SUNY Global Health Institute, Wadsworth Center to create NYS Global Health Interface Platform

The SUNY Global Health Institute (GHI) and the New York State Department of Health have announced a new partnership between the department’s Wadsworth Center and GHI.

The newly formed alliance will strengthen New York State’s ability to respond to global public health threats while providing workforce training opportunities for future public health professionals.

“The new collaboration with Wadsworth Center will create novel research opportunities for faculty at UB and other GHI campuses and add to the innovation that can be proposed in grant applications,” says Gene Morse, co-director of the SUNY GHI, director of the Center for Integrated Global Biomedical Sciences (CIGBS) at UB and a SUNY Distinguished Professor in the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences. “Students will also benefit by engaging in research programs that have local and global applications.”

Wadsworth Center is a science-based laboratory community that is committed to protecting and improving the health of New Yorkers through laboratory analysis, investigations and research, as well as laboratory certification and educational programs. The center is also a collaborating unit of the University at Albany School of Public Health and a global leader in public health research and translational science.

GHI’s administrative offices are located at UB and at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University in Brooklyn. It is supported through in-kind and non-sponsored funding sources.

“This partnership brings together the country’s premier public health laboratory with our nation’s largest public university system and its global partner countries,” says James McDonald, the state health commissioner. “By connecting with UB’s public health network across the world, we can further prepare for and prevent potential risks to public health before they reach New York State.”

The partnership creates an innovative, state global health interface platform that will bring together public health laboratories and the SUNY-GHI centers to create a novel platform for interaction that will foster innovative research, education and communications programs, Morse says. The platform will also provide additional opportunities for UB and GHI faculty and students to connect on the state’s public health laboratory initiatives and research programs.

“In addition, the partnership will lead to additional cross-campus grant applications that will be strengthened by the participation of the Wadsworth Center,” Morse says. “I feel honored to represent UB in this endeavor at a time when public health threats are becoming more severe across the globe.”

CIGBS employs a highly innovative model that addresses the challenges of linking innovative research with strategies for attaining the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and is providing a foundation for this through global health projects in Africa and the Caribbean. It works in tandem with several partner groups including the GHI and the Global Virus Network.

The new Wadsworth partnership includes virtual meetings for its constituents this fall, and plans are in place to feature the partnership at SUNY’s annual conference in March. It will bring together stakeholders from the SUNY academic health centers and other campuses, allowing attendees to develop plans for grant applications and education initiatives. The annual conference includes sessions that focus on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals and strategies for advancing the mission of the GHI.

“This initiative will create new opportunities for linking the world-renowned public health environment in New York State with global partners, while helping us to train the next generation of public health scientists,” says Leonard Peruski, director of the Wadsworth Center.

Jack DeHovitz, SUNY Distinguished Professor and co-director of SUNY GHI at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, says the annual conference at the SUNY Global Center “provides an outstanding venue that is at the intersection of New York State and the United Nations and promotes global collaboration.”