About the Medical College of Wisconsin Office of Global Health

History of International and Global Health at the Medical College of Wisconsin

MCW has had a rich history of international and global engagement that dates back to 1981. It was that year, in collaboration with community leader Elmer Winters, the Founder of Manpower, that MCW co-established the Wisconsin Indochinese Refugee Relief Fund. Through today, MCW has been and continues to be an essential leader and is integral to this important collaborative work and its future impact as a credible and trustworthy source of global health efforts.

Learn more in the full report (PDF)

Message from the Associate Dean Laura Cassidy, MS PhD

The Office of Global Health (OGH) at the Medical College of Wisconsin is a dynamic hub, driving transformative work in global health. Established in 2010, OGH collaborates with faculty, staff, and students to address health disparities—from local neighborhoods to international communities. Through partnerships in community engagement, education, patient care, and research, OGH works to advance health equity and build sustainable partnerships and solutions.

OGH is expanding its influence by connecting faculty from diverse disciplines, engaging students and trainees, and nurturing long-term, faculty-led partnerships. With nearly 250 faculty members involved in projects across 74 countries, OGH is uniting existing programmatic efforts and sparking new initiatives that are scalable and sustainable. Together, we are forging a healthier, more equitable world.

Our educational programs provide a transformative learning experience, with a strong emphasis on community engagement. Through hands-on fieldwork with culturally diverse populations, we prepare future health professionals to deliver patient care and conduct research that is respectful, inclusive, and culturally responsive. To date, we have empowered over 1100 graduate, medical, and pharmacy students as well as medical residents, fellows to broaden their horizons through international internships, research projects, and clinical rotations in 51 countries. These immersive experiences offer invaluable insights into global health challenges, equipping our students with the skills and perspectives they need to make a meaningful impact on communities around the world.

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Consortiums

The Medical College of Wisconsin has institutional memberships to local and international consortiums for global health.

Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH) cugh_logo
MCW is a member of the Consortium of Universities for Global Health (UCUGH). CUGH is the largest consortium of academic institutions in the world involved in global health. With over 19,000 individual members and 145 institutions worldwide, MCW is part of this interdisciplinary network whose mission is to facilitate the sharing of knowledge to address global health challenges by creating equity and reducing health disparities. In line with MCW’s four missions, CUGH promotes mutually beneficial, long-term partnerships dedicated to building human capital across education, research, and service.

At a Glance

The Office of Global Health's mission is to advance MCW’s mission of education, research, patient care, and community engagement through multi-institutional collaborations. Our vision for MCW to be a leader in global health that promotes health equity across neighborhoods and nations.

Our goal is to develop a sustainable framework for multidisciplinary collaboration that integrates and advances the global health sciences.

Strategic Objectives

Establish credible local and global partnerships with community-based organizations, universities, medical schools, and healthcare delivery sites that offer education, research, patient care, and community engagement opportunities for MCW faculty, medical and graduate students, residents, and fellows.
Implement standardized agreements with local and global organizations to assure credit and excellence for trainee and faculty participation.

Guiding Principles

Collaboration
Credibility
Health equity
Multidisciplinary
Partnership
Reciprocity
Social justice
Sustainability

View MCW Global Health 2024 Facts (PDF)

Milwaukee Global Health Landscape Study

For the past three decades, the greater Milwaukee metropolitan area has been an advocate for and leader in global health research, education, training, and technology commercialization. Companies, universities, nonprofits, civil society organizations, and government agencies have worked together to strengthen health and safety locally and globally, with the goal of reducing disparities and inequities, for the world's diverse populations.

To measure the breadth and depth of greater Milwaukee's global health activities and to communicate the sector's impacts on the regional economy, the Milwaukee Global Health Consortium commissioned an inaugural economic landscape study by RTI International.

Based on the data provided by these organizations, RTI estimates that the greater Milwaukee global health sector generated direct employment of 6,132 people and $2.901 billion of economic activity. When the secondary and tertiary impacts of spending by greater Milwaukee global health organizations and employees are included, the greater Milwaukee global health sector supported 16,961 total jobs, $1.308 billion in labor income, $4.671 billion in economic output, and $143.8 million in state and local taxes for the state of Wisconsin.

Read the Landscape Study's full report (PDF) or executive summary (PDF).

