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Collaborative Specialization in Global Health Doctoral Program

Through various activities, including coursework and experiential learning opportunities, Doctoral students in the Collaborative Specialization in Global Health (CSGH) will reflect and deepen their knowledge about interdisciplinary approaches and responses to global health issues. Students will get opportunities to engage with leading global health faculty, career training opportunities and help to develop skills that advance their research objectives.

Application Requirements

Students who have already been accepted into a participating doctoral program at the University of Toronto are eligible to apply to the CSGH. Application requirements are:

Application deadline is Sunday, June 23rd, 2024 at 11:59pm

Application requirements for the CSGH:

  1. Fill out the following online form:

2. Send the following application materials as one pdf file (“first name_last name_stream – ie “Alex_Smith_Doctoral CSGH Application) to globalhealth.dlsph@utoronto.ca:

    • A personal statement (two pages, single spaced) – Describe your global-health-related experiences – including coursework and independent research completed at the undergraduate and/or Master’s levels, as well as professional and volunteer experiences – and how these experiences have influenced your interest in global health and prepared you for the Collaborative Specialization in Global Health.
    • A curriculum vitae;
    • Two academic writing samples (maximum 20 pages each) – This may include research paper completed for course work; undergraduate or graduate thesis; peer review publication). Please select writing sample (s) that reflect your individual contribution to the work (e.g. 1st author). We are looking for evidence of critical thinking, analytic and synthesis skills and clear writing skills including the ability to structure cogent arguments. Ideally the writing sample(s) should reflect your interest in global health

Program Requirements

For doctoral students admitted to the Collaborative Specialization in Global Health, formal requirements are:

1) Participation in CHL5701H: Doctoral Seminar, Collaborative Specialization in Global Health, a half-credit global health research seminar course, for two semesters during your studies. Students are encouraged to attend the CSGH seminar whenever they are in Toronto.

2) Completion of ONE core course. Students may choose between:

CHL5420H: Global Health Research

CHL 5702H: History of International Health

CHL 5704H: International Human Rights Law and Global Health: The Right to Health in Theory and Practice

JCR 1000Y: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Global Challenges

NUR 1038H: Social Determinants of Health in a Global Context: Theories and Methods

NUR 1083H: Comparative Politics of Health and Health Policy in a Globalizing World

if there isn’t a core course on this list that meets your learning objectives or you are not able to take, please consult the CSGH director.

3) Completion of one approved elective course from outside your home department (this is in addition to the core course). The elective must be approved by the CSGH Director.

4) Writing and defending a thesis related to global health. Your advisor or one member of your doctoral dissertation committee must be a global health scholar. Please consult our website for suggestions of global health faculty. For additional support you may contact globalhealth.dlsph@utoronto.ca

5) Doctoral students participating in CSGH are responsible for meeting the doctoral requirements of their home departments.

Participating programs

The program is available to PhD students in the following participating graduate units:

PhD Students Starting in 2022

Name Contact Information Home Department/Division Supervisor/s Research Interests and Area
Sonali Amarasekera PHS – Epidemiology Prabhat Jha
Dorothy Apedaile PHS – Epidemiology  Susan Bondy
Rhonda Boateng IHPME Health Services Research Elizabeth Lin
Lauren Brander DrPH
Damilola Iduye PHS – Social and Behavioural Health Sciences Erica Di Ruggiero
Irenius Konkor Geography Vincent Kuuire
Prossy Namyalo IHPME Health Services Research Lisa Forman and Beverley Essue
Titilola Omotosho OISE Social Justice Education Njoki Wane
Carlos Sanchez-Pimienta PHS – Social and Behavioural Health Sciences Blake Poland
Lauren Smith IHPME Health Services Research Erica Di Ruggiero

