Projects

"Research and Discussion in Critical Discourses and Remedies in Global Health Education," published in Frontiers in Education, is a special collection of articles examining global health education, highlighting its challenges and paths for improvement. Multiple expert authors from academic medical institutions across many low-income and high-income countries call for transformative strategies beyond performative efforts, urging a fundamental shift in how global health is taught, practiced and evaluated to better address health inequities and build collaborative solutions.

The collection is accessible for free online in e-book and PDF format. It was edited by Ashti Doobay-Persaud, Tracy Rabin, Martin Adokiya, Tomlin Paul, Jessica Evert and Benedicta Mensah.

The Center for Global Health Education has collaborated with Maseno University School of Medicine since 2020, initially focusing on faculty development in simulation-based medical education. This partnership led to Kenya's first Medical Education Conference in 2023. This partnership has grown to expanding simulation teaching across departments, an annual health professions education conference, developing a faculty development program in health professions education, Maseno University and Northwestern University Educators (MUNUEd) and finally supporting the development of a department of health professions education.

Conferences

An annual MUNU Health Professions Education Conference brings together faculty from all over Kenya and beyond to provide knowledge and skills to prepare learners to advance health professions education.

• April 2023: Innovation and Leadership in Medical Education in Kenya – Now and Beyond
• April 2024: Adapting to Evolving Trends in Health Professions Education
• April 2025 (upcoming): Embracing Digital Transformation in Health Professions Education

The MUNUEd program is a one-year certificate program for MU faculty educators modeled after Northwestern's Health Professions Educator Clinical Scholars program. The MUNUEd program will launch in April 2025 during the MUNU Health Professions Education Conference.

For more information about this partnership, contact Colleen Fant, MD, MPH, at cfant@luriechildrens.org.

One of our center's notable achievements is the development of a palliative care partnership with colleagues at University of Lagos which has resulted in the establishment of a palliative care program at Lagos University Teaching Hospital in Nigeria (LUTH), a long-standing partner. Initially launched as an online education and training initiative, the program has grown into a comprehensive palliative care service, filling a needed gap in care and expanding to serve a diverse patient population, particularly children. This initiative has also fostered a national network of palliative care providers to address critical care gaps. CGHE continues to support healthcare provider training through an annual faculty symposium.

Recognizing the growing demand for specialized pediatric care, CGHE's next steps include supporting the development of national guidelines and protocols to ensure comprehensive, compassionate care for children across Nigeria.

Conferences

The annual palliative care conference features faculty from across Nigeria, Northwestern and features the Education in Palliative and End-of-Life Care (EPEC) curriculum adapted to the Nigerian healthcare landscapewith the goal of educating health professional on the essential clinical skills needed to provide palliative and end-of-life care.

• June 2023: Education and Clinical Service in Nigeria
• July 2024: Pediatric Palliative Care in Nigeria
• July 2025 (upcoming): Nursing and End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) Training

Related Publications

• Doobay-Persaud, A., Solchanyk, D., Fleming, O., Patel, N., Drane, D., Hauser, J., & Ogbenna, A. (2022). Palliative care challenges in Nigeria: A qualitative study of interprofessional perceptions. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management.
• Ogbenna, A., Drane, D., Crowe, A. N., Oyedele, O., Hauser, J., Soyannwo, O., Ogunseitan, A., & Doobay-Persaud, A. (2022). Building the Nigerian palliative care workforce: An interdisciplinary distance learning training program. Annals of Global Health.
• Akodu, B., Olokodana-Adesalu, O., Ojikutu, M., Ogbenna, A., Agunbiade, T., Nwosa, N., Doobay-Persaud, A., Caputo, M., Drane, D., Evans, C., Ogunseitan A., & Hauser, J. (2024). Pattern of admissions and needs assessment for palliative care services. BMC Palliative Care, 23(1), 210.
• Ogbenna, A., Caputo, M., Akodu, B., Drane, D., Ohanete, D., <Doobay-Persaud, A., Ogunseitan, A., Johnson, L., Hou, L., Akanmu, A., & Hauser, J. M. (2024). Online palliative care curriculum: Contextual adaptation for Nigerian healthcare workers. BMJ Supportive & Palliative Care, 14(e3), e2937–e2943.

The Partnerships for Advancement in Global Health Professions Education (PAGHE) project aims to advance health professions education (HPE) globally by fostering new projects and nurturing longitudinal academic global health education partnerships. The Center for Global Health Education has established successful collaborations with PAGHE partners — including Maseno University (MU), University of Global Health Equity (UGHE) and Stellenbosch University (SU) — and educational leadership at the African Forum for Research and Education in Health (AFREHealth). AFREHealth is an organization focused on improving the quality of healthcare in Africa through research, education and capacity building.

Projects

• Partnership with educational leadership at AFREhealth supporting their Teaching Skills Curriculum. The teaching skills program will target mid-level faculty in health professions training institutions across Africa. Outcomes are focused on revising the curriculum in response to evaluation results and supporting implementation of the new iteration of this curriculum with HPE experts from SU.
• Partnership with the leadership of UGHE's new Certificate of Health Professions Education, in which Northwestern faculty instructors will teach, mentor and support program evaluation.
• The Maseno University and Northwestern University Educators (MUNUEd) program is a one-year certificate program for MU faculty educators modeled after Northwestern's Health Professions Educator Clinical Scholars program. The MUNUEd program will launch in April 2025 during the MUNU Health Professions Education Conference.

The Scoping Current Opportunities for Health Professions Education (SCOHPE) project aims to support faculty development in health professions education by assessing the current health professions education across Eastern, Western, and Southern Africa.

In partnership with AFREHealth and faculty at Stellenbosch University, we developed and distributed a survey to identify barriers and opportunities in medical education, focusing on Health Professions Education (HPE) unit activities. Additionally, team leads were recruited from 8 universities from the ESWA regions, and they conducted semi-structured interviews with leaders of existing or developing HPE units to examine structures, activities, facilitators and challenges.

By promoting collaboration and sharing best practices, SCOHPE supports AFREHealth's mission to strengthen health education and build networks in HPE across the continent of Africa. The project's findings have the potential to inform identify best practices, areas for improvement and potential opportunities for collaboration between institutions.