The Center for Global Health Equity is proud to announce Megan Gauger as the recipient of the Timothy R.B. Johnson Student Award for Excellence in Global Health. This award recognizes University of Michigan students who reflect the leadership and commitment to global health equity demonstrated by the late Timothy R.B. Johnson, M.D.
Gauger is a third-year medical student at the University of Michigan Medical School who has contributed to an ongoing research partnership with Korle Bu Teaching Hospital in Accra, Ghana, focused on improving women's surgical care in resource-limited settings.
Her work began with supporting the team led by Dhanalakshmi Thiyagarajan, MD, MPH, in the development and evaluation of a simulation-based education program for external cephalic version, a procedure that can reduce cesarean delivery rates and improve maternal and neonatal outcomes. The program is now part of the official obstetrics and gynecology curriculum at the University of Ghana/Korle Bu Teaching Hospital. Gauger presented this work at the Consortium of Universities for Global Health conference in Atlanta and at the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics conference in South Africa, where she was the only student presenting on a panel discussion composed of international faculty and department heads.
She has since returned to Ghana as part of a research team supporting the development of minimally invasive gynecologic surgery training, and is contributing to a mixed-methods study on the experiences of global women's health fellows across the United States.
Dhanalakshmi Thiyagarajan, MD, MPH, assistant professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology at U-M, has mentored Gauger since 2024: "In my career, I have worked with many exceptional individuals, yet Megan stands out as the most impressive student I have encountered."
About the award
The Timothy R.B. Johnson Student Award for Excellence in Global Health honors the late Timothy R.B. Johnson, who served as the Bates Professor of the Diseases of Women and Children and chaired the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at U-M. He dedicated himself to women's health, reproductive rights and justice, and sexual and human rights in low- and middle-income countries.
