Rajiv Chowdhury¸ chair and professor of the Department of Global Health at FIU Robert Stempel College of Public Health & Social Work, was honored with the Faculty Leader in Global Health Innovation Award by the Velji Family Foundation and the Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH). Chowdhury received the award at the 15th Annual CUGH Conference that took place in Los Angeles, California, earlier this month.
The award honors a senior faculty member who has developed and implemented an innovation that has made a positive income on lower-income communities across the globe.
Over the last two decades, Chowdhury has developed innovative global health teaching modules, delivering them to students in multiple universities, including the University of Cambridge, Erasmus University Rotterdam, and several others across South Asia and the United States. The modules spanned topics like global burden of disease, setting priorities in global health, comparative global healthcare systems, global cardiovascular health, global climate change and health, and conducting research in resource-limited settings. A large proportion of the students in these courses were from low- and middle-income settings.
“It is a privilege for me to design and lead these pioneering global health teaching modules for some of the leading academic health institutions globally,” says Chowdhury. “I am proud of this work, however, remain incredibly grateful to all my past and present mentors, academic collaborators, colleagues and students for their guidance and participation.”
Chowdhury is bringing his experience with building pioneering programs to FIU as he spearheads the development of the university’s first Masters of Public Health with a concentration in global health.
The program, which launches this fall, focuses on building the knowledge and skills students need to help improve population health locally and globally. The curriculum covers core public health concepts, including epidemiology, biostatistics, health promotion and disease prevention, and environmental health sciences. Through the concentration-specific courses, students will explore topics like mental health and aging, health safety and quality, and planetary health.
Before joining FIU, Dr. Chowdhury worked at the University of Cambridge and University of Exeter in England as an associate professor and professor of global health, respectively. He currently serves as a country expert in the Global Burden of Disease Initiative and is a member of the Expert Panel for the World Cancer Research Fund International.