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CGHE Announces $545,000 in Global Health Awards Supporting U-M Faculty Research

Center for Global Health Equity at the University of Michigan

About the Funding Announcement

The Center for Global Health Equity is proud to announce a new round of funding for ten faculty-led research projects at the University of Michigan. Part of the center’s Seed Grant and Impact Accelerator programs, this latest grant cycle brings together new collaborations and established partnerships to create a dynamic portfolio spanning continents and disciplines. Many of this year's awardees are mid-career faculty—a testament to our commitment to cultivating the next generation of global health leaders to pioneer new approaches to the world's most pressing health challenges.

These projects do more than advance research—they create pipelines for transformative learning. By uniting diverse expertise across continents, our awards catalyze bidirectional knowledge exchanges, enriching communities in host countries and here at home. Through our center’s programming model, faculty awardees remain deeply engaged with the center throughout their project journeys, sharing breakthroughs, navigating challenges, and sparking innovations with the broader U-M community.

This commitment to knowledge mobilization ensures that insights from efforts to address health inequities in Nepal, Kenya, Zambia, Indonesia, Peru, Lebanon, and Mexico directly inform our approaches to similar challenges in Michigan communities and beyond. From pioneering digital health solutions to deepening our understanding of aging and dementia—these projects help strengthen our capacity to advance health outcomes. The intentional nature of these funded projects ensures that every partnership forged and every lesson learned abroad empowers us to better serve vulnerable people right here at home.

Impact Accelerator Grants

Impact Accelerator Grants aim to support action-oriented projects that design, pilot, or test solutions to improve health outcomes in low- and middle-income contexts. Projects are funded up to $100,000. During this latest round of proposals, three projects were awarded funding:

TABRIE – BRIGHT: Empowering People Living with HIV Through Digital Assistance and Telehealth in a High-Stigma Region of Indonesia
  • Rahul Ladhania, PhD (principal investigator), U-M School of Public Health
  • Ichsan Ichsan, MD (principal investigator, Indonesia), Universitas Syiah Kuala
  • Abram Wagner, PhD, U-M School of Public Health
  • Akshay Sharma, PhD, U-M School of Nursing
  • Geoffrey Siwo, PhD, U-M School of Medicine
  • Harapan Harapan, PhD, Universitas Syiah Kuala
  • Rifki Wijaya, Telkom University
Kukalamba Ndi Ulemu: Dementia and Aging Research in Urban Zambia
Addressing Pre-Analytic Variation in Digital Pathology: U-M & Kenya Collaboration
  • Ulysses G. J. Balis, MD (principal investigator), U-M School of Medicine
  • Shahin Sayed, MD (principal investigator, Kenya), Aga Khan University, Nairobi
  • Arvind Rao, PhD, U-M School of Medicine
  • Kamran Mirza, MD, U-M School of Medicine
  • Jerome Cheng, PhD, U-M School of Medicine
  • Sophia Brueckner, PhD, U-M Stamps School of Design
  • H.V. Jagadish, PhD, U-M College of Engineering
  • Geoffrey Siwo, PhD, U-M Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation
  • Mansoor Saleh, MD, Aga Khan University, Nairobi
  • Priscilla Njenga, MD, Aga Khan University, Nairobi
  • Jasmit Shah, PhD, Aga Khan University, Nairobi

Seed Grants

Our seed grant program supports exploratory projects that foster fresh ideas and partnerships, laying the groundwork for impactful future projects. Projects are funded up to $35,000. In this most recent round of proposals, seven projects were awarded funding:

Optimizing Antibiotic Use in Nepal's Poultry Value Chain: A Mixed-Methods Baseline Assessment and Co-Design of Interventions
  • Andrew Jones, PhD (principal investigator), U-M School of Public Health
  • Prajwol Nepal, PhD (principal investigator, Nepal), Bodh Insight
  • Dirgha Ghimire, PhD (co-investigator), U-M Institute for Social Research
  • Shane Quinonez, MD, U-M School of Medicine
  • Pushkar Pal, PhD, Agriculture and Forestry University, Nepal
  • Yubraj Acharya, PhD, The Pennsylvania State University
  • Prem Pandit, MEd, Institute for Social and Environmental Research - Nepal
Equity in the Measurement of Cognitive Function Across Ethnicity, Gender, and Education for the Detection of Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias in Nepal
  • Emily Briceno, PhD (principal investigator), U-M School of Medicine
  • Dirgha Ghimire, PhD, U-M Institute for Social Research
  • Keshav Pokhrel, PhD, U-M-Dearborn
  • Guanyi Yang, BSc, U-M School of Medicine
  • Carlos Mendes de Leon, PhD, Georgetown University
  • Richard Jones, ScD, Brown University
  • Janak Rai, PhD, Tribhuvan University, Nepal
  • Meeta Pradhan, PhD, Institute for Social and Environmental Research in Nepal
  • Pankaj Jalan, MD, Norvic International Hospital, Nepal
  • Lochana Shrestha, MD, Nepalese Army Institute of Health Sciences
  • Adina Gurung, MA, Institute for Social and Environmental Research-Nepal
The Health AI Landscape in Lima, Peru: Ethical, Legal, and Technical Considerations for Trustworthy Implementation of AI Tools for Chronic Respiratory Conditions
  • Jodyn Platt, PhD (principal investigator), U-M School of Medicine
  • Nora Reyes Puma (co-principal investigator, Peru), Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos
  • Gloria Carmona-Clavijo, PhD, U-M School of Medicine
  • Sharon Kardia, PhD, U-M School of Public Health
  • W. Nicholson Price, JD, PhD, JD, PhD, U-M Law School
  • Javier Vargas Herrera, MD, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos
  • Leonardo Rojas Mezzarina, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos
  • Estefan Alexis Escobar Agreda, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos
  • Javier Morales Barrenechea, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos
Identifying Health-Related Needs and Priorities of Older Women in Rural Lebanon
Determining the Balance Between Diet Quality and Sustainability Across Generations and Within a Real-World Urban Mexico Sample
Integrating the HIV Testing Cascade into Cancer Care Pathway at Kenyatta National Hospital Cancer Treatment Centre: A Pilot Study
  • James Riddell IV, MD (co-principal investigator), U-M School of Medicine
  • Vincent Otieno, MBChB, MMED (co-principal investigator, Kenya), Kenyatta National Hospital
  • K. Rivet Amico, PhD, U-M School of Public Health
  • Lynae Darbes, PhD, U-M School of Nursing
  • Peter Kinuthia, MBChB, MMED, MPH, Kenyatta National Hospital
  • Cyrus Mugo, MBChB, MPH, PhD, Kenyatta National Hospital
Feasibility and Acceptability of an Integrated Family Care Model to Improve Newborn Care in Kenya (FICare Kenya)
  • Miatta Buxton, PhD (principal investigator), U-M School of Public Health
  • Helen Nabwera, MD (principal investigator, Kenya), Aga Khan University, Nairobi
  • Cheryl A. Moyer, PhD, U-M School of Medicine
  • Emily Treleaven, PhD, U-M Institute for Social Research
  • Joycelyn Kathembe, Aga Khan University, Nairobi