News Release

University of Michigan Selects Director for the Center for Global Health

November 19, 2008, UM SPH release

Dr. Sandro Galea will be appointed as founding director of the UM Center for Global Health, effective on January 1, 2009, according to University of Michigan Provost Teresa A. Sullivan.

The Center for Global Health, created through a University-wide strategic visioning process that began in 2006, is one of the University’s most exciting initiatives and will build upon an already large portfolio of cross-disciplinary work of UM faculty to create synergy and develop innovative ideas and applications for global health.

Dr. Sandro Galea is professor of epidemiology at the School of Public Health (UM SPH) and research professor in the Survey Research Center at the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. He received his M.D. in 1994 from the University of Toronto, his M.P.H. in epidemiology in 2000 from Harvard University, and his Dr.P.H. in epidemiology in 2003 from Columbia University. Prior to joining the UM School of Public Health faculty in September 2005, Dr. Galea was an assistant professor of clinical epidemiology at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health. He was also the Associate Director of the Center for Urban Epidemiologic Studies in New York City.

Dr. Galea’s research is fundamentally concerned with the social and economic determinants of population health in the global context. His specific areas of research focus are the health of urban populations, particularly marginalized groups, and the influence of conflict and trauma on the mental health of populations. He has substantial work and research experience in medicine and public health worldwide. He has practiced medicine for various lengths of time in Northern Canada, Guatemala, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and Somalia. He has conducted research projects in Israel/Palestine, Spain, Mozambique, Ethiopia, Tanzania, and in Liberia. In these primarily survey-based etiological studies, Dr. Galea has been concerned with the influence of forces such as urbanization, war, and trauma on behavioral health, well-being, and the use of health services.

From a disciplinary perspective, most of Dr. Galea’s work is published in the public health and behavioral health literature. He has authored more than 200 papers in peer-reviewed journals in medicine, public health, and epidemiology, as well as 50 commentaries and chapters. He has edited four books, two of which are about urban health and one about the macrosocial determinants of population health, including how factors such as globalization, urbanization, and political and economic systems influence the health of populations. He has authored or co-authored more than 300 academic conference presentations. Most of his work is supported through federal funding sources including his current role as principal investigator on five active NIH R01s, co-Principal Investigator of a multi-site NIH P60 center grant, a Department of Defense grant, and a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant. Dr. Galea serves as an elected executive member of the Society for Epidemiologic Research and the International Society for Trauma Stress Studies.

The Center for Global Health is promoted by the School of Public Health, in partnership with the Medical School, the Ross School of Business, the School of Dentistry, the School of Education, the College of Engineering, the Law School, the College of Literature, Science and the Arts, the School of Natural Resources and Environment, the School of Nursing, the College of Pharmacy, the Ford School of Public Policy, the Rackham Graduate School, the School of Social Work and the Division of Kinesiology.

With faculty and financial support from schools across the University and support from central administration, Dr. Galea will work with faculty and staff to build on the University of Michigan’s extensive global health initiatives and international partnerships to develop a center that will play a leading role in improving health outcomes and reducing health disparities in diverse regions of the world.

Contact: Terri Mellow, director of communications
Phone: (734) 764-8094
E-mail: twm@umich.edu

More information on global health programs at UM SPH.

Watch a short video with interviews about a sampling of UM SPH and UM Medical School global health projects.