Office Leadership

Faculty

Laura Cassidy, MS, PhD

Associate Dean for Global Health

lcassidy@mcw.edu

(414) 955-8546

Megan L. Schultz, MD, MA

Associate Professor; Director, Global Child Health Program; Co-Director, Global Health Pathway

Research Interests: Global health, Education, Procedural sedation

Stephen Hargarten, MD, MPH

Founding Associate Dean for Global Health

hargart@mcw.edu

(414) 805-6454

Mara Lord, PhD, MBA

Chief Strategy and Growth Officer and Assistant Professor, Epidemiology and Social Sciences and Global Engagement

mlord@mcw.edu

Constance Shumba, PhD

Director, Associate Professor

cshumba@mcw.edu

(414) 955-8800

GHE Course: Introduction to Global Health Equity

Staff

Kelli Brown, MPH, DrPH

Program Manager

kelbrown@mcw.edu

(414) 955-4105

Sarah Cornell, MS, CCRC

Clinical Research Coordinator

scornell@mcw.edu

(414) 955-0989

Tifany Frazer, MPH

Director, Office of Global Health

tfrazer@mcw.edu

(414) 955-4763

Melisa Hodzic, BS

Community Coordinator

mhodzic@mcw.edu

(414) 955-5646

Other Global Health Leaders Across MCW

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Global Health Education Faculty Leaders

Global Health Student Organization
Faculty/Role: Taylor Sonnenberg, Faculty Advisor
Academic Home: Emergency Medicine
Trainee Group: All students

Global Surgery Student Organization
Faculty/Role: Chris Dodgion, Faculty Advisor
Academic Home: Surgery
Trainee Group: Medical Students

Master of Science in Global Health Equity
Faculty/Role: Laura Cassidy, Director; Constance Shumba, Associate Director
Academic Home: Institute of Health and Equity
Trainee Group: Graduate

Medical Students’ Global Health Pathway
Faculty/Role: Kirsten Beyer, Co-Director; Megan Schultz, Co-Director
Academic Home: Institute of Health and Equity; Pediatrics
Trainee Group: UME

Dr. Elaine Kohler Summer Academy Global Research
Faculty/Role: Stephen Hargarten, Director
Academic Home: Emergency Medicine
Trainee Group: UME

Pre-departure training for Short-term Global Health Efforts
Faculty/Role: Mac Longo, Co-Director; Steve Humphrey, Co-Director
Academic Home: Radiation Oncology; Dermatology
Trainee Groups: UME and GME

Pediatrics’ Global and Community Health Track
Faculty/Role: Demarco Bowen, Director; Constance Gundacker, Associate Director
Academic Home: Pediatrics
Trainee Group: GME

Family Medicine’s Global Health Track
Faculty/Role: Bryan Johnston, Director
Academic Home: Family and Community Medicine
Trainee Group: GME

GME Scholars in Global Health
Faculty/Role: Steve Humphrey; Mac Longo
Academic Home: Clinical, Surgical
Trainee Group: GME

Global Health Departmental Faculty Leads

Department of Emergency Medicine | Division of Global and Population Health

Ashley Pavlic | Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine
Co-Chief of the Division of Global and Population Health

Taylor Sonnenberg | Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine
Co-Chief of the Division of Global and Population Health

Department of Medicine

Lolia Abibo | Assistant Professor of Medicine
Global Health Assistant Director

Alexandria Phan | Professor of Medicine
Global Health Director

Subspecialty Leads:

Endocrinology & Molecular Medicine – Dr. Abubakr Mohamed
Gastroenterology & Hepatology – Dr. Kulwinder Dua, Dr. Francis Edeani
General Internal Medicine – Dr. Theodore MacKinney, Dr. Jing Xu, Dr. Lolia Abibo
Geriatric & Palliative – Dr. Jordan Baumann
Hematology & Oncology – Dr. Sailaja Kamaraju, Dr. Othman Akhtar, Dr. Alexandria Phan
Infectious Disease – Dr. Nathan Gundacker
Nephrology – Dr. Mukoso Ozieh, Dr. Ira Blau
Pulmonary – Dr. Uzair Ghori
Rheumatology – Dr. Singla Shikha

