2016
Exploratory conversations begin between Tachi Yamada and Joe Kolars about a new U-M Center for Global Health Equity.
2017
Tachi Yamada meets with U-M leadership to discuss a catalytic gift to initiate a Center for Global Health Equity.
Tachi Yamada in India
2019
June
- Joseph Kolars and John Ayanian convene meetings with diverse stakeholders across three U-M campuses exploring the idea of a new Center for Global Health Equity.
October
- University of Michigan publicly announces $10 million gift from Tachi and Leslie Yamada in support of global health equity.
John Ayanian, Tachi Yamada, Leslie Yamada, Joseph Kolars in 2019
2020
September
- Center opens with offices on U-M North Campus.
- Multidisciplinary Challenge Groups convene with emphasis on four thematic areas.
October
- Partnership launched with Aga Khan University.
December
- Center reaches 150 members.
Carl Amrhein, provost and vice president of academics at Aga Khan University, and center director Joseph Kolars hold up signed copies of the memorandum of understanding.
2021
March
- Center launches pilot funding program for Challenge Group Grants to advance high-impact projects.
August
- Passing of Tachi Yamada, the Center’s founding donor.
September
- Impact Scholars program launched.
October
- $6.5M NIH grant for the UZIMA-DS project with partners at Aga Khan University in Kenya.
- $6.5M NIH grant for the Heat and Health African Transdisciplinary Center (HE2AT) project with partners at Aga Khan University in Kenya, IBM Research Africa, the University of Cape Town, and the University Peleforo Gon Coulibalu.
Impact Scholar HaEun Lee with community research leaders Angella Tushabe and Christian Atuhaire preparing to facilitate focus group discussions in the Mbarara region of Uganda.
2022
February
- Global Vaccine Equity Ideas Lab convened on Ann Arbor campus.
- Center delegation visits partner sites in Uganda and Kenya.
March
- $338K NIH grant for Longitudinal Study of Health and Aging in Kenya (LOSHAK) with partners at Aga Khan University in Kenya.
April
- Center reaches 250 members.
- CGHE Community Gathering, the Center’s first in-person event.
May
- $440K NSF grant for Characterizing the Use of Contextual Factors during Engineering Design project.
September
- Seed Grant and Impact Accelerator Grants launched.
November
- Center delegation visits partner sites in Rwanda.
- Collaboration launched with Rwandan Ministry of Health.
- Center co-hosts Ghana-UM Conference for Global Health Collaboration in Accra.
Ryan Rego, Victor Rateng, Leon Espira, and Purity Muthoni with Lukoye Atwoli—Dean of the Aga Khan University Medical College, East Africa—on campus at the University of Michigan.
2023
January
- Center awards $1.9M to interdisciplinary teams to pursue global vaccine equity projects.
February
- Center delegation visits partner sites in Kenya.
March
- Center hosts Celebrating the Movement: Global Health Equity at Michigan to share the Yamada family's generosity and the Center's impact with the campus community. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization, was the keynote speaker.
April
- Center hosts Sabin Nsanzimana, Minister of Health for Rwanda.
- Center reaches 300 members.
Rwanda’s Minister of Health Dr. Sabin Nsanzimana, with Center director Joseph Kolars, takes questions from the audience.