Global Health Research Group

The Global Health Research Group is an opportunity for motivated undergraduates to participate in a multi-year mentoring research experience led by Professor Graboyes. The Research Group is intended for talented and ambitious students who are interested in writing theses on global health related topics; and those who are majoring in STEM fields and want to challenge themselves to think not just about science, but the ethics, history, and processes of doing science. The Research Group has a strong commitment to teaching inter-disciplinary and social science approaches. It is most appropriate for students who anticipate conducting research and writing a thesis on a topic related to global health, medicine, or science, in addition to topics that are more explicitly historical, anthropological, or related to African Studies. You can read more about the research group and the larger NSF grant that supports it here and here.

The Research Group is comprised of sophomores, juniors, and seniors from across the UO, with a majority coming from the Clark Honors College. The Group is committed to helping students gain skills and tools for conducting undergraduate research. By participating in this group, it is expected that all students will:

1) broaden their understanding of what a scientist is and does to recognize the importance of history of science and social studies of science

2) be exposed and trained to use social science research methods (primarily historical and anthropological) in future research and careers.

Professor Graboyes leads sessions devoted to topics such as: inter-disciplinary research methods, the basics of ethnographic research, technology to stay organized, planning for international research, and interviewing protocols. Visiting guest speakers give presentations on topics such as: the IRB research clearance process, how to develop questionnaires, and interview coding. Students also have the unique opportunity to present on their individual theses and projects. By participating in the research group over a period of years, students not only receive strong mentorship from Professor Graboyes, but also develop strong relationships with other high-achieving students with similar interests.

The group meets for one hour on a weekly basis and students are expected to commit to participate fully for the duration of their time at the UO. 

The first cohorts of student participants came from departments across the university. Those students successfully presented their research at the UO’s undergraduate research symposium and at national conferences in addition to winning numerous UO and national awards to fund their work, including the UO's VPRI Undergraduate Fellowship, the International Studies Department’s Oliphant Scholarship, and the US Gilman International Scholarship. 

Students interested in applying to the Research Group should read the information carefully on the webpage, reach out to Professor Graboyes with any questions, and plan to apply during spring of their freshman or sophomore year.

What the Global Health Research Group members have been up to…

Archival Visit, September 2024: Rockefeller Foundation Archive

For a week in September, Marlee Odell (2022 graduate), Clara Gorman (2018 graduate, and current PhD student in IRES) and Melissa worked at the Rockefeller Foundation Archives searching for materials related to early disease eradication campaigns, malaria control efforts in Africa, and nascent international health work in the first half of the 1900s. The trip was a big success, with many documents, photos and maps viewed in the beautiful Archive facility in Sleepy Hollow, NY. (Many thanks to the fantastic archivist, Bethany Antos, for her assistance!) The three will be co-authoring a Rockefeller Archive Center Research Report, and preparing the report for submission to a peer reviewed history of medicine journal. The trip was funded by a Rockefeller Archive Center Research Stipend and with funds from the NSF CAREER grant intended to more directly involve undergraduates in historical research.

Seminar Presentation, September 2024: Boston University

Melissa returned to her alma mater, Boston University, on September 16, 2024 to deliver the African Studies Center’s Walter Rodney Seminar. She presented on a work in progress paper that is co-authored with Judith Meta, Ava Minu-Sepehr and David Lefevre. The title of the talk was “Reconsidering Rebound Malaria: Zanzibari Voices on Acquired Immunity, Risk, and History.” Highlights of the trip were being able to visit with her PhD advisor, Jim McCann, one of her first Swahili instructors, Judith Mmari, and to see many other good friends in the ASC.

Conference Presentation, July 2024: Africa Evidence Summit. Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

July 10-11, Melissa Graboyes and Mira Cross (MA student in Economics, Research Assistant on ER2 grant project) attended the 12th annual Africa Evidence Summit in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The event is annually organized by UC Berkeley’s Center for Effective Global Action (CEGA). The Summit brings together East and West African scholars, US-based faculty, policymakers and practitioners to dicuss the latest research findings on economic development and poverty alleviation in East and West Africa. It’s an important event to elevate African scholars’ voices and engage stakeholders of various levels. Melissa was invited to present on a panel on “Research Ethics and Transparency in Africa”. It was also a chance for members of the ER2 grant team to come together, including qualitative research specialist, Judith Meta, pictured above left.

