GHC begins annual leadership training for next wave of young leaders in global health

128 new young leaders -- from architects to lawyers -- drive multi-sector approach to implementing innovative public health solutions around the globe

Global Health Corps (GHC) welcomed its sixth class of fellows today at Yale University, for the opening of its annual Leadership Training Institute. Selected from a pool of nearly 5,000 applicants, the incoming class of fellows - the largest ever - reflects the growing enthusiasm and commitment of millennials to engage globally and address inequities worldwide. Representing 22 countries, GHC's newest class will begin their year of service within health organizations across Africa and the United States.

Upon completion of the two-and-a-half-week training, fellows will depart for their yearlong posts within 53 organizations in Burundi, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia and four cities in the US - Boston, New York City, Newark, and Washington, DC - as the movement for health equity continues to grow. Starting with just 22 fellows in the inaugural 2009 class, GHC has grown exponentially in just five years, fostering 450 young leaders pushing for the realization of health as a human right.

"We are so thrilled to meet and welcome our newest class of GHC fellows and the next wave of young leaders in global health," said CEO and co-founder Barbara Bush. "Solving social justice issues requires innovative thinking and collective action, and we cannot wait to see what our fellows do as lifelong global health changemakers."

GHC fellows are young professionals that hail from a diversity of backgrounds often viewed as non-traditional within the health workforce. From supply chain analysts and architects to women's rights activists and lawyers, GHC fellows bring fresh perspectives and passionate innovation to systemic challenges, working in teams of two within such leading health organizations as the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, Partners In Health, and CARE International.

The yearlong placement is about their own development and growth as much as it is about applying their expertise to strengthening health systems. From counseling homeless youth in Newark, New Jersey, to ensuring HIV-positive mothers in Kampala, Uganda, have the access and support they need to prevent HIV transmission to their newborns, fellows take on leadership roles and hefty tasks as part of a movement for equity, and in order to effect sustainable and systemic change.

"I am a GHC fellow to be part of a movement that not only acknowledges the injustice in this world, but is working to combat it," said Sharon Paul, an incoming fellow serving as a Communications Officer with Jhpiego in Uganda. "In the presence of an unjust and unequal world, I'm motivated to play a role in bringing about wholeness."