Health Policy
Global Health Research
Division faculty members conduct research to improve the health of individuals around the world. Their initiatives have included helping to develop clinical and educational programs in several countries.
Division Chief and Associate Professor Bruce R. Schackman, Ph.D., has an ongoing collaboration with the Groupe Haitien d'Etude du Sarcome de Kaposi et des Infections Opportunistes (GHESKIO) in Haiti to conduct cost-effectiveness evaluations of diagnosing and treating HIV and syphilis. Dr. Schackman and his co-researchers, including Jean W. Pape, M.D., founder and director of GHESKIO and Professor of Medicine, and Daniel W. Fitzgerald, M.D., Associate Professor of Medicine, found that a new rapid test, when integrated into prenatal care and HIV testing, is more effective than other methods in preventing congenital syphilis cases and stillbirths, and it is also cost-effective (press release; abstract). Dr. Schackman and colleagues at GHESKIO have also reported on the cost of providing HIV treatment at the GHESKIO clinic and the use of an educational video during informed consent in an HIV clinical trial in Haiti .
Madelon L. Finkel, Ph.D., Professor of Clinical Public Health and Director of the Office of Global Health Education, studies and works to implement disease screening and treatment programs globally. She is presently collaborating with colleagues at the Christian Medical College and Hospital in Vellore, India, focusing on cervical and breast cancer screening in a low-tech environment. Cervical cancer is the number one cause of cancer mortality among women in India. It is hoped that a low-tech screening program utilizing trained public health nurses to visually inspect the cervix, coupled with an educational program, will reduce the incidence of this deadly disease. In collaboration with the Christian Medical College and with colleagues at the University of Sydney, Dr Finkel is leading a team to focus on HPV vaccine prevention among rural women in resource-poor countries.
With colleagues at the Dos de Mayo Hospital in Lima, Peru, Dr. Finkel is establishing a study to treat normotensive individuals using a non-medical, alternative product. This study will be one of the first to statistically quantify the potential benefits of purple corn in those with mild hypertension. While the study will have patients taking a capsule of the product to ensure standardization, Chicha morada, a purple corn drink, is a very popular refreshment in Peru. Purple corn has been shown to have antioxidant and antihypertensive properties.
Dr. Finkel and Steven S. Witkin, Ph.D., Professor of Immunology in Obstetrics and Gynecology, have initiated a pilot study in Brazil to focus on reducing preterm births. The study involves pregnant women in their first trimester. Using a low-tech self-administered test to diagnose bacterial vaginosis, it is hypothesized that treatment of the infection will reduce the incidence of preterm birth. (Bacterial vaginosis is a known risk factor for preterm birth.)
More information on Weill Cornell Medical College's global health initiatives can be found on the website for the Office of Global Health.
