The UNC Institute for Global Health and Infectious Diseases contributed to the 2026 Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH) Conference in Washington, D.C., April 9. Two global health fellowships were highlighted for their impact on global health research training, ethical leadership, and international collaboration. The UJMT D43 Program and the China Medical Board (CMB) Foundation Fellowship demonstrated UNC’s commitment to building equitable, bidirectional global health partnerships and preparing the next generation of researchers.
Ethics, Reciprocal Innovation, and Alumni Achievement
The UJMT Fogarty Global Health Fellowship Program, also known as UJMT LAUNCH, led multiple sessions that underscored the importance of ethics, reciprocal learning, and real-world impact. Directed by Benjamin Chi, MD, MPH, the program sponsored a skills-based workshop, hosted a thematic panel and participated in the LAUNCH alumni panel.
“Giving Voice to Values,” a skills-based workshop adapted from the book by Mary C. Gentile, equipped participants with practical strategies for acting on their values when navigating real world ethical challenges. The session emphasized responding with confidence and clarity, facilitated by Bhakti Hansoti, MBCHB, MPH (associate professor of emergency medicine, infectious diseases, and international health, at Johns Hopkins University, and associate director of the Hopkins Center for Global Health) and Nikita Boston-Fischer, MPH, PMP, MCHES (associate director, Laidley Centre for Business Ethics & Equity, McGill University).
UJMT also hosted a thematic panel on “Reciprocal Learning and Innovation,” exploring how evidence-based solutions developed in global health settings can inform and improve health outcomes across diverse contexts. Facilitated by Dr. Chi, the panel examined topics including mental health, emerging infections, nutrition, and maternal and child health. Panelists included Michael Herce, MD; Yenupini Joyce Adams, PhD; Ruth Dudding, CHES, CHW; Claudia Herrera, PhD; and Rachel Ogumbo Sillah, PharmD.
The impact of UJMT alumni was highlighted during the LAUNCH Alumni Panel. Melissa Issa Boube, a predoctoral trainee in the 2024–2025 cohort based at UNC Project–Malawi, shared insights from her research on the availability of allogenic packed red blood cells in Malawi. Conducted under the mentorship of Charles Mabedi, MD, and Anthony Charles, MD, MPH, her work has been published in the Journal of Surgical Research, demonstrating the program’s emphasis on mentored research with tangible global impact.
UJMT is a consortium that includes the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Johns Hopkins University, Morehouse School of Medicine, and Tulane University, bringing together universities and their respective international research training sites in Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Sponsored by the Fogarty International Center at the U.S. National Institutes of Health, the UJMT D43 program supports U.S. pre- and post-doctoral trainees, along with LMIC post-doctoral fellows, in one-year mentored global research training experiences.
Trainee research projects are supported by mentors with expertise in clinical, public health, laboratory, and implementation research. Each trainee works with a team of mentors, including at least one U.S. and one international member to monitor the trainee’s progress and provide on-site supervision.
Advancing Dialogue, U.S. – China Collaboration
The China Medical Board (CMB) Foundation Fellowship, directed by Joe Tucker, MD, PhD, hosted its fourth consecutive panel at CUGH 2026. U.S. and Chinese scholars, trainees, and academic leaders convened to discuss why continued academic exchange with China remains vital. For more than four decades, China has been a key partner in global health research, yet training opportunities for U.S. scholars remain underutilized.
The CMB Foundation panel highlighted why sustained academic exchange remains essential—and how emerging scholars can engage meaningfully in this work. The session highlighted current training opportunities and featured voices from trainees with recent research experiences in China, faculty with long-standing collaborations, and leaders from Chinese partner institutions.
Tom Fitzpatrick, MD, a current CMB Foundation Fellow, shared insights from his work on HIV and STI prevention and testing. UNC alumni Larry Han, PhD (assistant professor of Biostatistics in Public Health and Health Sciences, Northeastern University) and Dorian Ho, BSPH, also presented research conducted in collaboration with CMB faculty. Tucker discussed U.S.-China research collaboration from a U.S. faculty perspective, emphasizing the long-term importance of partnerships in accelerating scientific discovery and addressing shared global health challenges.
The CMB Foundation Fellowship in China focuses on fostering sustained U.S.–China research collaboration through joint training and research opportunities. While China has been a key partner in global health research for decades, relatively few American trainees pursue training at top Chinese academic centers—a gap the CMB Foundation aims to address by supporting a new generation of cross-border collaborators.