Health and Development has just been published. It's full of information about our alumni. You can read it by clicking here. To read a past issue which is about faculty, staff, students and alumni click here. | Campus Visits We welcome visits from prospective students. Please come and find out more about the department.
Contact Ms. Roseanna Rabalais to set things up.
For a quick overview of the Department click here.
For interviews with faculty and staff of SPHTM given at the 2007 Open House click here.
| | Graduation Awards 2008 | | 
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| | | Doctoral graduates, (left) Dr. Hongyun Fu and her advisor, Dr. Mark VanLandingham;
(right) Drs. Alex Stubner and Eva Silvestre | | Four IHD graduates were elected to Delta Omega, the national honor society for Public Health. Helmiati Kadir, Michael Sweeney, Rebekah Leger, and Jennifer Wheeler graduated in the top 10% of the class and demonstrated outstanding academic achievement. The Department recognized their achievements and excellence.
In May 2008, the Department made three awards to recognize outstanding students. It was not an easy task to select just three students from the more then one hundred that graduated from our department this past year. The Carroll Behrhorst Primary Health Care Award was made to MD/MPH graduate, Meaghan Ann Combs. Meaghan received her BA in Anthropology from Case Western Reserve and then served for two years in the Peace Corps in Burkina Faso as a health volunteer. Recognizing her desire to have more knowledge and the skills to help others, Meaghan chose Tulane for her MD program BECAUSE she could do her MPH at the same time. During her studies at Tulane she worked with the Common Ground Health Clinic to provide health care for the uninsured and undocumented in the city. She helped the clinic put their past paper records into an electronic medical record and developed a guide for future medical students to use the system. She said in her capstone report, “Every person I worked with taught me valuable lessons about health care delivery, community responsibility and personal integrity. A mutually respectful workplace creates a space where personalities and strengths can bloom.” Meaghan created that sort of space while she was in our program and we are confident that she will bloom wherever she is planted.
Tierney Davis was given the James P. Grant Child Survival Award. After receiving a BA from Michigan State, Tierney served two years in the Peace Corps in Paraguay where she learned Spanish and Guarani. While doing a dual concentration in ENHS and Complex Emergencies and Disaster Management, Tierney worked closely with the Tulane masters internationalist program. She was helping to shape and prepare the next generation of Peace Corps volunteers trained at Tulane. As part of her capstone she worked with the Louisiana Office of Public Health, Emergency Response Unit to assess and evaluate education curriculum available to state employees, gain insight on the day-to-day operations of the state office, and attend coordination meetings in order to gain a better understanding of the complexity of coordination required for emergency planning. She helped set up a temporary medical facility to take on the surge capacity from Mardi Gras. She, like many of our graduates, felt this practical training, as she put it, “afforded me a real-life, hit the ground running – type of training.” Tierney will hit the ground running wherever she goes. The final award was made to Deepika Sharma who received the Jack C. S. Ling IHD Student Service Award for outstanding service and academic excellence to the department. Deepika is a citizen of India and earned her BA and MBA there. After several years of civil service in India, most recently as the district program manager for the National Rural Health Mission, Deepika was awarded an International Ford Foundation Fellowship to study at Tulane. In her Tulane application she quoted Sean O’Faolain, “There is only one admirable form of imagination: the imagination that is so intense that it creates a new reality that makes things happen.” And that’s what Deepika did while she was at Tulane – she made things happen. She was an outstanding student who carried a full academic load and still worked to make the lives of our international students better and helped integrate them into the life of the Tulane family. She organized international movie nights, pot luck dinners, and English tutoring among other things. We know Deepika will be a force for change in India in the future.
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