On November 15, leaders from the Global Health Center at the Institute for Public Health and Department of Medicine, cardiovascular experts from the University of Abuja, Nigeria and project partners and leaders from Parents as Teachers National Center joined WashU alumni, faculty, students, and members of the WashU Alumni and Development team for a special event: “Global to Local Health: Community-Based Approaches to Improving Maternal Cardiovascular Health in St. Louis and Nigeria”.
Supported by the Office of the Provost and University’s Here and Next strategic vision, the event outlined two NIH-funded projects that focus on lowering high rates of maternal cardiovascular disease here in St. Louis and in Nigeria. The projects build upon seminal work conducted in St. Louis by Brown School faculty, Debra Haire-Joshu, PhD, and Rachel Tabak, PhD, in collaboration with School of Medicine Professor, Victor Davila-Roman, MD, and decades-long partner, Parents as Teachers National Center.
Featured speakers included ENRICH (St. Louis) primary investigators, Haire-Joshu, PhD, the Joyce and Chauncy Buchheit Professorship in Public Health, Brown School and School of Medicine; and, Director of the Global Health Center, Victor Davila Roman, MD. Speakers for the ENHANCE (Nigeria) project included Associate Professor and Chair, Department of Internal Medicine, Dike Ojji, PhD, University of Abuja Teaching Hospital in Nigeria. Senior Vice President and Chief Research Officer of Parents as Teachers National Center, Allison Kemner, who is a co-investigator on both projects, also spoke on PAT’s long collaboration with WashU.