Global Health Connections
April 2021

UC Davis' New App Ranks Spillover Risk for Newly Detected Viruses

SpillOver is a new open-source risk assessment web tool developed at UC Davis with contributions from experts worldwide. It ranks the risk of wildlife-to-human spillover for newly discovered viruses. “[It] can help advance our understanding of viral health threats and enable us to act to reduce the risk of spillover before pandemics can catch fire,” said Jonna Mazet, founding director of the One Health Institute at UC Davis and Alliance board member. Read more. And in Wired and Forbes.

Peter Daszak Discusses Recent WHO Report on Pandemic Origins

Peter Daszak is president of the EcoHealth Alliance and the only American representative on the World Health Organization team that recently traveled to Wuhan to probe the origins of the pandemic. He recently spoke with A Shot in the Arm podcast host Ben Plumley about the misinformation swirling around the WHO's recent report on the pandemic origins and the likely zoonotic transmission of SARS-CoV2. Watch here.

Former Gilead Sciences CEO, Chairman John Martin Dies at 70

The Bay Area Global Health Alliance extends its deepest condolences to the family of former Gilead chair and CEO John Martin who died on March 31, 2021. Under his leadership, Gilead developed a globally successful pipeline of antiviral medicines, which have become the backbone of treatment for HIV and Hepatitis C. The company also developed innovative partnerships with generics companies around the world to expand access to its medicines in developing countries. Read more.

Alliance Experts Reflect on Pandemic and Look to the Future

• "Long-term investment in health workers—a response that governments and health systems often fail to deliver—is more acutely needed now than at any time since AIDS devastated health infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa 25 years ago," wrote Vanessa Kerry, Seed Global Health CEO in a recent CNN piece. Read more.
• "The pandemic should not be seen as ended until it is over around the world, not just in metropolitan parts of the country like the Bay Area," said Stefano Bertozzi, UC Berkeley School of Public Health and Alliance board member, at UCSF's COVID-19 Path Forward discussion series. Read more.
• "We’re paying the price for ignoring all the research that has been out on the social determinants of health. …The lack of investment in our public health systems left us unprepared to be able to respond to the virus. I think this pandemic has shown that there are a lot of people who have not been reached by either our public health or healthcare systems," said Mary Pittman, PHI CEO and Alliance board chair, in a recent article in Modern Healthcare.  Read more here. And here ($).

Americares Teams up with CDC on Vaccine Hesitancy

Americares has been awarded $2.6 million from the CDC to combat COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy at free and charitable clinics across the country. "There is much work to be done to dispel myths and misinformation even within the medical community," said Americares President & CEO Christine Squires. Read more.

Vaccine Hesitancy Among Prison Officials

Across the country, prison officials are choosing to refuse the opportunity to get vaccinated. In a survey of California prison workers conducted by The Marshall Project and the Associated Press, 50% indicated they would hold off on the vaccine. “People who work in prisons are an essential part of the equation that will lead to reduced disease and less chance of renewed explosive COVID-19 outbreaks in the future,” said UCSF's Brie Williams, a correctional health expert. Read more.

COVID-19 as Catalyst for Bay Area Collaboration 

“Our growth in 2020, our inaugural year, can partially be attributed to the realization that partnerships and collaborations across sectors were going to be necessary to move forward and to save and improve lives,” said Bay Area Global Health Alliance Executive Director Sara Anderson in a recent interview that kicked off a new partnership with Devex on global health tech and innovation. Read more.

Bay Area Innovation Challenge Finalists

Sixteen student teams have been selected to compete in the 2021 Bay Area Global Health Innovation Challenge. These teams of student social-entrepreneurs will now participate in a series of virtual workshops and mentoring sessions and present their ideas to a panel of high-level judges at the virtual Final Pitch on May 1, 2021. The Challenge hosted by UC Berkeley, Stanford and the HealthRoots Foundation in partnership with UCSF, UC Davis and the Alliance. Read more.

Welcome UK Science & Innovation Network

The Bay Area Global Health Alliance is pleased to introduce its newest member, the UK Science & Innovation Network (SIN). With its network of 100 officers in 40 countries, SIN builds partnerships and supports science and innovation efforts that benefit the UK and the countries in which it works. We look forward to working together to promote equity and innovation in global health. Learn more about our members.

ICYMI

Nearly 100 people joined the Alliance’s March Member Webinar on “The Value of Human-Centered Design in Global Health,” with IDEO.org, JSI, the HCD Exchange and Medicines360. Learn more and watch. 

