Welcome

Dear Colleagues,

We would like to invite you to attend the Consortium of Universities for Global Health's (CUGH) 9th annual conference, which will take place at the Hilton Midtown Hotel, New York City, March 15-18, 2018 (satellite sessions will be on March 15). This year's theme, Health Disparities: A Time for Action, reflects one of the world's great challenges. The increasing gap in opportunity, security, health and prosperity between the poor and middle class, and the rich, continues to grow and threatens to undermine the gains in development we have seen over the last few decades.

The conference will be  a forum for engagement, learning and collaboration to strengthen our efforts to impact the enormous challenges before us. We will have continuity with previous sub-themes: planetary health- One Health- environmental health; governance and institution strengthening; infectiou diseases; non-communicable diseases and the social determinants of health,
​and we will introduce new ones.

CUGH's annual meeting has become the world's leading academic global health conference. It will bring together leaders from academia, NGOs, think tanks, the private sector and government. Over 1700 professionals, educators and students from diverse fields including medicine, nursing, public health, veterinary sciences, engineering, business, law, public policy, urban planning, natural sciences, environmental studies and more will explore ways we can address the global health challenges before us.

As co-hosts for the conference, Columbia University (USA), Stellenbosch University (South Africa) and University of Peradeniya
(Sri Lanka) warmly invite you to join us in New York to teach, learn and collaborate to reduce disparities around the world.


Sincerely,
Richard Deckelbaum, MD
2018 CUGH Conference Chair
Columbia University (USA)

Chair, Robert R. Williams Professor of Nutrition
Professor, Pediatrics and Epidemiology
Director, Institute of Human Nutrition​​
Samath Dharmaratne, MD
2018 CUGH Conference Chair
University of Peradeniya (Sri Lanka)

Professor, Department of Community Medicine​​
Wafaa El Sadr, MD, MPH, MPA
2018 CUGH Conference Chair

Columbia University (USA)
Professor, Epidemiology and Medicine
Director, ICAP at Columbia University
Director, Global Health Initiative, Mailman School of Public Health​​
Jimmy Volmink, MPH, DPhil
2018 CUGH Conference Chair
Stellenbosch University (South Africa)
Dean, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences​
Hester Klopper, PhD, MBA
2018 CUGH Conference Co-Chair
Stellenbosch University (South Africa)
Deputy Vice Chancellor
Strategic Initiatives & Internationalisation​
Keith Martin, MD, PC
2018 CUGH Conference Co-Chair

Consortium of Universities for Global Health (USA)
Executive Director​​​