The history of global health at Brown is marked by a series of successful individual faculty projects that have contributed to addressing health disparities worldwide, from early groundbreaking work on HIV/AIDS in the 1980s to more recent faculty efforts tackling a wide range of global threats from emerging infectious diseases to maternal and infant health, mental health, and injury care. In 2009, Edward J. Wing, MD, Dean of the Division of Biology and Medicine (BioMed), spearheaded the creation of the Global Health Initiative (GHI) at BioMed and appointed Susan Cu-Uvin, MD as its inaugural director. 

Over the next 15 years, GHI provided more than 150 Brown student and trainee seed grants in global health research, as well as managed more than a half-dozen large NIH-funded research training grants in countries ranging from the Philippines to Kenya. These efforts were supported by more than 60 BioMed faculty working in global and/or refugee health, both internationally and here in Rhode Island. In 2023, GHI became the administrative hub for BioMed’s International Medical Exchange Program, which manages its partnerships with 16 medical schools around the world, as well as the Brown Resident International/Global Health Training (BRIGHT) pathway.

In 2024, Adam C. Levine, MD, MPH assumed the role of Director of GHI and Associate Dean of Global Health Equity. Under the leadership of Mukesh K. Jain, MD, Dean of BioMed, and working with the newly established Global Health Advisory Committee (GHAC), Dr. Levine worked to transform GHI into the Center for Global Health Equity (CGHE) in 2025, creating a cohesive structure that can effectively mobilize BioMed’s existing resources and faculty expertise to amplify its impact and become a true academic leader in global health equity.

While the primary focus of GHI had been on teaching, mentoring, advising, and supporting undergraduate and medical students, CGHE has expanded this focus to include other trainees at BioMed, such as clinical residents and fellows, graduate and post-doctoral students, and students participating in the various medical school pipeline programs. Equally important, CGHE is working to increase BioMed support for faculty engaged in global health equity research across its 20 clinical and research departments. Taking advantage of the Brown Innovation and Research Collaborative for Health (BIRCH), CGHE has a unique and timely opportunity to become a global health research center of expertise within BioMed that can support faculty in applying for, and managing the complexities of, international grants. It will also be able in the near future to provide promising junior faculty with mentorship and seed funding. 

Finally, CGHE will focus on underexplored areas in global health, including the use of digital tools for improving health care in low resource settings, the translation of promising solutions into actionable interventions through implementation science, the health of refugee populations both in the United States and internationally, and the ethical dimensions of global health research and practice. CGHE aims not only to enhance BioMed’s contributions to global health, but also to set a new precedent for how academic institutions can effectively address the world’s most pressing health challenges.