
Recently, five IU School of Public Health-Bloomington master’s degree students will present first author abstracts at the 2017 Consortium of Universities for Global Health conference in Washington, D.C. The students presenting at the conference focused on implementation, leadership and sustainability in global health include:
- Tyler Sorocco, a Master of Public Health student in Environmental Health
- Emmanuel Obeng-Gyasi, a Ph.D. student in Environmental Health
- Sarah Yonts, a Master of Public Health student in Environmental Health
- Abdul Balogun, a Ph.D. student in Environmental Health
- Yangkun Wang, a master’s student in Nutrition
Sorocco, Obeng-Gyasi, Ablogun, and Wang are all a part of the Global Environmental Health Research Lab within the school, which is directed by Associate Professor Rodrigo Armijos and co-directed by Professor Margaret Weigel. The posters presented by these four students all focus on research conducted in Ecuador on various aspects of cutaneous leishmaniasis, a disease that affects one to two million people worldwide. In the Americas, cutaneous leishmaniasis is endemic from South Texas to Argentina.
Yonts will present research on traffic-related air pollution and behavior problems reported by the mothers of the school children in Quito, Ecuador. Her research was done in conjunction with her mentor Assistant Professor Khalid Khan as well as Armijos.
The conference took place April 7-9, and showcased a variety of speakers on topics that cover governance and political decision-making, health systems and human resources, infectious diseases and global health implications, noncommunicable diseases and social determinants of health, environmental sustainability, and women’s health.