In his new part, Bazira will harness and amplify Georgetown’s strengths in international well being created more than the final two decades by convening and mobilizing researchers and students for broader effect.
Bazira, an associate professor of medicine in the College of Medicine, is a renowned scholar in strengthening well being systems and a public well being practitioner with decades of in-depth, field-level sensible encounter operating and developing partnerships in emerging economies. He also serves as founding director of Georgetown’s Center for Worldwide Wellness Practice and Impact (CGHPI), which he will continue to lead.
“We are grateful to have the leadership, knowledge, and encounter of a single of our world’s major international well being scholars,” mentioned Georgetown President John J. DeGioia. “Dr. Bazira joined our neighborhood in 2019 and in the years considering that, has demonstrated a deep commitment to collaboration, an ambitious vision for how Georgetown can contribute to international well being, and a deep understanding of the values that guide our mission.”
Bazira has deep encounter in the communities that his operate focuses on. Born in Uganda, he grew up at the height of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in an atmosphere exactly where access to well being care was a privilege – an encounter, he says, that shaped his ultimate target: strengthening the resiliency of well being systems that are self-sustaining and making sure equitable access for all to optimize person and population well being outcomes. His experienced journey led him from Uganda to South Africa and then to Maryland just before he settled in Washington, DC.
“Building and strengthening the international well being neighborhood at Georgetown, and building a platform that enables us to collaborate as an institution, will aid elevate and amplify our operate,” Bazira says. “We will also be far better positioned to undertake interdisciplinary operate, to take benefit of possibilities that a faculty member, center, division or even a college wouldn’t be in a position to do on its personal.”
Moving the Needle on Worldwide Health
The Worldwide Wellness Institute (GHI) builds on the foundation of Georgetown’s university-wide Worldwide Wellness Initiative, which, for the previous 5 years, modeled how a collective method to international well being at Georgetown could operate. The Worldwide Wellness Initiative was launched in 2017 as an interdisciplinary platform for supporting investigation, teaching, scholarship and service in international well being.
GHI gives an elevated concentrate and structure to connect international well being-associated initiatives across Georgetown’s schools and campuses. Its operate will be informed and overseen by the executive vice presidents of key campus, the Health-related Center and Georgetown Law, reflecting the university’s broad-scale commitment to international well being.
“This institute aims to be the platform that brings collectively the whole Georgetown international well being ecosystem beneath a single umbrella so we can have a complete appreciation for what Georgetown faculty, researchers, students and employees are undertaking in international well being,” Bazira says. “It will aid us discover places of collaboration in between the distinct schools, departments, centers, institutes, labs, faculty and students interested in international well being operate. It will allow us to much more proficiently operate in the places of investigation, education and service.”
Bazira noted that a faculty advisory committee and external advisory council will be formed in the subsequent 12 months to bring diverse perspectives to the GHI, which includes from the private sector, government and the nonprofit space. He will oversee a tiny core administrative group primarily based at the institute and will operate collaboratively with schools and centers to help communications, grant improvement and implementation, and information management infrastructure.
Discover much more about Bazira’s vision for the GHI, and how it will make bridges across the university’s a lot of strengths in international well being. This interview has been edited for length and readability.