The University of Mississippi will host the Global Health Symposium Friday.
OXFORD, Miss. – The University of Mississippi will host a Global Health Symposium on Friday (Sept. 9) in the Overby Center for Southern Journalism and Politics to examine the state and local community’s health care capacity and possible ways to increase it.
The panel discussion is set for 1 p.m. in the Overby Center conference room. It features John J. Green, professor of sociology and anthropology and director of both the Center for Population Studies and university’s society and health minor; Kate McGurn Centellas, Croft associate professor of anthropology and international studies; Emma Willoughby, a 2014 UM graduate working with the Mississippi Center for Obesity Research as program administrator at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, and Miller Richmond, a UM senior who is majoring in international studies and Arabic.
The panel will be followed by a series of group discussions.
“The Global Health Symposium will bring together faculty and students interested in global health studies to network, learn about existing programs and develop ideas for interdisciplinary work in the future,” Green said. “It will involve active dialogue sessions, engaging participants in a variety of discussions.
“Our hope is to connect people interested in global health and help them make links between Mississippi and the broader world.”
Panelists and participants hope to get feedback from one other on ideas including what global health is and why it’s important, what’s available on campus and how can those offerings be improved, Centellas said. They also plan to discuss how to build capacity across the state.
“The symposium allows students to think creatively about the links between Mississippi and the global South and to learn about UM Study Abroad and summer programs that would allow them to pursue these interests,” Centellas said.
The panel brings together a group of speakers who have international experience in health research, Willoughby said. They also have experience in a wide range of topics, including health disparities, community development, maternal health, obesity, refugee health and others.
“I believe it’s a unique collaborative we’ve begun because it’s a professor-student team,” Willoughby said. “Miller is a current senior at Ole Miss, and I graduated in 2014. Both Drs. Green and Centellas were my academic mentors.
“One outcome from the meeting I hope to see is more professor-student engagement and research in this global health approach, in these topics.”
Centellas also sees potential for the collaboration to be “the start of an interdisciplinary and inter-career stage network of people interested in, and working on, issues relevant to global health at home and internationally.”
“We are strengthening our connections with UMMC as well to facilitate greater collaboration and research opportunities for undergraduates and recent graduates,” she said.
The symposium is a result of a partnership among the Croft Institute for International Studies, the Sally McDonnell Barksdale Honors College, the Department of Sociology and Anthropology and the Center for Population Studies.
For more information about the symposium, contact Centellas at kmcentel@olemiss.edu.