Darlene Acorda, PhD, RN, CNE, CPNP-PC
Thinking Globally, Learning Locally: Advancing Global Health Nursing Education Through Fellowship-Based Learning
United States
This project will develop and evaluate a locally based Global Health Fellowship for undergraduate nursing students, embedding global health competencies directly into the prelicensure curriculum. Fellows will take part in faculty-led seminars, community outreach with Houston's immigrant and refugee populations, and global health projects during the training.
Yasir Ali, MD, MBChB
Cervical Evaluation and Rapid Visualization with integrated Community Screening (CERVICS): A pre-implementation, mixed-methods study evaluating low-cost cervical cancer screening
Eswatini
This project will pilot a low-cost, field-accessible cervical cancer screening toolkit for use by community health workers serving women living with HIV in rural Eswatini, where most women never receive screening. Community health workers will collect, prepare, and image cervical cytology samples using portable microscopes for remote interpretation by cytopathologists, while stakeholder interviews identify possible barriers to sustainable adoption.
Pedro Balaguera, MD
NeuroBridge Colombia: A rural EEG lab for neurodiagnostic capacity building and remote telehealth support
Colombia
This project will establish a sustainable EEG program in an underserved region of Colombia through three integrated components: installation of EEG machines, a structured training course for local physicians, and a teleEEG model enabling remote interpretation by epilepsy-trained neurologists. The initiative will also support the region's first epilepsy registry and long-term local continuity of neurological care.
Ji Wook Jeong, DMD, MSD
Improving Equity in Dental Pain Recognition for Patients with Dementia Through Multimodal AI-Assisted Assessment: A Pilot Study
United States
This project will develop and pilot a multimodal artificial intelligence system that pairs facial expression analysis with physiologic indicators to detect non-verbal pain during endodontic diagnostic testing in older adults with dementia. Alongside clinical validation, the team will build a training module teaching dental students and providers to recognize and act on non-verbal pain cues, addressing a persistent source of underdiagnosis among patients with communication barriers. Because the approach relies on objective, non-verbal signals rather than patient self-report, it holds strong potential for application in cross-cultural and multilingual global health settings.
Sayali Tungare, MD
Characterization of Factors Associated with Areca Nut Use in the US
United States
This project will characterize areca nut use among dental patients in the United States using electronic dental record data from 17 institutions, examining demographic, socioeconomic, and geographic patterns alongside oral health status and co-occurring habits. Findings will support culturally informed prevention, screening, and cessation strategies for immigrant and refugee communities affected by a practice which is tied to elevated oral cancer risk.