Article Publication, June 2024: Connected Histories of Water and Malaria in Zanzibar

Research Group student members Margaret Bird and Lily McCann were co-authors along with Melissa Graboyes, Judith Meta, and Rhaine Clarke (former RA and Research Group member) on a new publication coming out in the journal Water History: “Puddles, Creeks, and Drainage: Connected Histories of Water and Malaria in Zanzibar, 1910-2021.” The article has been published Open Access and you can read it HERE.

Congratulations, Seniors! June 2024

Congratulations to the graduating seniors in this year’s Research Group! We are so proud of their contributions, and look forward to hearing about all their exciting next steps. Warmest wishes to Lily McCann, Ava Minu-Sepehr, David Lefevre, Audrey Saing, Kavi Shrestha, Gwen Lyman and Sophie Fisher as they pursue their post-graduation plans.

Congratulations—Fulbright Winner! April 2024

Congratulations to Gwen Lyman, who was named a recipient of a U.S. Fulbright award to support a year of living and learning in Mexico during academic year 2024-2025!

Hiring Research Assistants for new National Science Foundation Grant! (Due March 15)

Professors Melissa Graboyes and Alfredo Burlando (Univ of Oregon) and Ted Miguel (UC Berkeley) are looking for responsible, self-motivated, detail-oriented students to serve as Research Assistants as part of a larger 3-year NSF grant project. The project investigates the ethics of how research results are returned to participants in Randomized Controlled Trials (RCTs) being run by development economists in East Africa. Working as a Research Assistant on this project is an opportunity for students to participate in inter-disciplinary, mixed-methods research that draws on development economics, African Studies, and history. Students will need to be available for 7-10 hours/week during the academic year, with more hours are available during the summer. Students should be interested in working with the project for at least a year, and must not be graduating before spring 2025. Pay will be $14.20-$18/hour depending on experience and skill set. Application materials (cover letter, CV, academic writing sample) are due by March 15.

Please contact Melissa (graboyes@uoregon.edu) with any questions and see the full job description and required materials HERE.

WHO Archival Research, February 2024

Melissa is back working at the World Health Organization archives in Geneva, Switzerland, searching for additional materials related to her book project about the history of malaria elimination attempts on the African continent. She’s also excited about coming back with other Research Group members!

Congratulations, Oregon Quarterly Article! January 2024

Congratulations to Dante’ James, who was the subject of a lovely article in the UO’s Oregon Quarterly.

Congratulations, Finalist for Fulbright and HURF Fellowship! January 2024

Congratulations to Gwen Lyman, who was named a finalist for a U.S. Fulbright award to support a year of living and learning in Mexico. Gwen was also successfully awarded a Humanities Undergraduate Research Fellowship (HURF) to support her CHC honors thesis research. The award provides $2500 of funding to support 16 weeks of mentored research with a UO faculty member.

WHO Archival Trip, August 2023

Melissa was able to spend a week working at the archives of the World Health Organization along with Research Group member Ava Minu-Sepehr. They spent five days in Geneva working through archival materials related to the Global Malaria Eradication Programme in Africa, and earlier malaria control and elimination attempts on the continent. Ava’s time at the WHO, in addition to multiple weeks of work on a co-authored article, was funded through winning a NSF Research Experiences for Undergraduate (REU) summer award.

Welcome New Student Co-Leaders! September 2023

During the 2023-2024 academic year while Professor Graboyes is on sabbatical, the Research Group will be co-led by two talented UO students: Clara Gorman and Ava Minu-Sepehr. Clara is an incoming doctoral student in the Indigenous Race and Ethic Studies (IRES) program, and graduated from the UO and the Clark Honors College in 2018. While an undergraduate, she worked with Melissa for multiple years as a Research Assistant, and was hired to work with native communities on a federally funded grant administered through WSU. Ava is a 5th year super senior, finishing up a degree in Anthropology, with minors in Global Health while making time to study French, Spanish, Arabic and Persian. She is preparing to apply to medical school and is looking forward to combining her humanities/social science training with a future medical career.

