Global health seed grants support multidisciplinary faculty research

The Emory Global Health Institute (EGHI) has announced the recipients of its 2018 Seed Grant Program. Each seed grant awardee will receive up to $50,000 to conduct preliminary research on a global health challenge, with the goal of securing additional funding from external sources to expand the research conducted during this initial pilot phase.

The principal investigators and project titles of the 2018 EGHI Seed Grant Awards Program are:

• Margo A. Bagley, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law, Emory University School of Law
  Pharmaceutical Quality Assurance Pilot Program-Mozambique 

• Thomas Clasen, Rose Salamone Gangarosa Chair in Sanitation and Safe Water, Rollins School of Public Health, Department of Environmental Health
  Developing and Demonstrating the Feasibility of a Novel Method for Extracting and Using Clinical Records to Evaluate the Impact of a Targeted Health Intervention in Rwanda

• Lisa M. Thompson, associate professor, Nell Hodgson Woodruff School of Nursing
  Estimating Adolescent Girls’ Exposure to Plastic Burning in Rural Households Participating in the HAPIN Gas Stove Intervention Trial in Jalapa, Guatemala 

• Gonzalo Vazquez-Prokopec, associate professor, Emory College of Arts & Sciences, Department of Environmental Sciences
  Improved Chemical Control and Diagnostics of Aedes-borne Viruses in Mexico

• Melissa F. Young, assistant professor, Rollins School of Public Health, Hubert Department of Global Health
  Evaluation of a Non-Invasive Hemoglobin Determination Smartphone App to Detect Anemia in Refugees 

EGHI seed grant projects are multidisciplinary, with all projects including Emory co-investigators with appointments at different schools than that of the principal investigator. Additionally, seed grant projects often include external local and in-country partners.

Bagley says she is “thrilled” to receive the seed grant and excited to work with her co-investigator, Deborah McFarland, professor of global health at the Rollins School of Public Health, on a project that “facilitates collaboration between our two schools.”

“The pilot project that EGHI is supporting will test rapid, inexpensive and accurate near infrared spectral analyzers to detect falsified medicines in Mozambique, which will help assess the costs of such harmful medicines to governments and individuals,” Bagley explains. “I am pleased that EGHI recognizes the importance of this issue, which has public health, legal and economic ramifications.”

Since its founding in 2006, EGHI’s support of Emory faculty through its faculty grants and recruitment programs has led to a 14:1 return on investment for the university.

Learn more about the 2018 seed grant projects.