Members of the Western Connecticut Health Network/Larner College of Medicine Global Health Program along with global health visitors Julio Amado Castaños Guzman, M.D. of the Dominican Republic and Dilyara Nurkhametova, M.D. of Russia (Photo: Dave Seaver)

Physicians and educators from the Dominican Republic and Kazan, Russia, along with faculty and staff from the Global Health Program based at Western Connecticut Health Network (WCHN), visited the Larner College of Medicine campus April 24-25, 2017 to participate in a Celebration of Global Health.

Distinguished guests included Julio Amado Castaños Guzman, M.D., president of Universidad Iberoamericana (UNIBE) and Chairman of the Board of Hospital General de la Plaza de la Salud in Dominican Republic, and Dilyara Nurkhametova, M.D., internal medicine specialist and coordinator of the Kazan State Medical University Global Health Program in Russia. Other Global Health Program guests included Majid Sadigh, M.D., Trefz Family Endowed Chair in Global Health and director, WCHN Global Health Program; Stephen Winter, M.D., director, Norwalk Hospital Global Health Program; Bulat Ziganshin, M.D., an associate research scientist in surgery at Yale School of Medicine and WCHN Global Health faculty member; and staff members Lauri Lennon, Laura Smith and Joanna Conklin.

The two-days of activities included tours, meetings with faculty physicians and global health students, and active learning classroom observation. UVM Larner Global Health Program faculty members Mariah McNamara, M.D.’02, assistant professor of surgery; Michelle Mertz, M.D.’06, assistant professor of family medicine, and Molly Moore, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics, served as leaders of the event.

On April 24, visitors and members of the College community attended a Dean’s Distinguished Lecture in Global Health on “Global Health in the Dominican Republic” by Dr. Castaños, followed by an awards ceremony and reception featuring an exhibit of posters, photographs and reflections submitted by Global Health Program participants.

The UVM/WCHN Global Health Program recognized Dr. Castaños and Dr. Nurkhametova with the Dean’s Distinguished Lecture in Global Health and Celebration of Global Health awards, respectively. Bryce Bludevich ’17 was named the recipient of the Beth Kirkpatrick, M.D. Citizen of the World Award and Andrea Green, M.D., assistant professor of pediatrics, was named the recipient of the Patricia O’Brien, M.D. Global Health Leadership & Humanitarian Award.

Photo award recipients and respective categories recognized at the April 24 event included:

• Originality: Rafael Khalitov, M.D., a physician from Russia who did a clinical rotation in Uganda (Photo #1)
• Composition: Bryce Bludevich, Larner College of Medicine Class of 2017 (“Upward Climb”)
• Impact: Deyanna Boston (Photo #1)

Reflections (written) award recipients:

• Imelda Muller, Larner College of Medicine Class of 2017 (“Kaleidoscope”)
• Mitra Sadigh, UVM post baccalaureate premedical student (“Jebaleko”)
• Janel Martir, M.D.’16, (“Olumwa: The Dangers of Complacency in Global Health”)

View photos from the Celebration of Global Health event. Visit the Larner College of Medicine Global Health website.