Community Partnership

A student uses technology and digital connections to review public health data at the University of Michigan School of Public Health

7 Ways the Pandemic Changed Global Public Health for the Future

Chinyere Neale

The romanticism of global public health work, says Chinyere Neale, will not survive the pandemic nor the new forms of collaboration it has demanded of researchers. Knowing that we can do really good work from anywhere in the world—including our current location—is a good thing for public health.

Map of global dots connected by lines

It's Time to Rethink Capacity Building in Global Health Work

K. Rivet Amico

Capacity building is a ubiquitous phrase in grant applications, communications, and guidelines for many global health initiatives. Too often the phrase connotes an assumption that “established” US partners build knowledge or practice in “less-resourced” communities. What language can we use to more honestly recognize the value and contributions of all collaborators?

Tonya Allen, President of the McKnight Foundation, alum of the University of Michigan School of Public Health

Resilient Leadership in a Dynamic World

Tonya Allen, BA '94, MPH/MSW '96

From rewriting rules to enabling others to succeed, Tonya Allen thinks leadership is not about an individual person doing a great thing but about an environment where everyone wins. In Detroit and now Minneapolis, Allen keeps putting herself out there so that entire communities can thrive.

René Pitter, MPH '09, finishes the Race against Hate

Movements toward Health and Each Other

Renée Pitter, MPH ’09

An effort to spread health positivity among Black Michigan alums became a huge success. In the face of so many stories about health inequities and trauma in Black communities, a growing group of Black alums is moving their way to connection, awareness, health, and healing.

Mosquito sitting on a leaf

Do Africans Want Genetically Modified Mosquitoes?

Utibe Effiong, MPH ’14

Genetically modifying mosquitoes to control infectious disease is not a new idea. But all consequences—the good and the bad—of such an intervention must be adequately vetted. And importantly, argues physician and alum Utibe Effiong, local communities should have a say in the process.

A large garden project at Hamady Middle School in Flint, Michigan, co-facilitated by Youth Empowerment Solutions (YES)

Human Resilience, Positive Engagement, and Building on the Strengths of a Great City

Marc Zimmerman

Why do some youth end up engaging in bad behaviors and others do not? Marc Zimmerman has spent his career studying one half of that question—the many positive things youth bring to their communities. For decades, Zimmerman has partnered with colleagues in Flint to explore the many strengths of that city and the most basic forms of community engagement can have huge, positive impact.