UC School of Global Health plans move forward

UC's first multicampus, systemwide school would tackle international health issues and train students in this emerging public health field.

"The best and the brightest students see the availability of global health training as a key factor in their selection of schools and training programs," said Haile Debas, M.D., a former UC San Francisco chancellor who is leading the initiative to create the University of California School of Global Health.

Plans for the school are moving ahead after UC Regents received a briefing in September.

The proposed school would integrate the expertise of UC faculty in health sciences, social sciences, law, business and engineering to tackle global issues such as pandemics, re-emerging infections, chronic disease, poverty and health care disparities, climate change and health, and the safety and security of global food and water supplies.

An 18-month grant from the UC Office of the President supported the initial planning. Phase II planning is under way, and the school is expected to seek Regents' approval in 2010. The proposed school would have five or more global health centers linking participating campuses and an administrative center on one of the 10 UC campuses.

"California is at the forefront, through both its research and its corporate culture, in addressing the tremendous health challenges facing the world today," said Richard Feachem, leader of the UC San Francisco Global Health Group and former executive director of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. "It is incumbent upon us to mobilize the breadth and depth of the intellectual resources of the University of California to tackle these challenges."