Members in the media

• Merck for Mothers: Racial Disparities in Healthcare Have Led to High Maternal Mortality Rates—What One Doctor Is Doing About It [People]
• Stanford: The State Inoculates: Vaccines as Soft Power [Lancet]
• PATH: Researchers Are Hatching a Low-Cost Coronavirus Vaccine [New York Times]
• Facebook: What Facebook Is Doing to Combat Vaccine Hesitancy [SF Chronicle] 
• Pfizer-BioNTech Vaccine Is Said to Be Powerfully Protective in Adolescents [New York Times]
• UCSF: Why Pandemics Give Birth to Hate: From Bubonic Plague to COVID-19 [NPR]
• Stanford: The Politics of Stopping Pandemics [New Yorker]
• Facebook I Google: Booking a Covid-19 Vaccine? Tools & Tips, Plus Help from Tech [Wall Street Journal]
• Seed Global Health: Are Some States Lifting Restrictions Too Soon? [BBC]
• UC Davis: Common Fungus Emerges as Threat to Hospitalized COVID-19 Patients [Science]
• UC Berkeley: Why US Coronavirus Tracking Can't Keep up with Concerning Variants [Nature]
• PATH: Variants Could Cause a Rapid Rise in COVID-19 Cases in the US Unless We Implement These Public Health Measures [Forbes]
• UCSF: How Much Weight Did We Gain During Lockdowns? 2 Pounds a Month, Study Hints [New York Times]
• Merck’s Little Brown Pill Could Transform the Fight Against COVID [Bloomberg] 
• UCSF: Global Health Security Requires Endemic Disease Eradication [Lancet]
• UC Berkeley Study: California's Tougher Diesel Emissions Rules Cut Related Deaths in Half [US News & World Report]
• Pfizer Is Now Testing a COVID-19 Pill [The Hill]
• CUGH: Building Forward Better [Lancet]
• Google Blocked Over 99 Million COVID-19 Fake Ads in 2020 [Business Insider]
• Listen. PHI's Healthy Places Index Featured in Ezra Klein Podcast with Nadine Burke [New York Times]
• Listen. UCSF's Bob Wachter Hosts 'In the Bubble' Podcast, Episode with UCSF's Monica Gandhi [Lemonda Media]

More member news

• Zenysis: Accelerating National Responses to COVID-19 with Big Data & Advanced Analytics
• UC Berkeley: FDA Approves First Test of CRISPR to Correct Genetic Defect Causing Sickle Cell Disease
• Vir Biotechnology Announces Positive Topline Data from the Phase 2 BLAZE-4 Trial in Low-Risk Adults with COVID-19
• Gilead I Merck to Jointly Develop Long-Acting, Investigational HIV Treatment Combinations
• UC Berkeley: UK COVID-19 Variant Associated with Increased Risk of Death
• PHI's “Safely Opening Schools” Pilot Data Indicate Utility of Rapid COVID-19 Testing as Schools Reopen
• UCSF: Study Outlines Testing Strategies for Safer Air Travel During the Pandemic
• UNICEF Leads the Coronavirus Vaccine Rollout Around the World
• UC Berkeley: COVID-19 Vaccines in Hand, Experts Tackle Issues of Equity in Distribution
• UCSF: How Inequities Fueled the COVID-19 Pandemic – And What We Can Do About It
• UC Berkeley: How Legacies of Racism Hinder Vaccination Among Communities of Color
• PATH: A Global Conversation on Racism in Public Health
• Pfizer: Helping to Ensure Access & Address Health Inequity Amid a Pandemic
• Stanford Medicine Team Aids Lakota Nation in Fighting COVID-19
• Global Fund for Women: Biden’s Feminist Foreign Aid To-Do List
• Zipline–Toyota Tsusho Partnership Will Enable On-Demand Drone Delivery of Vital Medical Supplies in Japan
• CEND: 'A Little Bit of Everything': UC Berkeley Researchers Contribute to Pandemic Understanding
• Stanford: Stabilizing RNA Molecules to Strengthen Vaccines
• UC Berkeley: We’re Four Months Into COVID Vaccines. Here’s What We Know So Far
• PATH: What Does It Take to Deliver COVID-19 Vaccines?
• UCSF: Viruses Mutate, but Treatments Are Static. Is There a Way to Change That?
• Equalize Health: Moving Knowledge, Not People: Training India's Health Workforce During COVID-19
• JSI: In Timor-Leste, Women Win When Government Invests in Training Health Workers
• PSI: Efficient & Convenient Remote Capacity Building of Frontline Health Workers in Angola
• MedShare: Strengthening Health Care in El Salvador
• UC Davis: One Health Programs in US Medical Schools & Development of a Novel One Health Elective for Medical Students 
• Pathfinder's Bay Area Climate Health Blog
• UNICEF: One in Five Children Globally Does Not Have Enough Water to Meet Their Everyday Needs
• UC Berkeley: Wildfire’s Devastation Can Linger Long After the Smoke Has Cleared
• UCSF: Vaccine Willingness Differs Among Bay Area Medical Workers and General Public
• Americares Launches COVID-19 Safety Protocols Campaign
• UNICEF: How the WASH Landscape Has Changed in the COVID Era
• Hesperian COVID-19 Vaccines Fact Sheet
• Hesperian COVID-19 Vaccine Management Fact Sheet
• Pathfinder: Mobile Tech for Family Planning Education
• Resonance Global: How to Launch a Sustainable Business Model for Digital Solutions
• Global Fund for Women: Reclaiming Technology & Innovation to Support Feminist Organizing Globally
• UCSF: What It Takes to Do Humanitarian Work in Global Hotspots
• UNICEF: Syria Conflict 10 Years on: 90 Percent of Children Need Support
• UCSF's Dilys Walker: Intersectionality for the Win
• UC Berkeley: After COVID-19, Work Will Never Be ‘Normal’ Again
• UCSF: For COVID-19 Long-Haulers, Few Answers, But Meditation & Peer Support Offer Some Relief
• UC Berkeley: California Gun Violence Program Saves Lives, Taxpayers Millions
• UCSF Launches Digital Trove of Opioid Industry Documents with JHU
• JSI: Accelerating Efforts to End TB
• ReSurge International Program in Africa Officially Launches to Help Expand Surgical Capacity in Sub-Saharan Africa
• Pathfinder's MAIS Mozambique Project Combats Stigma
• PSI: Human-Centered Design Lends a New Approach to Increase Uptake of HIV Services Among South African Men Who Have Sex with Men
• UCSF: To Keep a Sharp Mind, Start Thinking of Heart Health in Your 20s
• GHC I PATH: Renewing Our Focus on Women & Girls
• Seed Global Health: Annual Reflection: The Power of People in Health for All
• Watsi: Watsi Tackles the Health-Poverty Cycle
• Watch. PHI I CUGH: Resiliency in the Global Health Workforce During COVID-19
• Watch. Seed Global Health I CUGH: Utilizing Technology to Expand Capacity for Health Education
• Watch. Stanford I CUGH: Michele Barry Interviews Tony Fauci
• Watch. UCSF World TB Day Webinar
• Watch. Google PSA. Get Back to What You Love
• Listen. UCSF COVID Contact Tracing in the Bay Area
• Watch. Stanford PSA. End the Pandemic; Vaccines Work
• Watch. WomenLift Health I Stanford: Gender & Power: A Conversation with Women from the Biden-Harris Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board 