Exciting Summer Research, Internships, and International Travel! June 2023

Members of the Global Health Research Group are participating in wonderful summer internships, language study, and international travel during summer 2023. Lily McCann spent two months in Kisumu, Kenya as part of SIT’s study abroad program. Margaret Bird spent time in Arusha, Tanzania, studying Swahili as part of the competitive CLS language program. Dante’ James was in Vietnam participating in a CHFI program, and Kavi Shrestha traveled to South America as part of the CHFI summer program. Gwen Lyman interned with the group Weaving Impact in Chicago and wrote about her summer of learning here. Ava Minu-Sepehr participated in a Equity Research Program at OHSU and then received a NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates award to support archival research at the WHO in Geneva, Switzerland. David Lefevre also participated in a NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates in a physics lab at the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Congratulations, Thesis Publicity! February 2023

Congratulations to Ava Minu-Sepehr, who had her CHC thesis research, “Invisible Histories of the Coos Bay Estuary” featured by the Office of the Vice Provost for Research and Innovation. We are so proud of the creative and inter-disciplinary nature of her work!

Congratulations, Truman Finalist! February 2023

Congratulations to Kavi Shrestha, who has been selected as a finalist for the highly competitive Harry S. Truman Scholarship. We’ll be wishing him luck on his interview in Seattle in March, and are so proud he’s made it this far!

Poster Presentation: American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. October 2022

Research Group alumna and multi-year Research Assistant, Rachel Conner (CHC/UO graduate 2021) presented a poster at the ASTHM Annual Meeting, held in Seattle in October 2022. The poster presented data from a co-authored paper in progress, “100 Years of Malaria in Zanzibar,” based on Rachel’s undergraduate thesis.

Research Presentation: OSU’s Center for Global Health Seminar. May 2022

On May 19, 2022, Melissa Graboyes and Ava Minu-Sepehr presented at Oregon State University’s Center for Global Health Seminar series, organized by Dr. Chi. They presented on “Zanzibari Perspectives on Acquired Immunity: the Science, History, and Ethics of Decades of Malaria Elimination Efforts.” 7 members of the global health research group also were able to attend the talk and have lunch together afterwards.

Congratulations, Graduating Seniors! June 2022

Warm wishes as we send off the senior members of our group: Sara Buchner, Mikala Capage, Blake Hardin, Marlee Odell, and Idil Osman. All the seniors successfully defended their theses for the Clark Honors College, and many were nominated for CHC Thesis awards. All our seniors made excellent thesis defense presentations! These seniors are thoughtfully pursuing a broad array of post-graduation plans, ranging from medical school, to professional training programs, to PhD programs, to a gap year.

Congratulations on Summer Research Awards! May 2022

Congratulations to Sophie Fischer for her summer fellowship through the OURS program (Oregon Undergraduate Researchers in SPUR) to Ava Minu-Sepehr for her summer fellowship through the SURF program (Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship) and David Lefevre for his award through the VPRI Program. Congratulations to you all, and we can’t wait to see the great work you do this summer!

Congratulations on Undergraduate Research Symposium Presentations! May 2022

Congratulations to members of the Research Group that presented at the UO’s Undergraduate Research Symposium. Our group was well represented with presentations by Mikala Capage, Ava Hearn, Dante’ James, Ava Minu-Sepehr, Marlee Odell, Idil Osman, and Audrey Saing that covered many different disciplines and formats.

Congratulations, Oxford Consortium for Human Rights. March 2022

Congratulations to Ava Hearn for being selected to participate in the Oxford Consortium for Human Rights Program that was held in Oxford over spring break 2022. The session focused on human rights frameworks for armed conflicts, and critically examined current issues in humanitarian aid and the work for peace. We’re proud she was selected to participate in this important event!

