In 2006, a group of university students looked around at the opportunities to engage in global health equity in a way that had a lasting impact. What was available to them—short-term volunteering, donating to large organizations, medical missions—did not represent the world they envisioned.
So they designed something different. Something that created space for students to learn directly from grassroots experts while redirecting the resources they have access to.
Now, 15 years later, more than 5,000 GlobeMed alumni are leaders for global health equity. They are starting nonprofits, conducting clinical research of cancer, organizing for No DAPL, and volunteering as a medic for Black Lives Matter protests. They are working as attorneys, emergency room technicians, physicians, and advocacy and policy coordinators. And more than 90% of them say that GlobeMed influenced their life path.
GlobeMed is creating a community of health equity leaders. And we are so excited about what the next 15 years will bring.
Celebrate 15 Years with Us
Brown Bag Lunch with GlobeMed Alumni — July 14 at 12 pm US Central
Hear from some GlobeMed alumni about their GlobeMed experiences and how it has influenced their careers. We’ll introduce you to some of our alumni, and then you can choose a breakout room to have a familiar and informal conversation about their time in their GlobeMed chapter and what impact its had on their life path.
Thank you to everyone who attended and made this event a success!
Portrait of Partnership Panel — August 18 at 10am US Central
Partnership and solidarity are at the core of the GlobeMed experience and model. Meet staff from three of our incredible, groundbreaking grassroots partner organizations and hear how their partnership with a GlobeMed chapter has impacted their work.
A Keynote Conversation — TBD
Join two friends of GlobeMed as they reminisce on the last 15 years of GlobeMed and the impact over the years. You’ll also get to hear from a student and their partner about how their partnership takes shape. More details to come!
Invest in the Next 15 Years of Young, Health Equity Leaders
Since 2006, thousands of university students have joined GlobeMed and the global health equity movement. They’ve learned from grassroots leaders from around the world about what it takes to create healthier, more equitable communities. In their chapters, they’ve learned from each other about the systems that are the root cause of so much inequality we face today. And they have taken these lessons and experiences to heart.
GlobeMed provides a solid foundation for young leaders to go out into the world and make our world healthier and more equitable. We’re continually impressed by all the contributions these young leaders have made to the global health equity movement over the last 15 years, and we’re inspired by the possibility of the next 15.
Invest in the possibilities and future of young leaders in global health equity today. Show them that you see them and believe in their ability to ensure that we can all live in a world where we are able to not just survive, but thrive.
History of GlobeMed →
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Victor Roy, a student at Northwestern and a part of the Global Medical Relief Program, met with Joseph, who led a clinic build by GMRP, in Ho, Ghana. Seeing that the clinic was not meeting the needs of the community, students in the GMRP wrestled with the question, "How can we, as students, ethically and impact fully engage in global health?" GlobeMed was born out of these conversations.
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In the spring, we hosted the first GlobeMed Global Health Summit. It was at this Summit that GlobeMed's one-to-one partnership model was co-created by 45 students. Dr. Joia Mukherjee and Stephen Lewis were the keynote speakers. By the summer, Abbott Fund saw the potential of GlobeMed and invested $75,000 to launch GlobeMed Headquarters. That fall, we hosted the first Leadership Institute.
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This was the year for us to really prove ourselves. While we started with seven university chapters and 40 students, we grew to nine chapters and 80 students. Knowing how special that first Summit was, we hosted the second Summit, with 140 people attending.
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As more GlobeMed chapters were being founded, we needed to identify more organizations to partner with. In the winter and spring, we spent time in East Africa to meet with potential groundbreaking, grassroots organizations for university chapters to establish partnerships with.
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As we looked to the future, we launched the "Imagine 2030" campaign and committed to developing a generation of young people equipped to advance global health equity. The number of chapters grew from 19 to 32, and we began to work with groundbreaking, grassroots organizations in the Americas.
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GlobeMed continued to expand to universities across the United States, growing from 32 chapters to 46 chapters. We also expanded the geography of where partner organizations are located, and began matching chapters with groundbreaking, grassroots organizations in Asia. In October, we began our partnership with USAID's Global Health Fellows Program II.
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Since the beginning, students had been doing Grassroots Onsite Work (GROW) internships with their partner organizations. Seeing how important these experiences are, and recognizing a need to prepare students for these experiences, we hosted the first GROW Institute this year. In the fall, as a part of our commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion, the first chapters at minority-serving institutions were founded.
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In the spring we host our 7th annual Summit with Nobel laureate Leymah Gbowee as the keynote speaker. Through the summer, we talk with our partners and come up with what leadership looks like, and we come up with our Leadership Practices.
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Recognizing the need to be explicit and active in our stance against the systems that have marginalized people, and to consider the role of power and privilege in global health and social movement, we co-created our Statement of Anti-Oppression. The living statement was crafted by the Diversity and Inclusion Working Group, which included students, and partners at a Partner Forum in Uganda.After steadily growing over the years, the total number of GlobeMed chapters reaches 57, with 1,710 active student members.After years of wanting to build a truly global movement of young leaders for health equity, GlobeMed at University of Rwanda, Kigali becomes the first chapter at a university outside of the United States.The 2017 Summit was our most diverse Summit yet! It was also the first time we opened up attendance to the wider global health equity movement, who made up 20% of attendees. Jane Ekayu, Aisha Fukushima, Jan Schakwosky, and K. Sujata were our keynote speakers, as we had a specific focus on women’s leadership.We completed our work with the Global Health Fellows Program II, which allowed us to expand our network, including to 12 Minority Serving Institutions. Through this program, we were able to support more than 540 GROW interns and increase the diversity of GROW interns by 219%.As we consider ways to make our programming more accessible to all students, we host the first Virtual Leadership Institute.The COVID-19 pandemic requires us to cancel Summit and in-person GROW internships. However, this allows us the space to radically re-imagine how we connect and collaborate and highlights the need for leaders in global health focused on health equity.After 15 years of nurturing young global health equity leaders, we look to where we fit in the future of the global health equity movement and how we can deepen our impact.
Share your GlobeMed moment!
What makes GlobeMed so special are the experiences that students have throughout their time in their chapter. We hear so often from alumni that it was attending Summit or going on a GROW internship that completely changed how they see the world and interact with people. These stories are so meaningful and we want to hear from you.
What was your most formative and important experience in GlobeMed?