Scaling solutions
Frugal innovation offers low-cost, high-impact solutions to global health challenges.
SUMMER 2023
by John T. Langell, M.D., Ph.D., M.P.H., M.B.A.
President, Northeast Ohio Medical University
The changing health care landscape, as difficult as it may seem, is nothing compared to the terrains encountered by many in low-resourced countries around the world.
While both provide challenges for the provider and the patient, we have found solutions to the former — by adding leadership and business training as a third discipline to medicine’s basic and clinical sciences. For the latter, we have to learn from the people experiencing these challenges, in their own environments. And while traditional medical education is important to realizing that aim, it isn’t always enough to meet current and future challenges.
Over the last few years, NEOMED has added a number of programs that enhance the education of future physicians and other health professionals. Among them is a program in global health.
Why do we care about global health?
Global health experiences give our students the opportunity to work with patients from different cultures, learn about different health systems and problem solve in low-resourced health care environments.
These are not medical missions or charity trips. We hope our students return from working with local partners in countries like Nepal, India or Kenya as systems thinkers who start to understand the context of health and disease, and the cultural, social and economic systems that impact the science of medicine.
Several articles in this issue take you across health-related terrains around the world and provide insight on the complexities experienced by the people who must maneuver them. The stories are shared through the lens of faculty, students and alumni.
See how frugal innovation can solve or mitigate global health issues.
Learn more about the state of maternal and infant mortality, and global approaches to improving the health of mothers and their children.
Explore best practice interventions for health professionals with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Discover the importance of trust and cultural competency in emergency disaster response, as well as in everyday care for refugee populations.
We care about global health because it not only allows us to help others around the world, it gives us a better understanding of different cultures including members of our local communities who often hail from under-resourced countries.
Understanding global health leads to better health, everywhere.
Frugal innovation offers low-cost, high-impact solutions to global health challenges.
NEOMED students and faculty join global efforts to improve the health and well-being of mothers and infants.
Sharing best practices to help communities around the world cope with mental health issues resulting from combat.
Building trust and relationships helps ensure success of disaster relief efforts.
A NEOMED alumna uses cultural humility to provide the best care for her patients from around the world.
J. Ronald Mikolich, M.D., was a well-respected educator, an inspiring mentor, an outstanding cardiologist and more.
Eric Espinal, M.D.’s invention protects him and his colleagues from COVID while treating patients.
About the banner image: J. Leigh Garcia, assistant professor of print media and photography at Kent State University School of Art, was commissioned to interpret the topic of global health.