Research Publication: Blog Post on the new Malaria Vaccine, December 2021

Mikala Capage and Melissa Graboyes co-authored a short op-ed, “The World Celebrates the First Malaria Vaccine—but Don’t Expect Malaria to Disappear” for the history blog, Nursing Clio, which focused on the recently approved malaria vaccine and the implications for what it might mean for malaria globally.

Congratulations on Humanities Undergraduate Research Fellowship! December 2021

Congratulations to Ava Minu-Sepehr on receiving a Humanities Undergraduate Research Fellowship (HURF) to support 16 weeks of research during winter and spring 2022! Ava will be working with Professor Graboyes on interview data from Zanzibar focused on local understandings of acquired immunity.

Congratulations, Seniors! June 2021

Warm wishes as we send off the senior members of our group: Rachel Conner, Caroline Doyle, Dimitra Fellman, Anika Graack, Deanna Plunkett, Jenna Rudolph and Hailey Volk. It has been an absolute pleasure to work with you all these past few years, and we look forward to hearing about the amazing work you’ll be doing as you leave the UO!

Congratulations on VPRI, UROP, Udall Awards! May 2021

Congratulations to Marlee Odell and Idil Osman on receiving summer VPRI awards to support their thesis research during summer 2021! Congratulations to Marlee and Blake Hardin for also receiving UROP mini-grant funds to support their work. And congratulations to Temerity Bauer, for winning the prestigious Udall Scholarship for the second time in two years!

Congratulations on Undergraduate Research Symposium Award Winners!

Congratulations to Hailey Volk who won the Human Physiology LURAP Award for her research symposium poster, “Influence of Prenatal Nutrition and Supplementation on Birth Outcomes and Negative Affectivity in Infants.” She was selected by the Department of Human Physiology, on behalf of the American Physiological Society (APS) Local Undergraduate Research Awards in Physiology (LURAP). And Congratulations to Rachel Conner, who won the award for “Data Stories Presentation,” that recognized excellence for a digital poster for her presentation, “100 Years of Malaria Prevalence in Zanzibar, East Africa.”

Congratulations on Environmental Humanities Awards!

Congratulations to Anika Graack and Rachel Conner, who both won $1000 to support their senior theses. The award came from the Center for Environmental Futures, and is the Undergraduate Honors Thesis Award in Environmental Humanities. Anika wrote about Covid-19 public health materials and questions of access and translation into Spanish; Rachel worked on a project related to collecting and analyzing 100 years of malaria data from Zanzibar. Great job!

Congratulations to UO’s Goldwater Winner!

Congratulations to Mikala Capage, who was recently named as a winner of the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship! You can read a story about her “second time’s a charm” approach to the scholarship HERE.

Congratulations on 2 new awards: Knight Campus, Goldwater Nominee! January 2021

Congratulations to Mikala Capage, who was recently named a Knight Campus Undergraduate Scholar for AY 21-22. That award will support a full year of mentored research at the Knight Campus. She was also selected as the University of Oregon’s candidate for the prestigious Goldwater Scholarship. We wish her good luck in the national Goldwater competition!

Congratulations: Research Presentation

Congratulations to Hailey Volk, who will be presenting research at the National Council on Undergraduate Research (NCUR) in April 2021!

Research Presentation: London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Oct 2020

Thanks to Clare Chandler and the Malaria Centre for hosting a Webinair research talk, “Rebounding Malaria: Risks, Realities, Replications, and Historical Lessons” related to rebound malaria and our research team’s current replication and extension project. It was a great conversation with many thoughtful questions from participants.

Congratulations on Summer 2020 Research Awards

Congratulations to Mikala Capage, Dimitra Fellman, and Rachel Conner, who were all awarded summer VPRI Research Awards to support full time work on their theses. Congratulations to Deanna Plunkett who won a CURE SURF award to support summer research on her thesis project.Great work!

Congratulations on being named one of the “Oregon Six” June 2020

Congratulations to Nelly Nouboussi who was named by Phi Beta Kappa one of the “Oregon Six”.

Congratulations on CHC Fellowship, April 2020

Congratulations to Jenna Rudolph, who was awarded the Honors College’s Edward C. Sargent III Scholarship for the upcoming 20-21 academic year.

