This week is optional and can be completed self-paced or run as a 90-minute group session before the fellowship begins. The goal is to build shared context, surface motivations, and prepare for the analytical work of Weeks 1–6.
What this fellowship is about
Global health matters deeply. Over the past century, we've made remarkable progress — eliminating smallpox, developing vaccines that saved millions, improving nutrition, removing lead from gasoline. Yet enormous challenges persist, particularly in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. Preventable diseases still claim millions of lives annually. Micronutrient deficiencies affect hundreds of millions of children. Diarrhea kills hundreds of thousands of children each year. One in two children in LMICs suffer from lead exposure.
Why do these problems persist when we have tools to address them? Progress remains frustratingly slow because the global health ecosystem faces critical gaps: insufficient funding for proven interventions, limited advocacy for neglected diseases, and fragmented coordination between organizations. Making real progress requires more people who combine deep concern for these challenges with clear thinking about solutions.
This program is designed for those ready to engage with these challenges. Through six weekly two-hour sessions, you'll explore how global health actually changes: how evidence becomes policy, what makes advocacy work, why some interventions succeed while others fail, and how to build a career that contributes meaningfully to the field. The fellowship is a starting point, not a destination, it's about building your analytical toolkit for understanding complex health problems.
What to expect
Each week, you'll complete worksheets with readings and reflection questions before our sessions, typically 1.5–2 hours of preparation. Worksheets ensure everyone arrives ready to contribute and help structure discussions.
The seminars are collaborative conversations, not lectures. We examine real cases — from historic victories to ongoing challenges — and ground abstract concepts in practical examples. We expect participants to engage thoughtfully with challenging topics, question assumptions (including their own), and support peers in their learning journey. Disagreements are welcome when approached constructively.
The first five weeks build conceptual foundations. The sixth week focuses on careers. There are no required project components — the focus is on developing analytical tools that will serve you well beyond these six weeks.
Pre-session reflection
Before doing the readings, take 10 minutes to write a short response to each:
- What drew you to global health? Was it a specific event, person, idea, or experience?
- When you imagine "working in global health," what does that look like for you? Be specific — what role, what setting, what kinds of problems?
- What's one thing about global health that you suspect is true but you're not sure about? (We'll come back to this in Week 6.)
[Your response here]
Required readings (pick 2–3, ~60 min total)
These are short, motivating, and orient you to the field. You don't need all of them — pick the ones that match where your interest is strongest.
- Global Health - Our World in Data — A data-driven overview of Global Health
- A Million Lives at Risk? — Center for Global Development. Short, current, makes the stakes vivid in the post-USAID era.
- The epidemic we already know how to stop — PATH — A brief article on the importance of non-communicable diseases
Optional readings (organized by interest)
For science/innovation grounding:
- The golden age of vaccine development — Works in Progress, Saloni Dattani
- Why we didn't get a malaria vaccine sooner — Works in Progress, Dattani
- Inside the Global Burden of Disease Study — how we measure health globally
For policy/politics grounding:
- The High Cost of Pausing Life-Saving Aid — Center for Global Development
- Cost-Effectiveness is Not Enough. Aid Must Be Transformational. — CGD
For specific problem areas:
- Around one-in-three children globally suffer from lead poisoning — Our World in Data
- More than half a million children die from diarrhea each year — Our World in Data
- Micronutrient Deficiency — Our World in Data
- Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistance — Our World in Data
- The End of Lead — Works in Progress. How advocacy eliminated a major health threat. A model for what successful, unglamorous, high-impact work looks like.
Lecture/talk:
- The data that shapes global health — Saloni Dattani at EAG London 2025
Discussion questions (for group sessions)
- On motivation: What drew you to global health? Are you motivated by specific experiences, by data, by ethical arguments, by something else?
- Before this fellowship, where did most of your global health knowledge come from — news, academic courses, a specific book or person, direct experience? What do you suspect is missing from that picture?
- The OWID overview covers everything from child mortality to mental health to air pollution. Of the problems it surveys, which do you think are most important — and how confident are you in that judgment? What would change your mind?
- On visibility and impact: The largest gains in global health — vaccines, salt iodization, lead removal, water chlorination — are usually invisible in everyday life. No one sees the disease that doesn't happen. When you imagine "doing good," does your image match where the actual impact lies? What does this gap tell us?
- On scope: What makes a health issue "global" rather than just international or local? Is the distinction useful? Where does it break down?
- On personal fit: What do you want to get out of this fellowship? Why are you in this fellowship instead of doing something else with this time?
[Your response here]