PhD Students Starting in 2021

Name Contact Information Home Department/Division Supervisor/s Research Interests and Area
Jorge Angel-Mira jorge.angelmira@mail.utoronto.ca PHS – Social and Behavioural Health Sciences Anne-Emanuelle Birn Migration, Free Trade, Extractive Sector, and the impact on Public Health
V. Armineh Babikian @therapists_for_Armenia; therapistsforarmenia.org Rehabilitation Sciences Institute Yani Hamdani Primary care access for individuals with IDD in Armenia
Ethel Barnes ethel.barnes@mail.utoronto.ca PHS – Social and Behavioural Health Sciences Stephanie Nixon Health Equity and Policy; Healthcare access; Black/African populations
Kayla Alexandra Benjamin

k.benjamin@mail.utoronto.ca

Twitter: KaylaBenjamin_

IHPME – Health Services Research (Health Policy) Erica Di Ruggiero Health equity; Gender and health; The global care economy
Hammad Durrani

hammad.durrani@mail.utoronto.ca

Twitter: @hammaddurrani16

IHPME – Health Services Research (Health Policy) Xiaolin Wei Global Health, Digital Health, Strategy development, scale of services and impact measurement.
Amira Khan amira.khan@mail.utoronto.ca Nutritional Sciences Zulfiqar Bhutta Maternal & infant nutrition, Implementation research, Integrated strategies in conflict settings
Kokui D. Klutse kokui.klutse@mail.utoronto.ca Lawrence S Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing Linda Johnston Child Health and Newborn Care-Developmentally Supportive Care practices in Preterm Infant care.
Snigdha Velugu snigdha.velugu@utoronto.ca PHS – Social and Behavioural Health Sciences Erica Di Ruggiero and Anushka Atuallajan Arts-based research, community-based participatory research, menstrual health, maternal and child health, global health.
Breanna Wodnik

breanna.wodnik@mail.utoronto.ca

Twitter: @BreannaWodnik

IHPME – Health Services Research (Outcomes and Evaluation) Erica Di Ruggiero Stakeholder engagement; fair partnerships; neglected tropical diseases

PhD Students Starting in 2020

Name Contact Information Home Department/Division Supervisor/s Research Interests and Area
Stephen Adombire Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing
Andrea Bowra andrea.bowra@mail.utoronto.ca PHS – Social and Behavioural Health Sciences Jillian Kohler corruption in the pharmaceutical industry
Samuel Henderson samuel.henderson@mail.utoronto.ca Department of Political Science (Public Policy and Canadian Politics) TBD Orphan Drug Policy; Gender, Gender Norms, and Health; Global Health Policy
Jean-Luc Kortenaar PHS – Epidemiology
Fiona Muttalib IHPME
Tolulope Ojo

tolu.ojo@mail.utoronto.ca,

@TA_Ojo (twitter)

IHPME – Health Services Research Nav Persaud Access to Medicines, Sexual, Reproductive, Maternal Newborn and Child Health
Mariame Ouedraogo PHS – Epidemiology Hilary Brown and Diego Bassani maternal and child health, health systems strengthening, conflict and health, community-based participatory action research, and implementation and evaluation research
Isabel Potani Nutritional Sciences
Ziyue (Lily) Zhang Student Profile Link Geography and Planning Vincent Kuuire subfields of health and urban geography

PhD Students Starting in 2019

Name Contact Information Home Department/Division Supervisor/s Research Interests and Area
Sujata Mishra IHPME – Health Services Research (Health Economics) Nancy Reichman and Audrey Laporte Maternal and child health outcomes and non-communicable diseases in low resource settings
Victoria Haldane IHPME – Outcomes and Evaluation Xiaolin Wei Evaluation Methods, Tuberculosis Control, eHealth
Brandon Maser brandon.maser@mail.utoronto.ca; brandon.maser@sickkids.ca IHPME – Health Services Research (Health Policy) Mark Dobrow and Avram Denburg Global child health policy; internationally-controlled essential medicines; global palliative care access
David Hill

davidc.hill@utoronto.ca

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-hill-globalhealth

PHS – Social and Behavioural Health Sciences Anne-Emanuelle Birn Global health policy in Latin America, mining and extractive industries, societal determinants of health
Genevieve Armstrong genevieve.armstrong@utoronto.ca Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing Denise Gastaldo Tuberculosis and Migration
Alyssa Kelly IHPME – Health Services Research Melanie Barwick
Miranda Loutet miranda.loutet@mail.utoronto.ca PHS – Epidemiology Daniel Roth maternal, newborn and child health
Garrett Morgan garrett.morgan@mail.utoronto.ca Geography and Planning Blake Poland and John Robinson Inclusive Urban Resilience and Sustainability; Healthy Cities; Place-Based Public Health Strategies
Archchun Ariyarajah archchun.ariyarajah@mail.utoronto.ca PHS – Epidemiology Shelly Bolotin & Jeff Kwong Vaccine-preventable diseases, Infectious disease outbreaks, Epidemiological surveillance data
Vinyas Harish IHPME and Faculty of Medicine Laura Rosella and Kamran Khan