Congratulations on Tripp Fellowship, April 2020

Congratulations to Rachel Conner, who was awarded a Julie Tripp Fellowship from the Clark Honors College to support summer travel to Sweden, Switzerland and Zanzibar to collect data for her CHC thesis.

Congratulations on UROP Mini Grant Awards, March 2020

Congratulations to Nelly Nouboussi and Rachel Conner, who all were awarded UROP Mini-Grant awards of $1000 each to support their participation in a week of work at the World Health Organization archives in Geneva, Switzerland, and their larger research related to the history of malaria in Africa as part of Professor Graboyes’ NSF grant.

Congratulations on Thesis Research Grants, January 2020

Congratulations to Nelly Nouboussi, Mikala Capage, and Rachel Conner, who all were awarded Thesis Research Grants from the Clark Honors College to support their participation in a week of work at the World Health Organization archives in Geneva, Switzerland.

New Research Assistants Join 5-student Team, January 2020

Welcome to our two new research assistants: Marlee Odell (sophomore) and Dimitra Fellman (junior), who will be joining with current RAs Mikala Capage, Rachel Conner, and Nelly Nouboussi. These 5 join an illustrious set of RA alumna that include: Rhaine Clarke, Clara Gorman, and Hannah Carr. The current team of Research Assistants will continue working on projects related to a large malaria rebound replication paper, and the book project.

Research Presentation: University of Norway, December 2019

Thanks to Wenzel Geissler and Ruth Prince for hosting Melissa for an afternoon presentation to the African Anthropologies group. It was a great opportunity to present some initial interview data from Zanzibar focusing on Swahili language representations of the environment and how Zanzibar’s conceive of malaria as an environmental disease.

Research Presentation: Karolinska Institute, December 2019

Thanks to Anders Bjorkman and his Malaria Treatment and Control research team at the Karolinska Institute for spending an afternoon with me, talking about malaria epidemiology and data, past and present. It was a fascinating visit!

Book Published: Africa Every Day, November 2019

Thanks to the 3 excellent Research Assistants who helped on every single stage of this elaborate and logistically complicated book project: Clara Gorman, Rhaine Clarke, and Rachel Conner. You were all amazing at fact checking, formatting, proof-reading, organizing photos, maps and chapters, and compiling the full manuscript to go to the press. Your help was invaluable!

African Studies Association Annual Meeting, November 2019

Oregon State University graduate student Zainab Alidina presented a co-authored paper (with Melissa) on the African Studies Review “Keywords” panel. Thanks to all the participants and helpful feedback we received on the draft paper.

Mosquitopia: The Place of Pests in a Healthy World, Germany, October 2019

Two days were spent in Landshut, Bavaria discussing whether it would be a good idea—even if it was possible—to eradicate mosquitos. An inter-disciplinary group of experts participated, from philosophers to entomologists to artists, and it was a fascinating few days. Sponsored by the Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society. https://www.carsoncenter.uni-muenchen.de/events_conf_seminars/event_history/2019-events-history/conferences2019/symposium_mosquitopia/index.html

New Members Global Health Research Group, October 2019

Welcome to this year’s members of the Research Group!

• Mikala Capage, sophomore, Biology

• Kara Krnacik, senior, Economics

• Nelly Nouboussi, senior, Biology

• Jazmin Cole, senior, Biology and Human Physiology

• Mitchell Yep, senior, International Studies

• Jenna Rudolph, junior, Psychology

• Deanna Plunkett, junior, Human Physiology

• Hailey Volk, junior, Human Physiology

• Caroline Doyle, junior, Biochemistry and International Studies

• Dimitra Fellman, junior, Biology

• Rachel Conner, junior, Human Physiology

• Dayna Hansberger, graduate student, International Studies — **Co-Instructor of the Research Group AY 2019-2020

Op-Ed Published in British Medical Journal online, October 2019

“We’re Succeeding in Our Fight Against Malaria—Now It’s Time to Plan for Failure.” British Medical Journal Blog: theBMJopinion.

