Published: 02/22/2023

Spring Quarter Course Explores Global Health Equity Alongside Global Health Leaders

The COVID-19 pandemic underscored how closely the health of one is connected to the health of everyone, and how inequities in technology, communication, resources, and power can cost countless lives.

A spring quarter course, “Global Health: Through an Equity Lens” will explore ways to build a more equitable global health system through readings and lectures by leading global health experts from around the world. The course is led by Dr. Michele Barry, Shenson Professor of Medicine and Tropical Diseases and director of the Stanford Center for Innovation in Global Health and Dr. Geoffrey Tabin, Fairweather Foundation Professor of Ophthalmology and Global Medicine and a leader in global ophthalmology.

In this course, we seek to expose students to different career pathways in global health and provide examples of how to make equity and advocacy an important aspect of their future careers

Michele Barry, Director of the Stanford Center for Innovation in Global Health

“In this course, we seek to expose students to different career pathways in global health and provide examples of how to make equity and advocacy an important aspect of their future careers,” said Barry.

The course will feature guest lectures from diverse leaders and experts in global health who will shed light on topics such as decolonizing global health, climate change and its impact on vulnerable populations, the poverty trap, inequities in reproductive rights, inequities in child health, and global gender and racial disparities during the COVID-19 pandemic.


Dr. Patty J. Garcia presents about corruption in Global Health during the Fall 2021 Med 194 course.

Speakers will include a range of voices, such as: Dr. Madhu Pai, a global health leader, health equity advocate, and tuberculosis expert; Nicholas Kristof, Pulitzer Prize winning New York Times columnist; Dr. Agnes Binagwaho, Vice Chancellor of the University of Global Health Equity in Rwanda; and Dr. Yodi Alakija, world-renowned global health leader and advocate for vaccine equity. See a full list of speakers below.

The course will also provide an overview of equity issues in global health through student presentations, class readings, and class discussions. Students will explore five priority areas: environment and climate, human rights, pharmaceuticals, gender, and race, gaining an in-depth understanding of key challenges faced by public health practitioners and other key stakeholders when attempting to implement interventions.

Course details:

  • Global Health: Through an Equity Lens, MED 194/294
  • Spring 2023
  • Wednesdays, 9:30-11:20 AM PT
  • Open to undergraduates, graduate students, and medical students

Course Speakers: (subject to change)

  • Dr. Michele Barry: Global health through an equity lens, with a spotlight on women
  • Dr. Geoff Tabin: Global blindness with a focus on inequities
  • Dr. Ciku Mathenge: Access inequalities
  • ​​Nicholas Kristof: Galvanizing international attention to remedy inequities
  • Dr. Madhu Pai: Can a deeply inequitable global health field truly address health inequities?
  • Dr. Nicole Redvers: Climate and health and indigenous populations
  • Dr. Lisa Patel: Climate and vulnerable populations
  • Dr. Patty Garcia: Corruption and health: Perspectives from a former minister of health in Peru
  • Dr. Agnes Binagwaho: Last miles against gender inequity in Rwanda former minister of health in Rwanda
  • Dr. Peter Hotez: The rise of global tropical disease (with an equity lens)
  • Dr. Pierre Theodore: Leveraging private sector tactics to address global health inequity
  • Dr. Yodi Alakija: COVID-19 Vaccine Equity – Allocation in Africa
  • Dr. Sherry Wren: Humanitarian medical care
  • Dr. Chris Beyrer: Conflicts where healthcare facilities and workers have been under attack
  • Dr. Paul H. Wise: Healthcare equity during conflict
  • Dr. Ruth M. Gibson: Sanctions and how they impact health

Title Photo credit: Maheder Haileselassie Tadese/Getty Images/Images of Empowerment