Trinity Challenge Deadline April 15

Final call for The Trinity Challenge! Take part in this call to action for the world’s best and brightest minds to contribute ideas and innovations, with up to £10M in awards. The Trinity Challenge seeks solutions that use data and analytics to better respond to our next global health emergency.  Learn more here.

Upcoming events

• Research in Progress: Regression Discontinuity in Electronic Health Record Data [Stanford, Apr. 9]
• Global Health's Centrality to U.S. Foreign Policy: The Best Policy Tools [Friends of the Global Fight, Apr. 13]
• Trinity Challenge Application [Trinity Challenge, Apr. 15] 
• Are YOU Ready to Help Prevent the Next Pandemic? [Ending Pandemics I Skoll World Forum, Apr. 15; pre-registration required] 
• Climate Change, Food Security & Migration [UCSF, Apr. 15]
• Existential Risks Conference [Stanford, Apr. 17–18]
• Opening Forum of the AlignMNH Collective [AlignMNH, Apr. 20–21]
• World Sepsis Conference [Global Sepsis Alliance, Apr. 21–22]
• Gaining a Competitive Edge When Applying for Jobs in Global Health [PHI I USAID, Apr. 21–24]
• Human & Planetary Health: Protecting Health on a Changing Planet [Stanford, Apr. 22]
• Cuba’s Approach to Healthcare for All [Stanford, Apr. 22]
• Bay Area Ecology & Evolution of Infectious Disease Conference [UC Davis, Apr. 23]
• Global Health Day: Decolonizing Global Health to Advance Health Equity [UCGHI, Apr. 24]
• Planetary Health Annual Meeting & Festival [PHAM, Apr. 25–29]
• Increasing Diversity in Clinical Trials [STAT, Apr. 28]
• Where Do We Go from Here? [EcoHealth Alliance, Apr. 29]
• Think Like a Technologist: Data Analytics & Decision-Focused Strategies for Global Health [Zenysis I Global Digital Development Summit, Apr. 29]
• Bay Area Global Health Innovation Challenge Pitch Event [BAGHA I UCB I UCSF I Stanford, May 1]
• Epidemiology 101 for Journalists [McGill, May 3–7]
• Health Tech Summit 2021 [STAT, May 11–12]
• AIDS Walk San Francisco [Gilead, May 16]
• Health Systems Summer Institute [Johns Hopkins, Jun. 7–19]
• Rx One Health Field Institute [UC Davis, Jul. 11–24]
• IAS Conference on HIV Science [IAS, Jul. 18–21]
• Rural ACEs Summit [PHI, Sep. 29–30]

