Global Health Conversation

In the month of April we had the chance to host a breakfast and conversation for all of our Global Health students. We were joined by Dr. Barb DePree, a Hope alumna and global health practitioner.

Barb DePree, M.D., a gynecologist in practice for more than 30 years, specializes in midlife women’s health. She founded MiddlesexMD.com, which shares practice-tested, clinically sound information and products, including guidance for working with partners and caregivers. She regularly publishes on her own blog and participates in podcast interviews, providing updates on research in women’s sexual health, as well as observations and advice based on her work with women in her practice.

Barb DePree
Director of Women’s Health Services, Holland Hospital
Board Member, Holland Hospital
Board Member, American Mission Hospital in Bahrain

Dr. DePree’s passion for women’s healthcare and health education as well as her global service and leadership in organizing medical care will inspire you. Join us to learn about how she has discerned her calling throughout her career trajectory, from being a Hope College student to becoming an internationally recognized leader who is making a positive impact here at home and across the world.

World Health Day

Spring has sprung! Though winter is hopefully behind us, continuing to combat Covid-19 and promote overall health around the world are on the top of our minds as we all are eager to get outside and get active after a long winter. 

Did you all know World Health Day is April 7th? With that in mind it is the perfect time to focus on Global Health!

This year the World Health Organization is observing its 75th anniversary. In 1948 countries came together and founded WHO. It was founded to promote health, keep the world safe, and to ensure everyone, everywhere had the highest level of health. This nationally recognized day and anniversary is an opportunity to see how we have been successful over the years as well as improved quality of life. On the flip side hopefully motivates everyone to tackle the current health challenges we face today. 

This year’s theme for World Health Day is Health For All. For over the past few decades WHO has shown a light on important health issues like mental health, climate changes, policies, and our own health awareness. So take time to enjoy this day on April 7th and celebrate all the important aspects of your own health and worldwide health. 

Here are ways we all can engage in World Health Day:

  1. Get active!
  2. Encourage Healthy Eating
  3. At school or work help learn about your own health
  4. Raise money for charities
  5. Invest in First Aid Training

Global Health Program-Interdisciplinary Learning Community with Faculty

Our Global Health program hosted another interdisciplinary learning community gathering on Tuesday, February 7th from 11 a.m. – noon.


The first part of this meeting was a workshop designed to facilitate transdisciplinary thinking about key points and desired learning outcomes of our Global Health curriculum. The second portion was dedicated to connecting faculty from across divisions to discuss shared passions and generate ideas for collaborative research.
If you are interested we have extended the deadline for cross-divisional summer research proposals to Friday, February 20, in hope that conversations at this event motivate the development of projects that we might be able to support now and in the future. For more information reach out to Pangborn@hope.edu.

We are excited to announce that this program has really taken off since Fall 2022 when the program first launched at Hope College. Global Healh is all around us and effects us all. We encourage our communities, students, and faculty to get involved. We can’t wait to see how it grows and thrives in 2023!

What’s New in Global Health?

To those who have not heard yet, this year marks the first year that we offer both a major and a minor in Global Health at Hope College! In the month of September we had the chance to host another Interdisciplinary Learning Community event to all of our Global Health faculty. We were joined by Kearsley Stewart from Duke’s Global Health Institute and their Health Humanities Lab. The focus was on “Embracing Our Interdisciplinary Foundation” in research, practice, and pedagogy.  

Kearsley A. Stewart, Ph.D., is Professor of the Practice at Duke University with joint appointments in Global Health and Cultural Anthropology.  She is also a faculty associate with the Trent Center for Bioethics, Humanities and History of Medicine and the Duke Science & Society program, and is Co-Director of the Duke Health Humanities Lab.  Stewart’s current research interests include community-engaged sickle cell disease research in Africa, global health pedagogy, and global health humanities.  Her work is published in The Lancet, Academic Medicine, Journal of Bioethical Inquiry, AMA Journal of Ethics, Global Public Health, Critical Stages, Africa Today, and Asian Bioethics Review among other journals.