The Lancet Commission on Malaria Elimination recently published a new report on the state of malaria globally, with special attention to ongoing attempts to eliminate the disease in sub-Saharan Africa. The report shows there is much for the global health community be proud of: the number of malaria cases and deaths have decreased dramatically in the past decade. At present, malaria activities have international support, are well funded, and are working to integrate new technologies such as a partially-effective vaccine and genetically modified mosquitoes. Yet despite all these gains, there is one area where global health agencies remain woefully unprepared: planning for the eventual failure of their campaigns...

Welcome Back from Summer Research! September 2019

Welcome back to Research Group members that were involved in summer research!

• Kara Krnacik, senior, Economics, was working with Melissa and Professor Ed Rubin (Economics Department) on her thesis

• Mitchell Yep, senior, International Studies spent time in Honduras working with the organization United For Sight

• Dimitra Fellman, junior, Biology major and Jazmin Cole, senior, Biology and Human Physiology major both spent the summer in Ghana as part of the Global Health, Development, and Service Learning Program in Accra

• Research Assistants Nelly Nouboussi, Mikala Capage, and Rachel Conner all worked with Melissa on projects related to acquired immunity to malaria, and beginning a large replication project meant to estimate the cases of rebound malaria globally.

• Graduate student and Co-Instructor, Dayna Hansberger was in Ethiopia for two months conducting ethnographic research related to latrine use and human-centered design

Archival Research in London and Cambridge, August 2019

Research Assistant Eleanor Rochester and Melissa spent one week in London working at a variety of archives, including the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, the UK National Archives, the Wellcome Library, and the Bodleian Library at Cambridge University. It was a very successful trip locating materials related to the history of malaria elimination efforts in Zanzibar from the 1920s through the present. We were assisted by researcher-in-training, Silvia.

Zanzibar Archival & Oral History Research, July-December 2019

Melissa spent weeks in Zanzibar working with OSU graduate student Zainab Alidina, and Tanzanian research assistant and public health expert, Judith Meta. Together they developed a new Swahili-language interviewing tool, received research clearance from the Zanzibari government, and began archival and oral history research. Judith has tons of experience with public health interviewing and is conducting interviews and tracking down archival materials in Zanzibar through the end of December.

Award-Winning Conference Presentation: ISHPSSB Oslo, July 2019

Thanks to Jan Baedke and Tatjana Buklijas for organizing the double session “The Concept of the Environment in Biology: Historical, Philosophical and Sociological Perspectives” which won the prize for the “Best Interdisciplinary Session” at the International Society for the History, Philosophy, and Social Studies of Biology conference in Oslo. Melissa was able to present for the first time preliminary data from Zanzibar about how malaria is conceived of as an “environmental” disease in the Swahili language.

Book Review Published with former Research Assistant, June 2019

A co-authored book review by former Research Assistant and past Global Health Research Group member, Rhaine Clarke and Melissa was published in the African Studies Review journal, the flagship journal of the African Studies Association. The review was of Kim Yi Dionne’s recent book, Doomed Interventions: The Failure of Global Responses to AIDS in Africa.

Research Presentation: UCSF, Malaria Elimination Initiative, June 2019

Thanks to the Malaria Elimination Initiative group at UCSF for spending an afternoon talking about the connections between historical failures of malaria eradication campaigns and contemporary challenges.

Congratulations on VPRI Research Award, June 2019

Research Group member Kara Krnacik, who is a rising senior in the Economics Department won a prestigious VPRI Research Award to support her thesis work, following in the footsteps of prior Research Group and VPRI winners, Eleanor Rochester and Clara Gorman. Jazmin Cole was also named as an alternate for the award. Nice job!

Congratulations Research Group Graduates! June 2019

Congratulations and best wishes on the next step to our graduating seniors, with their thesis titles listed below. Many thanks to Dr. Pat Luedtke, who is the Lane County Public Health Director, and graciously served as a reader on two committees and to Christina Karns from HIV Alliance, who also served on a student committee.