What we're reading

• “We Are Hoarding”: Why the US Still Can’t Donate COVID-19 Vaccines to Countries in Need [Vanity Fair] 
• An Action Plan for Financing Global Vaccination & Sustainable Growth [Rockefeller Foundation]
• Q&A with Biden's Top Global Health Official Loyce Pace [Politico, scroll to Washington Watch]
• Global Treaty Needed to Protect States From Pandemics, Say World Leaders [Guardian]
• Meeting the Moment, Fueling the Future Policy Recommendations [GHTC]
• The Urgency of Now [CEPI]
• How to Debunk Misinformation About COVID, Vaccines & Masks [Scientific American]

Publications

• Zoë L. Grange: Ranking the Risk of Animal-to-Human Spillover for Newly Discovered Viruses 
• Jean B. Nachega: Contact Tracing & the COVID-19 Response in Africa: Best Practices, Key Challenges, & Lessons Learned from Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, & Uganda 
• Nistara Randhawa: Fine Scale Infectious Disease Modeling Using Satellite-Derived Data 
• Altaf Saadi: Associations Between Memory Loss & Trauma in US Asylum Seekers: A Retrospective Review of Medico-Legal Affidavits 
• Justina O Seyi-Olajide: Inclusion of Children's Surgery in National Surgical Plans & Child Health Programmes 
• Marcela Maria Uhart: Redefining Our Relationship with Nature to Avoid Future Pandemics 
• Ava Yap: Best Buy in Public Health or Luxury Expense?: The Cost-effectiveness of a Pediatric Operating Room in Uganda from the Societal Perspective 

Jobs

• East Africa Program Director I Stanford, WomenLift Health, Apr. 19
• Program Manager, PT I Global Oncology, Apr. 19
• Global Operations Manager I One Health, UC Davis, Apr. 21
• Deputy Director, Individual Philanthropy I Americares, May 15
• Regional Director, Northeast I MedShare
• Sales Director, Global Health Partnerships I Zipline
• Market Access Officer, Diagnostics I PATH
• Digital & Media Relations Officer I Pathfinder
• VP, Communications & Marketing I Medicines360
• Postdoctoral Position, Population Health, Faculty Mentor Pascal Geldsetzer I Stanford
• Human & Planetary Health Program Manager I Stanford
• RA Position: Forgone Medical Care During the COVID-19 Pandemic I Stanford
• Program Coordinator I WGHA
• Development Director I Hesperian
• Research Data Manager I Muso, Mali [French]
• Research Senior Manager I Muso, Mali [French]
• Senior Program Officer, Health Products, Programs & Markets I Gates Foundation
• Chair of Division of Clinical Medicine I Partners in Health, University of Global Health Equity, Rwanda
• Program Manager I Cure Cervical Cancer
• Various Openings I CUGH
• Various Openings I IDEO.org
• Various Openings I JSI
• Various Openings I PATH
• Various Openings I PHI
• Various Openings I Seed Global Health
• Various Openings I Triangle Global Health
• Various Openings I UNICEF USA
• Careers in Global Health I UCSF
• Various Openings I Zipline

Opportunities

• Impact Challenge for Women & Girls [Google, Apr. 9]
• The Trinity Challenge [Alliance I Facebook I Google, Apr. 15]
• Call for Proposals: Global Health Seed Grants [Stanford, Apr. 15]
• Health Policy Podcast Fellowship [Health Affairs, Project HOPE, Apr. 15]
• Mastery Over Vaccine Misinformation Flexible Learning Course [First Draft News, April 13–Apr. 29; various options]
• Small Grants Program [RSTMH, Apr. 15]
• Global Mental Health Fellowship [APA, Apr. 16]   
• PHC Tech Challenge [PATH I Stanford, Apr. 22]
• Global Public Health Fellowships [UC Berkeley, May 1]
• Asia Pacific Rainbow Grant [Gilead, Jun. 1]
• Translations Needed for Health Fact Sheets [Hesperian]
• Survey on COVID-19, & Women’s Health [Univ. British Columbia]
• Online Scientific Writing Course [CDC]
• JHU Funding Opportunities [Johns Hopkins University]
• NIH Global Health Funding [NIH]
• Various Fellowships [PHI] 
• Palliative Care Course, Coursera [Stanford]
• COVID-19 Course in Spanish [Stanford]
• Graduate Program Opportunities, Various [UCGHI]
• Fellowships, Various [UCSF]
• Fellowships, Various [CDC]