It was an absolute honor to have the opportunity to welcome Kiersley Stewart to speak to our faculty. 

But what’s to come in October? 

On October 13th from 4:30-6:30pm we will be hosting our first advising session of the year. It will be located at Haworth Hotel in conference room 104. We look forward to connecting with our students. Come enjoy some appetizers and beverages, a speaker talking about Mental Health, meet our Global Health faculty and more!

To learn more about our Global Health Program here at Hope College please check out our website at https://hope.edu/academics/global-health/. Or email us at globalhealth@hope.edu or ferrigan@hope.edu with any questions. 

Global Health Program-Interdisciplinary Learning Community

On September 29th the Global Health Program is inviting staff to attend an Interdisciplinary Learning Community gathering at Haworth Hotel and Conference Center.

Kearsley Stewart of Duke’s Global Health Institute will join us virtually to discuss interdisciplinary collaborations and global health pedagogy.

What is to come? Our next event will focus on the topic of mental health where we will invite a key note speaker to give a talk on this topic. Our students will have the opporunity to join in on this event. More information to come!

New Global Health Program at Hope College!

Are you a student who cares deeply about the health and well-being of people around the world? Are you interested in learning more about health equity, infectious diseases, the pandemic, or interdisciplinary approaches to other pressing health-related issues for our global community? Are you looking to make a meaningful difference? If so, our Global Health program might be a great fit for you!  

This year marks the first that we offer both a major and a minor in Global Health at Hope College. To kick off this exciting 2022-23 school year, we hosted a Global Health Interdisciplinary Learning Community gathering on August 22nd where our faculty and students had the privilege of listening to and being inspired by two outstanding guest speakers. 

Renata Schiavo, PhD, MA, CCL, is a Senior Lecturer at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, Department of Sociomedical Sciences, the founder and board president of a nonprofit membership organization called Health Equity Initiative, and a principal at the global consultancy Strategies for Equity and Communication Impact. She is the Editor-in-Chief of the peer-reviewed Journal of Communication in Healthcare; Strategies, Media, and Engagement in Global Health (Taylor & Francis) and serves on the editorial board of Health Equity. She is a passionate advocate for health equity and a committed voice on the importance of addressing and removing barriers that prevent people from leading healthy and productive lives. As a researcher, advocate and practitioner, her interests focus on community- and system-driven multisectoral models, partnerships, and interventions to address health equity, human rights, and communication issues. Dr. Schiavo has worked on 20+ health and human rights areas, including health equity/health inequities, COVID-19, epidemics and emerging disease outbreaks, maternal, newborn, infant and child health (MNICH), immunization and vaccine hesitancy, and building trust in science. She has significant experience in global health issues across multiple country settings, including the United States and several countries in Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Eastern Asia.

Ken Fawcett, MD, is one of our Global Health program community partners. Ken has lived and worked in West Michigan for thirty years. His career includes service as a pediatrician and administrative leadership. In his current role as Vice President at Spectrum Health, he leads Healthier Communities, established to be the fiduciary for funds set aside to support community programs at the time of the merger between Butterworth Hospital and Blodgett Memorial Medical Center which created Spectrum Health. The Healthier Communities mission is to create the most equitable health outcomes at individual, neighborhood, and regional levels through medical programming and upstream interventions, and provision of clinical care that addresses social determinants of health. Healthier Communities has three areas of strategic focus: improving maternal-infant-child health, economic security, and chronic disease. Ken says that collaboration with community partners like Hope College’s Global Health program are critical to their efforts. 

It was an absolute honor to have the opportunity to welcome them both to our 2022-23 kickoff event. Their support now and in the future will be a huge asset to us, our students, and our community. 

To learn more about our Global Health Program here at Hope College please check out our website at https://hope.edu/academics/global-health/. Or email us at globalhealth@hope.edu or ferrigan@hope.edu with any questions.