Global Public Health to hold kickoff event on Aug. 22

With more than 70 declared majors after its first year, Binghamton University's new Global Public Health (GPH) program is off to a strong start.

The new major will hold an official kickoff at 6 p.m. Aug. 22 in Old Union Hall, open to any students interested in the major.

The event will feature guest speaker Collins Airhihenbuwa, a global public health scholar with more than 30 years in the field. He is a professor of health management and policy at Georgia State University, where he leads the interdisciplinary Global Research Against Non-communicable Disease (GRAND) initiative at the School of Public Health. He has authored more than 130 articles and book chapters and six books, including Health and Culture, Beyond the Western Paradigm and Healing Our Differences, the Crisis of Global Health and Politics of Identity.

"One of the goals of the program is to ensure that students are exposed to leading scholars in the field of global public health, especially experts that focus on non-Western paradigms of understanding health," said Chair and Associate Professor of Africana Studies Titilayo Okoror, the founding director of the GPH program.

When Airhihenbuwa began his work in the 1980s, European and American cultural models prevailed and were seen as normative; cultures that didn't adopt a Western worldview were seen as backward. Today, the discipline doesn't seek to change cultures but instead to engage and work within them to benefit public health.

During the event, he will address the ways that students can use their skills beyond the classroom, and in their future careers. More speakers are planned for the major's seminar course during the academic year, Okoror said.

The major in Global Public Health has three tracks: a bachelor of science, a bachelor of arts and a bachelor of science specifically for future healthcare providers. The degree is flexible and globally focused, giving the students the opportunity to take internships and conduct research outside the U.S.

It's also interdisciplinary in nature, comprising courses in the sciences, social sciences and humanities, which gives students a wide toolkit to draw from during the course of their future careers.

An email Okoror received from an alumna who is now an epidemiologist recently drove home the importance of this interdisciplinary focus. It turns out that her lab skills weren't what made the difference in her career; it was the humanities, "because I have to see the humanity in people," she told Okoror.

"I want students to also take away from the event a sense that they're embarking on an exciting journey," Okoror said. "You can do a lot with the degree: You can work nationally or internationally. The world is your oyster."