PhD Students Starting in 2018

Name Contact Information Home Department/Division Supervisor/s Dissertation/Research Interests
Bianca Carducci

Bianca.carducci@sickkids.ca

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/biancarducci

Nutritional Sciences Dr. Zulfiqar A. Bhutta I’m really interested in the nexus between global food, nutrition, and the environment. My dissertation is focused on the health and nutrition of school-aged children in two provinces of Pakistan.
Loreto Fernandez Social and Behavioural Health Sciences Anne-Emanuelle Birn
Amrita Kumar-Ratta amrita.Kumar.ratta@mail.utoronto.ca Geography Katharine Rankin (committee members: Rupaleem Bhuyan, Deborah Cowen, Alissa Trotz) Feminist political geographies; critical histories and current-day experiences of reproductive health, wellbeing
Juyeon Lee Social and Behavioural Health Sciences Erica Di Ruggiero &
Lisa Forman
Social inequalities in health, especially the relationship between precarious employment and health. I am focusing on examining how the lived experiences of online platform workers vary across different social, economic and political contexts.
Sarah O’Sullivan

s.osullivan@mail.utoronto.ca

Twitter: @s_oparkivan

Anthropology Holly Wardlow & Bianca Dahl Medical anthropology, development, post-conflict, humanitarianism, HIV/AIDS, personhood, stigma theory, East Africa, Uganda, Acholi
Kathryn Wiens Epidemiology Stephen Hwang
Sarah Williams

sarah.williams@mail.utoronto.ca

Twitter: @misantropologa

Anthropology Janice Boddy and Holly Wardlow Maternal/Reproductive Health, Mexican midwifery, Mayas, Indigenous Health, Obstetric violence, Vaccine hesitancy

 

PhD Students Starting in 2017

Name Contact Information Home Department/Division Supervisor/s Dissertation/Research Interests
Shamim Ahmed

shamimjitu.ahmed@mail.utoronto.ca

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/shamimahmedjitu/

Social and Behavioural Health Sciences Daniel Sellen, Shafi Bhuiyan Urban health, Labor market, Health equity, Development economics, Global Health, and Health policy
Kayvan Viand IHPME Alex Jadad
Natasha Altin Social and Behavioural Health Sciences Stephanie Nixon Assistive technology, rehabilitation, disability, occupational therapy; rehabilitation systems’ services, policies and research
Michelle Amri Twitter: @michelle_amri Social and Behavioural Health Sciences Patricia O’Campo & Theresa Enright Public Health Policy; Health Equity; Urban Health; Discourse Analysis
Isha Berry

isha.berry@mail.utoronto.ca

Twitter: @ishaberry2

Epidemiology Dr. David Fisman Transmission Dynamics of Influenza and Avian Influenza in Urban Bangladesh
Allison Daniel

allison.daniel@mail.utoronto.ca

Twitter: @KusamalaProgram

Nutritional Sciences Dr. Robert Bandsma Developmental and nutritional outcomes in children with severe acute malnutrition
Calvin Ke

calvin.ke@mail.utoronto.ca

Twitter: @calvinke

Clinical Epidemiology and Health Care Research; Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation Baiju Shah, Prabhat Jha, Thérèse Stukel, Juliana Chan Young-onset type 2 diabetes, global diabetes epidemiology
Rozina Somani

rozina.somani@mail.utoronto.ca

LinkedIn: rozinasomani@gmail.com

Faculty of Nursing

Carles Muntaner PhD MHS

Professor

Division of Social and Behavioral Sciences, DLSPH

My field of study is “critical approaches to health and health outcomes” and my PhD research focuses on “violence in the healthcare sectors.” I am planning to implement a Workplace Violence Reporting System for Nurses in a Healthcare Setting in Pakistan.
Sarah Sutherland Epidemiology Paula Braitstein & Harry Shannon International health development with a focus on maternal and child health
Bernice Yanful Public Health Sciences Anne-Emanuelle Birn