Institute for Global Health hosts Russian delegations

Dec 31 2012

Photo: One of the three Russian delegations that visited UMass Amherst on the steps of Arnold House. Pictured are Dr. Ekaterina Arkhipova, Professor, Novgorod State University (front row, left); Dr. Georgi Arkhipov, Dean, Novgorod State University School of Medicine (front row, right); Dr. David Buchanan, Director, UMass Amherst Institute for Global Health (back row, center); Dr. Olga Asotseva, Internship Coordinator, Novgorod State University (back row, right), along with visiting medical students from Novgorod State University.

Dr. David Buchanan, Director of the UMass Amherst Institute for Global Health and Professor of Community Health Education, hosted three delegations of public health students and faculty from Russia for a week each during Fall Semester 2012. The visits were part of a three-year collaboration between the Institute for Global Health and Novgorod State University's Institute of Medicine.

“The delegations came from Novgorod, Russia, which is the ancient capital and birthplace of Russia, founded more than 1,150 years ago,” said Buchanan. “Goals for the project include the development of a dual degree program, the expansion of student and faculty exchanges, hosting scientific conferences, joint publications and the pursuit of new collaborative research projects (for example, on women and HIV in Novgorod),” he added. As part of the project with Novgorod State University, the Institute has also been sending groups of 4-6 graduate public health students to Novgorod for 8 weeks since 2010. The project was jointly funded by the U.S. Department of Education and the Russian Ministry of Education and Science.

Buchanan’s work as the director of the Institute for Global Health supports the organization’s mission of protecting and promoting the health of people across the globe.