• Eleanor Rochester, “In Their Own Words: Injection Drug Users and Health Seeking Behaviors” who conducted more than a dozen interviews with local drug users and worked closely with HIV Alliance

• Zoe Cameron, “Parental Narratives of Vaccination Practices in the State of Oregon” who worked closely with Lane County Public Health and interviewed parents on both sides of the vaccine debate

• Rhaine Levesque, “Analysis of the 2018 Lane County Pertussis Outbreak and the Subsequent Public Health Response” who interned for months with Lane County Public Health and analyzed public health data

• Alexander Waldron, “The Effects of Medical Technology on Health Disparities: Maternal and Child Health in Ghana” who reflected on 3 pieces of technology she observed during her time in Accra

• Laura McCormick, “The Ethics of Undergraduate Global Health Experiences in Ghana” who drew on her experience participating in the Ghana study abroad program

• Elizabeth Peters, “An Analysis of the Ethics of Clinical Shadowing During Study Abroad Programs” who also reflected carefully about her time in Ghana

• Nayelli Velazquez, who conducted research in Mexico about the doctor-patient relationship in public hospitals

Archive Bootcamp #1, May 2019

13 students participated in a 2-hour training on the basics of archival research that covered topics such as what to do prior to beginning archival research, what to do in the archive, and various possibilities of how to present and disseminate research findings. In addition to students in the Clark Honors College and the Global Health minor, Professor Kristin Yarris and Dr. Jenny Kreiger also participated.

Congratulations on UO Library Undergraduate Research Award, May 2019

Congratulations to Research Group member Nelly Nouboussi (on the far left) who won the UO Library Research Award (and a $1000 prize!) for her paper “The Ethics of Developing New Treatments: A Case Study of the West African Ebola Outbreak and the Use of Randomized Control Trials” that she wrote for Melissa’s 400-level CHC colloquium. Great work, Nelly!

Presentation at South Eugene High School, May 2019

Eleanor Rochester (CHC, 2018) presented her award-winning CHC thesis drawing on interviews she conducted with injection drug users in the Eugene area to 60 students in Lisa Joye’s classes at South Eugene High School. Eleanor presented about the opiate crisis in the US and it’s specific effects in the Eugene-area, and then shared information from her interviews about the use and perceptions of naloxone treatment, which reverses the effects of an overdose. Thanks to Lisa for helping to arrange this great opportunity!

Research Presentation: University of California, Berkeley and Davis, February 2019

Thanks to Leo Arriola and Martha Saavedra at UC Berkeley’s African Studies Center and Corrie Decker at UC Davis’s History Department for hosting research talks on draft chapters of the malaria book, focusing on the WHO’s failed attempts in Zanzibar as part of the Global Malaria Eradication Programme in the 1950s-1960s.

National Science Foundation CAREER Award, January 2019

Melissa received a 5-year NSF CAREER award from the STS Program Area (Science and Technology Studies) to support a new book project about the history of malaria control efforts in Africa, a set of articles, and to involve CHC students in her research through continuing the Global Health Research Group, offering paid Research Assistant positions each year, and in involving students in her research by supervising theses on malaria-related topics, inviting students to participate in archival research at the WHO archives in Geneva, and co-authoring conference papers, blog posts, and articles together. Read more about the award here and here and here.

A.J. Ersted Award for Specialized Pedagogy, May 2018

Melissa was awarded a university-wide teaching award in honor of her “expertise in interdisciplinary, research-oriented, socially impactful undergraduate education” that included mention of her work starting and leading the Global Health Research Group.

Faculty Friday Interview: History and Malaria in Africa, April 2019

A short discussion about my current malaria work, and why history is important for thinking about current malaria interventions. Watch the interview here

NOTE: This Research Group, and all funds made available to students via Research Assistant positions, and travel awards (conferences, WHO archival trip) are provided by a NSF CAREER Award (“Vernacular Knowledge, Expertise, and Ethics: A Case Study of Malaria Elimination in Zanzibar, 19002018” Award # 1844715)

Research Group Alumni

2019 Graduates (2018-2019 Participants): Zoe Cameron, Rhaine Levesque, Laura McCormick, Elizabeth Peters, Eleanor Rochester, Alexander Waldron, Nayelli Velazquez

2018 Graduates: (2017-2018 Participants): Rhaine Clarke, Clara Gorman, Oriana Messner, Anne Peters, Madison Rasmussen