Posted: 7/11/2007
Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing Associate Professor
to Advocate for Greater U.S. Investment in Global Health Research
Nancy Glass, PhD, MPH, RN, associate professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, has been named an Ambassador in Research!America’s Paul G. Rogers Society for Global Health Research. Glass is now one of 50 of the nation’s foremost global health experts who have joined forces to increase awareness about the critical need for greater U.S. public and private investment in research to improve global health.
“Health conditions in poor countries around the world are crying out for somebody to help – that somebody should be the United States,” said Glass. “Our nation’s leaders must understand that increased U.S. investment in global health research will not only help improve health conditions in impoverished countries, it will help to prevent the emergence and spread of diseases that can endanger Americans here and abroad.” Glass noted a recent case of a man traveling with a drug-resistant form of tuberculosis as evidence that diseases cannot be contained within any countrys borders.
Glass serves as associate director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health, establishing collaborations to design research projects, implement new prevention and treatment interventions, and seek resources for new lifesaving programs. Her past global initiatives have focused on building nursing capacity to address major public health issues. Most recently, she worked with the Thai Ministry of Public Health and the Thai Dean’s Consortium of Schools of Nursing to improve public health nursing in HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment, and care. She also conducts community-based collaborative intervention research in the area of health disparities and intimate partner violence, and is the principal investigator of several studies funded by NIH National Institute of Nursing Research and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Glass will work to raise the visibility of global health research through the news media and in meetings with policy makers, opinion leaders and the public. One of her central messages will be to stress the importance of effective collaboration among the nations government, industry, academic, patient advocacy, and philanthropic research sectors.
“Investing in global health research is the smart thing to do for America and the right thing to do for the world,” said The Honorable John Edward Porter, chair of the Society’s Advisory Council and Research!America board chair. “Glass has personally seen the value of saving lives and protecting health around the world, and her insights will help bring this important story to more Americans.”
The Society, named for The Honorable Paul G. Rogers, a former Florida Congressman and renowned champion for research to improve health, was established in 2006 by Research!America with funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. In its first two years, the Society’s Advisory Council – which includes three Nobel Laureates – selected 50 of the nations leading scientist advocates to serve as Ambassadors.