Emory Global Health Connections, January – April 2025

Emory Global Health Connections

IN THIS ISSUE:

2025 Global Health Case Competition Season

Emory Morningside Global Health Case Competition, March 20 - 29

During the 17th annual international global health case competition, hosted by EGHI, students from 28 universities from across six continents presented solutions to the case challenge, "SHEROSE for a Cervical Cancer-Free Kenya."

Congratulations to the home team, Emory University, who bested the competition to take first place with their solution, The Umoja Intervention. The Eagles team, comprised of students from School of Medicine, Rollins School of Public Health, and Oxford College, was also awarded the Participants' Choice Award, voted on by their peers and fellow competitors.

Rounding out the top five in the 2025 Emory Morningside Global Health Case Competition were: Uniform Services University (2), Northwestern University (3), University of Melbourne (4), and Dartmouth College University (Honorable Mention). 

"This experience deeply shaped my understanding of global health, emphasizing interdisciplinary collaboration, innovation, and culturally sensitive healthcare solutions. I look forward to applying these valuable insights in my future studies and career, striving to tackle health disparities globally." 

Explore highlights, including competing universities, distinguished judges, and case advisors, in our competition program and photo gallery.

Intramural Emory Global Health Case Competition, Jan. 24 - Feb. 1

EGHI hosted 11 multidisciplinary student teams from across Emory University to present their solutions to the case, "Longing for Belonging: Addressing the loneliness epidemic in the United States." Globally, loneliness among different age groups is a growing concern. Despite cultural and structural differences, many nations grapple with similar challenges in addressing loneliness and its associated health impacts. The first place team from EGHI's intramural competition won $3,000 and a spot in the 2025 Emory Morningside Global Health Case Competition. 

Congratulations to Emory students Tejaswini Agarwal (Rollins School of Public Health), Valentina Larrivey (team captain, School of Medicine), Saketh Sankara (Rollins School of Public Health), Hashim Chaudhry (Oxford College), Oliver Hegyi (Oxford College), and Jonas Pfefferman (Oxford College) for their successful 2025 global health case competition season.

2025 Emory Global Health Scholars Announced

The Global Health Scholars Program, Emory Global Health Institute’s flagship student initiative, will support 8 Emory students to engage in priority global health research during the summer of 2025. Faculty-led projects will investigate immigrant access to healthcare in Brazil, social-cultural gaps in HIV prevention and treatment in pregnant women in Kenya, and an AI-powered pathology platform to improve precision cancer care in India.

Congratulations to Emory students Alexandra Caridad Llovet (School of Medicine, Rollins School of Public Health), Paula Manfredini (Laney Graduate School), María José Vélez (Laney Graduate School), Nancy Irungu (Rollins School of Public Health), Imani Belton (Laney Graduate School), Allyson Huh (Rollins School of Public Health), Rima Pai (Rollins School of Public Health, Laney Graduate School) and Yash Kamdar (Emory College of Arts and Sciences)

To date, more than 430 students have participated in research impacting community health and promoting health equity in 60 countries.

Emily Kuhl, ECAS, and Sharonda Chiangong, RSPH, present their research "Understanding Gender Disparities in Tuberculosis Diagnosis, Treatment, and Outcomes In Medical College of India and  Addressing Barriers Using Quality Improvement Approach" at EGHI's InFocus: Emory Excellence in Global Health event.

"As I have progressed through my project and had the opportunity to travel to India, my vision for my future career has flourished; I'm thrilled for the possibilities ahead and finding more ways to explore my passions for medicine, culture, and justice through meaningful global health work." ~ Emily Kuhl ECAS '26 & 2024 EGHI Global Health Scholar

Student Spotlight

Lucas San Miguel, Class of 2025 and double major in Economics and Chinese Studies, first learned of EGHI's Student Global Health Photography Contest before heading to Nicaragua in the summer of 2022. Passionate about global development and China's influence in Latin America, Lucas knew he was going to witness "history in the making" when he landed his "dream" U.S. State Department-sponsored internship with Rancho Santana, a tourism conglomerate seeking to bolster community development across southwest Nicaragua.

During the transformational summer, the links between global development and global health took center stage in Lucas’ experiences and photos. He entered the 2022 global health student photography contest and won two of the five winning photos that year. He repeated his success in 2023 and again in 2024 (see winning entries). 

"Due to increasingly warm winters, reindeer populations have been wearing down their teeth faster trying to chew through thicker ice layers to get to grass. The thawing and refreezing create thicker, harder ground cover, and the reindeer are dying quicker than ever. The health of our ecosystems is deeply intertwined with human well-being. This photograph serves as a stark reminder of the health consequences of climate change, not only for wildlife but for the Indigenous communities, like the Sami, who depend on these animals for sustenance." Lucas explains his 2024 first place photo.

Lucas captured this unofficial UK COVID-19 memorial in London. The wall along the RIver Thames is painted with 236,245 red hearts, each representing a life whose death certificate’s cause of death was COVID-19. "The Queen of Hearts" was a top five entry in the 2024 EGHI student photography contest.

Lucas’ lived experiences shaped his appreciation for photography and the written word as instruments of connection and truth. He draws parallels with his childhood use of visual communication to connect with his father who is deaf. While his father, a successful food chemist, was an exceptional lip reader, Lucas felt that important things that needed to be said and heard must be documented, written, captured, and seen to be fully appreciated.

Lucas understands that his father's access to health and resources helped him excel in the hearing world of corporate America and hopes that efforts to advance health equity continue to reach into every corner of the world. For his part, he will continue his focus on global development understanding health as a key driver of growth and sustained economic gains; and conversely that development must not be at the expense of healthy communities and environments in which they live, work, and play.

Worldwide Watch Party

With experiences as a Gen-Z marketer at The Coca-Cola Company and an Emory Ambassador, Lucas joined EGHI as a communication intern in 2025 and was invited to take over EGHI's Instagram for the 2025 Emory Morningside Global Health Case Competition. Across 24 stories and 6 in-feed posts, EGHI competition content was engaged by over 70% non-followers, reaching a total of 37,492 new users during the month of March. Instagram views and interactions increased 738% and 1,260% respectively. Check out the two days of in-person activities captured by Lucas in this collection of Instagram stories.

As Lucas graduates, we thank him for three years of stellar engagement with EGHI's global health programs and all his successes at Emory. We'll continue the watch party as Lucas starts his next chapter in Scotland as a Bobby Jones Scholar working towards his MSc. in Global Sustainable Development at the University of St Andrews. 

 

EGHI and Partner News

Emory Co-Hosts 2025 Consortium of Universities for Global Health Conference

Ms. Chris Rapelje (Left), Emory Global Engagement, welcomes and answers questions from CUGH 2025 conference participants.

Co-hosted by Emory University, University of Georgia, and University of Alabama Birmingham, the 16th annual conference of the Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH) was held February 20-23, 2025, in Atlanta. The event convened educators, researchers, and students from around the world who explored the theme “Innovating and Implementing in Global Health for a Sustainable Future.” Emory Global Health Institute (EGHI), the Rollins School of Public Health, Global Engagement, and the Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing at Emory participated in key phases of CUGH 2025 with active roles in planning, hosting, exhibiting, moderating panels, and presenting.

Read Full Article in EGHI News >>

Keynote speaker Ms. Paige Alexander, CEO of The Carter Center, shared the podium with EGHI Director, Dr. Rebecca Martin and CUGH Executive Director, Dr. Keith Martin.

More News & Views from our Programs and Partners