The Yale Institute for Global Health (YIGH) is a global resource hub that connects Yale’s expertise and knowledge with partners around the world to speed the translation of new scientific discoveries into better health for all. With support from the Yale Schools of Public Health, Medicine, and Nursing, YIGH works across disciplines to identify and amplify opportunities for innovation.
“YIGH is at the intersection of intellectual rigor, experience, and creativity where collaboration with partners around the world inspires ideas and solutions to our world’s health challenges,” says Saad Omer, director, Yale Institute for Global Health. “Innovation comes from any -- and everywhere, making YIGH one of the most impactful scientific exchanges, particularly with colleagues in low and middle-income countries.”
The Institute supports collaborative research and scholarship for global health among faculty through a Faculty Support Initiative to facilitate global health funding and offer tailored resources and learning opportunities. YIGH also houses networks for faculty with combined expertise in priority global health topics such as malaria, planetary health, emergency medicine, non-communicable diseases, and maternal and child health.
One of the first and flagship programs of YIGH is the Sustainable Health Initiative (SHI), which is the home for global health entrepreneurship at Yale. SHI has supported a variety of health-focused startups offering innovative solutions to today’s public health problems including using artificial intelligence for cancer diagnostics, promoting environmental sustainability, improving data management for organ transplants, and providing low-cost respirators for premature infants, among others.
YIGH also provides other programs including:
- the Global Health Ethics Program, The program offers students and trainees workshops and activities to manage the ethical challenges that often arise in the clinical setting and global health research.
- the YIGH Case Competition. The competition is designed for students across Yale to collaborate and develop innovative solutions to pressing global health challenges. Participants have an opportunity to apply their creativity, critical thinking skills, and technical expertise to address a pressing issue in global health.
- the Leadership in Global Health Fellowship. The Fellowship allows students and trainees to participate in a comprehensive program that includes an advanced leadership seminar and placement in a high-impact internship with major organizations working in global health.
YIGH has been actively engaged in a variety of collaborations related to COVID-19, including ascertaining how human interactions can lead to infection, using wastewater to predict community outbreaks, identifying immune responses associated with severe disease, and developing interventions to increase COVID-19 vaccine acceptance. These efforts will have a significant impact on our response to COVID-19 and future pandemics.
YIGH also holds a Conversation Series that serves as a platform for some of today’s pivotal decision-makers in the global health arena to share their knowledge and expertise with audiences around the world. YIGH has been pleased to welcome as guests Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization, as well as former directors of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.