The USF College of Public Health will host an international panel discussion on Tuesday, Jan. 27, as part of a weeklong global endeavor associated with the College’s 30^th anniversary celebration. Four public health leaders will come to COPH from various parts of the world for a week of discussions, professional visits, and even some entertainment.

“We have institutional partners in four countries who have been helping us for the last five to 10 years in hosting our students for the international field experience in study abroad courses,” explained Dr. Boo Kwa, professor in the Department of Global Health and associate dean, Office of International Programs. “They have spent a lot of time and effort and money to provide us with a lot of very good collaborative support.

“Because we are a state university, we cannot repay them directly for the enormous amount of resources that they have invested to make the international field experiences so rewarding and enriching for our students when they were hosted at their institutions. So, what the dean suggested was that, to show our appreciation for their help, we will invite one person from each of the institutions to come here.”

The four international guests will be Emmanuel Ofumbi, executive director of the Papoli Community Development Foundation, Uganda; Dr. Fernando Ortega, dean of the School of Public Health at Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador; and Dr. Safii Razitasham, head of the community and public health unit at UNIMAS in Malaysia; and Dr. Nestor Sosa, director of the Gorgas Memorial Institute, Panama.

 

Dr. Safii Razitasham		Emmanuel Ofumbi
Dr. Fernando Ortega		Dr. Nestor Sosa

The panel discussion will be a single-day event titled “Healthy populations in the 21^st century: international trends” and will be focused on global trends in public health on public health issues in the various countries and regions, Kwa said.

The guest speakers will be hosted for up to a week that will include tours of the USF Health laboratories, CAMLS and the local health department, as well as regional breakout sessions and seminars with students and local guests following the panel discussion.

“They will brief us as to the recent changes in health indicators in their countries,” Kwa said. “What have they done well in promoting public health? What can we learn from them, and what can they learn from us?”

The week also will include a luncheon in Ybor City and a dinner at the Colombia Restaurant, replete with flamenco floor show.

Kwa noted that not all four guests would necessarily be able to stay the full week, but that it’s important to make the trip worth their while, especially given the distances two of them will travel.

“The person who’s coming from Panama probably will be here for only three or four days, but Panama is near enough for the flight here and the flight back. But those coming all the way from Uganda and Malaysia, we’d like to host them for the week. If they must travel 12,000 miles to get here, we want for them to enjoy Tampa and visit a bit of Florida before they leave.

“We will do this only once every five years or so,” he said. “Some of our guests are from low-resource settings, so it is not often that they will have an opportunity to travel to see the best practices in public health and the biomedical sciences in a developed country like the U.S. So it’s good for them, and it’s good for us that we facilitate this continued partnership and collaboration, because we have been sending our students to their places.”

Various COPH faculty members will organize attendance by local partners, Kwa said, including current and former members of the military and diplomatic corps, as well COPH students and alumni and Peace Corps returnees. The Global Health Student Association, Infectious Disease Student Association and Public Health Student Association will be encouraging their peers to attend the panel discussion and ensuing breakout sessions.

“It will be something special for our international guests, as well as our local guests,” Kwa said, “and for faculty and students involved in any aspect of global health.”

Story by David Brothers, College of Public Health. Photos courtesy of COPH International Programs.