Department of Pediatrics | Global Child Health Program

Megan L. Schultz, MD, MA | Associate Professor of Pediatrics
Director, Global Child Health Program

Lolia Abibo, MD | Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

DeMarco Bowen, MD | Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

Jane Rivas, MD | Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

Kellie C. Snooks, DO | Assistant Professor of Pediatrics

Department of Surgery

Chris Dodgion | Associate Professor of Surgery
Director of Global Surgery

Libby Schroeder | Associate Professor of Surgery
Associate Director of Global Surgery

Department Liaisons

Designated by their Department Chair, each department and select Centers have a faculty member who serves as a Global Health Liaison to act as the main contact person for communications between MCW Office of Global Health and their departmental faculty and staff. Each liaison holds the following roles and responsibilities:

Act as main contact person for communications between MCW Office of Global Health and their departmental faculty and staff.
Provide the MCW Office of Global Health with their departmental faculty’s current global health clinical care, education, research, or public health efforts.
Refer any faculty interested in global health clinical care, education, research, or public health efforts to the MCW Office of Global Health.

Ehab Abourashed, PhD, MS, BPharm
Associate Professor
Pharmacy

Kirsten Beyer, PhD, MPH, MS
Professor
Global Health Pathway

Kristen Bunnell, PharmD
Assistant Professor
Pharmacy

Lauren Burgunder, MD
Assistant Professor
Pediatrics

Linda Caples, PhD
Director
Office of Continuing Professional Development

Laura Cassidy, PhD
Director, Professor
Graduate School

Jenifer Coburn, PhD
Professor
Medicine (Infectious Disease), Center for Infectious Disease Research

Aprill Dawson, PhD
Assistant Professor
Center for Advancing Population Science

Chris Dodgion, MD
Assistant Professor
Surgery

Juan Felix, MD
Vice Chair, Director, Professor
Pathology

Nathan Gundacker, MD
Associate Professor
Medicine

Stephen Humphrey, MD
Associate Professor
Dermatology

Roger Johnson
Associate Professor
Cancer Center

Bryan Johnston, MD
Assistant Professor
Family and Community Medicine

Amit Joshi, PhD
Associate Professor
Biomedical Engineering

Jeff Kelly, PhD
Center Director & Professor
Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, CAIR

Judith Kosasih, MD
Professor
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation

Peter Langenstroer, MD, MS
Professor
Urology

Qing-song Liu, PhD
Professor
Pharmacology and Toxicology

John “Mac” Longo, MD
Professor
Radiation Oncology

Luis Antonio Sosa Lozano, MD
Chief, Assistant Professor
Radiology

Jonathan S. Marchant, MA, PhD
Marcus Professor & Chair
Cell Biology, Neurobiology, and Anatomy

Angela Mathison, MD
Assistant Professor, Surgery
Linda T. and John A. Mellowes Center for Genomic Sciences and Precision Medicine

Pablo Nakagawa, PhD
Assistant Professor
Physiology

Ahmed Obeidat, MD
Associate Professor
Neurology

Stephanie Olivier-Van Stichelen, PhD
Associate Professor
Biochemistry

Prerna Pandya, MD
Assistant Professor
Obstetrics and Gynecology

Ashley Pavlic, MD
Assistant Professor
Emergency Medicine

Aparna Ramasubramanian, MD
Associate Professor
Ophthalmology

Avani Richardson, MD
Assistant Professor
Anesthesiology (Adult)

Michelle Riehle, PhD
Assistant Professor
Microbiology & Immunology

Thomas C. Robey, MD
Professor
Otolaryngology

Franklin Ruiz, MD
Associate Professor
Anesthesiology

Jim Sanger, MD
Professor
Plastic Surgery

Megan Schultz, MD, MA
Associate Professor
Global Health Pathway

Taylor Sonnenberg, MD, MSGH
Assistant Professor
Emergency Medicine

Sergey Tarima, PhD
Associate Professor
Institute for Health & Equity

Bipin Thapa, MD
Assistant Dean, Professor
Medicine (General Internal Medicine)

Scott Van Valin, MD
Professor
Orthopaedic Surgery

Aditya Vedantam, MD
Associate Professor
Neurosurgery

Doriel Ward, PhD
Director, Assistant Professor
CTSI

Jacek Zielonka, PhD
Assistant Professor
Biophysics