UMB StaffAt a time when global health progress hangs in the balance, U.S. academic medical centers are bracing for deep funding cuts that could upend decades of lifesaving work around the world. Proposed federal budget reductions would slash global health spending by 62 percent — from $10 billion to $3.8 billion — eliminating U.S. contributions to key programs such as Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, while halving support for the President’s Malaria Initiative.
In response to these unprecedented threats, the University of Maryland School of Medicine (UMSOM) has launched the University of Maryland Global Health Alliance (UMGHA) — a campuswide initiative uniting the school’s leading global health researchers and clinicians to safeguard progress, strengthen partnerships, and drive solutions to generational health challenges worldwide.
UMGHA brings together faculty across UMSOM who are advancing global health through research, clinical care, and training. The alliance unites experts from the Center for Vaccine Development and Global Health (CVD) and the Institute of Human Virology (IHV) with colleagues in the Departments of Surgery, Epidemiology and Public Health, Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology, and Pediatrics — along with others who are working to improve health systems and patient outcomes around the world. Together, they aim to amplify Maryland’s global health impact by building on long-standing partnerships, developing new collaborations, and ensuring that discoveries made in Baltimore continue to save lives across continents.
The past 20 years of global health have been marked by extraordinary global progress including halving child deaths, significantly reducing deaths from deadly infectious diseases, and contributing to the rise of hundreds of millions of people out of poverty.
CVD researchers helped develop, test, and gain licensure for vaccines against critical emerging diseases such as Ebola, Zika, cholera, and typhoid. They are also currently helping to develop and test new malaria vaccines and treatments.
The IHV has provided HIV treatment to 9 million people across 10 countries in Africa and the Caribbean and led the implementation and scale-up of evidence-based interventions such as medications for opioid use disorder in Kenya, cancer screening and management in Nigeria, and HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis including long-acting injectable prophylaxis in Zambia.
Additionally, the Department of Surgery and the University of Maryland R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center’s involvement in Haiti’s earthquake relief efforts further exemplifies the critical role UMSOM plays in global surgery and disaster response, which now include their current work in building trauma care capacity in Burkina Faso.
UMSOM is also proud to recognize efforts of individual faculty who are making a tangible difference in global health through volunteering their time and expertise to share clinical skills and knowledge with health care teams abroad. UMSOM’s undergraduate medical education program offers international electives in Kenya, Rwanda, and Zambia that provide future physicians with unique, transformative experiences and a deeper understanding of medicine in a globalized world.
Strengthening Networks
At its core, UMGHA is designed to connect and elevate the work of faculty who are tackling some of the world’s most urgent health challenges — from infectious disease and trauma care to climate-related health risks and chronic disease management.
Led by Man Charurat, PhD, the Homer & Martha Gudelsky Distinguished Professor of Medicine and director of global health sciences at IHV, and Meagan Fitzpatrick, PhD, associate professor of medicine at CVD, the alliance will be guided by a diverse steering committee representing departments and centers engaged in global research and training.
“The School of Medicine faculty already have an impressive network of global partners, with some relationships built over decades,” Fitzpatrick said. “By establishing avenues within our University for sharing knowledge and experiences, the Global Health Alliance will enable us to strengthen those networks and meet the challenges of the current moment.”
Through shared infrastructure and collaboration, UMGHA will serve as a platform for coordination and growth — aligning Maryland’s global research, clinical care, and education efforts with partner institutions across the Global South. Its goals include:
- Sustaining UMSOM’s leadership in high-impact global health innovation
- Expanding the school’s tripartite mission of research, clinical care, and education worldwide
- Training and mentoring the next generation of global health leaders
“The Global Health Alliance is a bold commitment to harnessing our collective expertise, partnerships, and innovation to improve the human condition worldwide,” Charurat said. “It represents our belief that global challenges demand global solutions, rooted in collaboration and impact.”
‘Leader on Global Health Front’
As global health continues to evolve, its viability depends on cross-disciplinary approaches that strengthen partnerships with institutions to address chronic disease, mental health, climate impacts, and health systems — all areas of UMSOM strength.
“The Global Health Alliance will enhance our current efforts to train, expand health care access, and improve collaborative research internationally,” said Shyam Kottilil, MD, PhD, professor of medicine and interim director of the IHV. “Under the leadership of Drs. Charurat and Fitzpatrick, Global Health Alliance will be an exciting new venture that brings together two great institutes of UMSOM, namely IHV and CVD.”
UMSOM Dean Mark T. Gladwin, MD, who is also vice president for medical affairs, University of Maryland, Baltimore, and the John Z. and Akiko K. Bowers Distinguished Professor, added, “We need to continue to be a leader on the global health front, helping to develop new solutions for generational health challenges like new emerging pathogens that put us at risk for the next pandemic. This new global health alliance emphasizes our commitment to our mission to serve not just those in our local communities but to those countries throughout the world without access to basic health services.”
