Annual Symposium of Imperial-Wellcome Trust Centre for Global Health Research

IGHI hosts third annual meeting to showcase current Imperial research and to get medical students thinking about next steps in their careers.

The Imperial College-Wellcome Trust Centre for Global Health Research is one of the five UK-wide centres funded by the Wellcome Trust to enhance transdisciplinary global health research.  It aims to make advances in preventing and treating health problems of poor countries, communities and people, while fostering the careers of a new generation of scientists focusing on those issues.

Based within the Institute of Global Health Innovation, the Centre aims to initiate and foster research that improves health and reduces inequalities in health and healthcare and since its establishment in 2013, the Centre is taking major steps to leverage Imperial’s strengths in science, engineering, medicine, public health, data analytics and business towards cutting-edge global health research.

Their annual scientific two-day symposium on 22^nd and 23^rd June provided a key opportunity to bring together academics from across the globe to present findings on their current and emerging research and for early career researchers to focus on their own professional development and career progression.  

Day one was broken down into three sessions – Technologies for Global Health; diagnosis, surveillance and delivery of care; and nutrition, the environment and global health. 

Themes discussed included accelerating the discovery of malaria transmission-blocking drugs, understanding the connection between HIV and tuberculosis and an investigation into the roles of water, sanitation and hygiene in the control of schistosomes (parasitic worms), among others.    

The black dog

The first keynote lecture ‘The black dog: why don’t we care?’ was given by Vikram Patel, Professor of International Mental Health at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.  Professor Patel informed us that in most parts of the world, suicide is the leading cause of death in young people and the global burden of depression is growing. His talk outlined how we could make depression and mental health a global development priority as well as a global health priority.  

Careers in global health research, and beyond

Day two of the Symposium focused on the professional development of early career researchers, both within academia and in other sectors and provided a unique opportunity for students to reflect on their future career in global health.

The day heard from a variety of speakers, including a keynote speech from Dr Richard Smith, former Editor of the British Medical Journal, as well as representatives from GlaxoSmithKline, the World Health Organization, Lancet Global Health, Boston Consulting Group and Cancer Research UK.

On closing the event, Director of the Centre, Professor Majid Ezzati said “We were delighted to hear from the wide array of speakers at the event.  The Wellcome Trust-Imperial College Centre for Global Health Research works across the college  on integrative research and career support to improve the health of the most marginalised communities and people, regardless of where they live.  Our annual meeting not only provided a platform for members of the centre to hear about current global research across Imperial’s faculties, but to also update the wider community on the current challenges facing global health today.  We would like to thank all who attended and participated.” 

A selection of photos are below and you can view the full album here.