The Wayne State University School of Medicine will serve as the setting for the WSU Global Health Alliance's first Global and Urban Health Innovation Week April 30-May 4. The week, part of the School of Medicine's year-long 150th anniversary celebration, will include a series of new events designed to innovate, educate and inspire the world of urban and global health, including a conference, film screening and "Shark Tank"-inspired competition.

All events are free, and all students, staff, faculty and community members are welcome to attend.

"Events such as ours are critical, especially for the times in which we live. With the current social, cultural and geopolitical trends, there is a need like never before for increased collaboration and innovation to challenge and transform the status quo in health, academia, business and the community," said co-organizer and Assistant Professor of Internal Medicine Ijeoma Nnodim, M.D. '08. "It is our hope that through events such as our global health week, conference and innovation competition, the Global Health Alliance can inspire the Wayne State University and metropolitan Detroit communities to dream and act in brazenly new and collaborative ways, bringing together diverse disciplines in the health and social sciences, arts and humanities, finance and commerce, with the community at the helm, to finally move the needle in solving the greatest global threats of our time - whether it be health disparities, social inequities, the refugee crises or global warming."

Dr. Nnodim is the co-founder of the WSUGHA, along with Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine Kristiana Kaufmann, M.D., '05, and Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine Vijaya Kumar, M.D.

The week kicks off with "Spoken Word Celebration of Global Detroit," a poetry slam to be held from 6 to 8 p.m. in the school's Shiffman Medical Library at 320 E. Canfield St., Detroit.

On May 1, the Kresge Eye Institute's auditorium, 4717 St. Antoine, Detroit, from 6 to 8 p.m. will host the "Global and Urban Health Equity Seminar: Disaster and Humanitarian Emergency."

Do you have an innovation, invention or idea you think will change the world? Submit your idea to the Ignite to Innovate competition, a "Shark Tank"-style event to be held from 4 to 6 p.m. May 2 in the Scott Hall Cafeteria. Scott Hall is located at 540 E. Canfield St., Detroit.

The competition is open to all, including students, faculty, residents and physicians. Submissions must be a 250-word essay or up to a three-minute video, and will be accepted now through April 23. Prizes include cash awards for the top two proposals and professional mentorship for the top three proposals. Solutions should impact global/local health, health care access or decreased cost-of-care/economic models. Email ignitetoinnovate@gmail.com

"Innovators may get training for successful commercialization, and physicians may be able to use the innovations to help improve access to health care locally and globally," said WSUGHA board member Nitin Chouthai, M.B.B.S., a WSU associate professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Neonatal-Perinatal Medicine and the driving force behind the Ignite to Innovate competition.

"Most importantly, an innovation may trigger the economic engine for metropolitan Detroit for future economic recovery," he said.
Also on May 2, a showing of the Indian film "Toilet - Ek Prem Katha" will be held from 6:30 to 9 p.m. in Room 2268 of Scott Hall. The 2017 Indian Hindi-language satirical comedy was made in support of governmental campaigns to improve the sanitation conditions of the country, with an emphasis on the eradication of open defecation, especially in rural areas.

The week's premiere event is "Collaborations and Innovations in Global and Local Health," an inaugural, one-day conference to be held May 3 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Scott Hall's Green Lecture Hall. Click here for the program.

Attendees can expect to meet like-minded global health practitioners here in Detroit, learn some of the basic framework principles of global health practices, learn how to get involved locally and internationally in socially-responsible programs, learn ways to integrate global health education into medical school education and acquire practical techniques for evidence-based global health study, education and partnerships.

"We are determined that the impact of our global health week of events, particularly the conference, will live beyond its occurrence," Dr. Nnodim said. "We aim that each conference panel will produce white papers to influence thought and policy regarding global health research and education, and capacity building. We intend to translate the networking opportunity into a directory of global health in alignment with our mission of building a diverse interdisciplinary community of global and urban health actors. This directory will also assist in facilitating communication among all global health entities and help build a calendar of global health events and activities that will go a long way to foster collaborations, reduce redundancy and amplify our collective impact."

The week will close May 4 with the Global Fiesta Celebration, beginning at 6 p.m. at Kola Restaurant and Lounge in Farmington Hills.
"Global health is a topic that draws interest and enthusiasm, but often is not organized by best practice principles. The framework and structure for ethical and responsible global health engagement exist, and we want to make sure we share the tools and vision for these best practices," Dr. Kaufmann said.

WSUGHA serves to unify the various global health silos throughout the university to more efficiently and strategically leverage collective resources to collaborate on innovative interdisciplinary approaches that will drive transformative solutions to better impact health outcomes and reduce global mortality and morbidity.

"With the invaluable support of our institutional leadership and the metropolitan Detroit community, we will be the Wayne State University Center of Global Health and Equity, and the central interprofessional global health hub at WSU and for the metropolitan Detroit region," Dr. Nnodim said.

The doctors hope to make the week an annual event.

"We hope to connect all the disenfranchised global health practitioners and give them a common language and vocabulary so they can build partnerships and collaborations. This is the true innovation," Dr. Kaufmann said.

Learn more about the WSU Global Health Alliance at www.wsugha.org