Atlantic Fellows for Health Equity

🔊 Announcing our 2025 cohort 🔊 15 dynamic changemakers that hail from Ethiopia, India, Iraq, Malawi, Malaysia, South Africa, Switzerland, Uganda, the United Kingdom and the United States, bringing with them a wealth of experience across Community Engagement, Disability and Accessibility, Engineering, Gender-Based Violence Prevention and Response, Maternal and Child Health, Nursing, Population Health, Sexual and Reproductive Health, Transgender Health and other health equity topic and issue areas. Their collective expertise represents the multifaceted approach required to address health disparities worldwide. 🌐 https://lnkd.in/e_FZwvQs

Our fellows have shared this collaboration from Pakistan, where 2024 Fellow Salima Khowaja and Senior Fellow Bilal Asim raised breast cancer awareness among underserved females in a low-income suburban area of Lahore. Bilal reports that 80 females aged 20 years and above who attended religious school participated in the awareness session. The session discussed breast cancer burden, risk factors, breast self-examination techniques, and the importance of early detection and mammography, culminating with a survivor story from one of the attendees and an oath to give 5 minutes to oneself for self-examination. #collaboration #healthequity

For International Day of Persons with Disabilities on December 3, we’re bringing together global health equity leaders for a Webinar on how innovation drives a more accessible and equitable world. 🎤 We’re thrilled to welcome keynote speaker Lisa Meeks, PhD, MA, Founder and Co-Director of Docs With Disabilities Initiative and champion for inclusion in healthcare. Then, you’ll hear from AFHE Senior Fellows James Huang, Nonsi Mathe, Ph.D, Mildred Omino and Dr. Shubha Nagesh as they explore how to ensure that innovation is inclusive and reaches marginalized communities. Open to all. 🔗 Register now to join us on December 3! https://bit.ly/AFHEWebinar #IDPD #InclusionMatters #DisabilityRights

With hearing loss rising, accessible technology such as Apple AirPods is a step forward, but true inclusion means doing more to make society more accessible and user-friendly. From reliable interpreter services to quiet spaces to better training for healthcare providers, Senior Fellow James Huang works to ensure the deaf and hard-of-hearing get the care and connection they deserve.  Read his latest perspective in MedPage Today. 🔗 https://lnkd.in/gpFGABDy

🌍 The journey continues! Our 2024 Fellows are heading to New Zealand for their final convening. This transformative week will be full of deep reflection, cultural immersion, and powerful conversations as they explore leadership and health equity in the Māori context. We are sharing some highlights of their fellowship year as these 15 health equity leaders prepare to graduate and become Senior Fellows!

💧 So excited to share the news that Senior Fellow Abraham L. B. Freeman Freeman was recognized with the Audience Choice Award for Innovation and Technology at the 2024 The Water Institute At UNC Conference! In addition to his groundbreaking work with Environmental Rescue Initiative to train women and girls to recycle plastic waste into backpacks and raincoats, his team is building Liberia’s first community-based Recycling Resource Center to train additional people who will become a driving force for achieving environmental sustainability in Liberia, and the West African sub-region. ♻️

Senior Fellow Toyese Oyeyemi is a leader in health equity practice and research, always working to advance health workforce diversity and accountability in health professions education. He recently spoke to The Atlantic about how to best support the next generation of healthcare providers. 👇

Congratulations to Senior Fellow Qusai Hammouri, who was named a finalist for the Kevin Xu Innovation Challenge. The challenge tasked applicants to develop solutions for a future where artificial intelligence isn't a threat to livelihoods worldwide but rather a tool that empowers people to build more productive and meaningful lives. Qusai’s innovation uses AI to visualize medical information, empower patients, and provide culturally inclusive, multilingual education to increase health equity. 

Last month, a group of AFHE Senior Fellows traveled to Lima, Peru to immerse themselves in learning about community health from Socios En Salud. Lima offered a unique lens on community-driven healthcare with its innovative approaches to maternal and child health, tuberculosis, mental health, and the treatment of non-communicable diseases. We were honored to have Nancy Rumaldo R. and Oscar Ramirez from our 2021 cohort show us their work addressing disparities in early childhood development and reducing the incidence of TB and HIV. #healthequity #communityhealth

Health disparities don’t happen by chance — they are shaped by systemic forces. Senior Fellow Medha Makhlouf reflects on an article that shows how the under-regulation of skin-lightening creams exposes women of color to harmful chemicals. Medha uses her personal and professional experiences to highlight “the need to mainstream intersectionality analyses in food and drug law—and health law generally—in order to identify the structural forces shaping health inequities and the scale of interventions needed to eliminate them.” Read more here: https://lnkd.in/eP-sNGdP #healthequity #healthlaw