On March 31, eight DU students travelled to Evanston, Illinois for GlobeMed’s 10th annual Summit. For three days, the Pioneers took part in communal collaboration and education of other students from universities across the United States alongside alumni and some of the organization’s grassroots partners from around the world. Each of the students at the Summit applied through the GlobeMed National Office.
GlobeMed is an organization that focuses on partnering student organizations with global organizations, all in an effort to prioritize health equity and the equal value of every human life.
In a program distributed at this year’s Summit, GlobeMed’s story was outlined in overarching questions theming every couple of years. The organization’s founding year, 2006, was described as focusing on the question, “How do we build partnerships that center listening to local leaders?” Now, ten years later, the question has progressed to, “What have we learned from ten years of applying social justice, human rights and anti-oppression frameworks to global health?”
This year’s summit featured speakers such as Dr. Abdul El-Sayed, a public health physician and epidemiologist in Detroit, and Dr. Sharon Rudy, program director for the Global Health Fellows Program at the Public Health Institute in D.C. The DU students described these speakers as influential role models who have helped shape their outlook of GlobeMed and their future pursuits.
“It’s good to be at a point of growth where our stories might mean something to another university’s chapter,” said junior Sunny Khatter, molecular biology major with a concentration in cogntive neuroscience from Aurora.
Khatter, previous director of communications and GROW coordinator, is the current co-president along with Ryan Carson, senior international studies major from Muncie, Indiana.
Ally Malecha, sophomore biochemistry and French double major from Broomfield, is the current globalhealthU co-coordinator with DU graduate Michael Bagg, working on outreach and education regarding health equity and social justice. In addition, she explained that one of the main themes of the weekend was GlobeMed’s future prospects for the year 2030. She continued by describing how the goal of the the organization is to move from a position of only having chapters in the US and only having partner organizations in the Global South to involving a wider expanse of both.
“The impact that the Summit and GlobeMed has had on me is hard to describe in just a couple of words,” said Jenna Powell, junior biology and psychology double major from Portland, Oregon. She has been involved with GlobeMed for two years and currently holds the position of campaigns coordinator, organizing fundraising and marketing events to fund the club’s projects with their partner organization, Buddhism for Social Development Action.
Another student in attendance, Evan Novak, senior biology and psychology double major from Fort Collins, explained what the Summit taught him.
“If we can start to affect change here, we can start to make change abroad,” said Novak.
Novak is currently in his second year being involved with GlobeMed at DU, and is now the director of community building, thus in charge of planning socials, retreats and other community building activities that help keep the chapter members close and engaged with each other.
Novak explained that, while other chapters are losing members or have never really had a strong base, DU has such a committed group of interested people, making GlobeMed at DU not only successful, but a true community of people all with the same goal in mind.
For more information regarding how to get involved with GlobeMed, contact denver@globemed.org.
