
The Fall 2021 Global Health Tuesday webinars will explore the complexity of advancing health and well-being across the world, from decolonizing global health to addressing climate change to global health careers.
The first webinar will be from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m. September 28, when Anna Kalbarczyk, assistant director of the Johns Hopkins (University) Center for Global Health, explores white saviorism and its impact on global health training and education.
October’s panel of UW experts looks at what to expect from the United Nations climate change conference, or CoP26. In November, GHI Associate for Experiential Education Maria Moreno will host a panel of UW global health graduates who will discuss their careers.
With the Global Health Tuesday seminar series, the University of Wisconsin-Madison Global Health Institute hosts educators, researchers and practitioners from the UW-Madison and across the world. The speakers showcase the complexity of global health challenges and the many kinds of expertise needed to address them. By sharing their experiences with the campus and Madison communities, these guests provide insights into global health, encourage conversation, and help connect colleagues locally and globally.
Here’s a closer look at the fall webinars:
November 30: 4:30-5:30 p.m.
Global Health in Action: Alumni Career Panel
Watch the full recording here.
GHI Associate for Experiential Education Maria Moreno moderates a panel of global health graduates.

Shehrose Charania is earning a Master of Public Health in Public Health Administration and Policy at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. At UW-Madison, she was a Posse Scholar from Chicago and graduated in May 2021 with a Bachelor of Science in Health Promotion and Health Equity with certificates in Public Policy and Global Health. Shehrose’s interests have to do with the health care system and how to provide effective quality of care to patients through increasing access to insurance and creating policies that positively impact maternal and child health on the local, state and global level.

Marjorie Kersten (she/her) completed her Bachelors in Science in Community and Environmental Sociology and a certificate in Global Health and is currently a Masters candidate in the Community Health Sciences division with a concentration in Global Health at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Kersten works as a Graduate Research Assistant with Dr. Angela Odoms-Young in the Nutrition, Obesity, and Health Equity (NOHE) Research Group where she leads a grant to improve breastfeeding access for Black and Latino individuals and assists with evaluation for the national AHEAD in WIC project. She also works as a graduate research assistant with Saria Lofton in the Community-Led Health Equity and Food Justice (CHEFA) Research Group on a variety of community food systems and informal food network projects. Prior to beginning her Master’s degree, Kersten worked as the Curriculum and Quality specialist for Healthy Living programs at the YMCA of Metropolitan Chicago where she led curriculum design, staff training, program evaluation and continuous quality improvement initiatives for over 50 program sites. She began her career in Chicago as an AmeriCorps VISTA Health and Nutrition coordinator at the Greater Chicago Food Depository where she promoted food access and food literacy throughout Chicago. She has worked extensively on food systems projects domestically and globally and is interested in community-based participatory research, food systems, environmental justice and health.

Theo Loo is a data scientist with deep roots in epidemiology and biotechnology. He earned his B.S. in Microbiology and an Undergraduate Certificate in Global Health from UW-Madison in 2016 and completed his graduate studies at UC-Berkeley School of Public Health in 2018 where he was awarded the Wisconsin Idea Fellowship, received the Clinton Foundation Innovation Fund, and nominated for COP23. Theo has since gone on to work at several Silicon Valley startups, served as a lead COVID epidemiologist for the County of San Diego, and founded a medical device company.

Kayla Sippl (she/her) completed a Bachelor’s degree in Biology with Honors in Research and certificates in Global Health, Leadership and African Studies. Sippl currently lives outside of San Jose, Costa Rica and works as the Social Emotional Health Fellowship Coordinator with the PATCH program, under the Wisconsin Alliance for Women’s Health, while also teaching English online and working as a freelance outreach specialist for the University for Peace Centre for Executive Education. Previously, Sippl worked as an advocate at a domestic violence shelter, served as an environmental education intern at a community garden and as an advocate for improved mental health services for youth and young adults. In between these positions, she spent nine months solo traveling around Southeast Asia, and loves to read, cook and meet new places, people and foods.
Watch the full recording here.
October 26: 4:30-5:30 p.m.
What to Expect from CoP26: How the U.N. Climate Talks Impact Everyone
Watch the full recording here.
- Moderator: Climate and health pioneer Jonathan Patz, director of the UW-Madison Global Health Institute. For 15 years, Patz served as a lead author for the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (or IPCC)—the organization that shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with Al Gore. He also co-chaired the health expert panel of the U.S. National Assessment on Climate Change, a report mandated by the U.S. Congress.
- Sumudu Atapattu, director of the Research Centers and senior lecturer at UW Law School. She teaches in the area of International Environmental law and climate change and human rights.
- Greg Nemet , associate professor in the LaFollette School of Public Affairs and the Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and chair of the Energy Analysis and Policy certificate program. He also serves on the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change.
- Dekila Chungyalpa, director of the Loka Initiative at the UW Center for Healthy Minds. She works with faith-based groups to advance environmental protection, sustainable development and global health.
- Nova Tebbe, a dual-degree Master of Public Health and Master of Public Affairs student with an Energy Analysis and Policy Certificate. Her policy and health interests include community-based research, climate change, and energy justice among others. Her most recent project involves leading a team of two undergraduate students (Kasturi Thorat and Madison Xiong), with the Global Climate and Health Alliance, in researching and writing country-specific policy briefs to outline climate policies that are rooted in health and equity. These policy briefs are intended to influence countries who have not yet updated their Nationally Determined Commitment (NDCs) to make bold and ambitious NDCs that include goals for health and equity.
Special Seminar
October 28: 5:00-6:00 p.m.
The SARS-CoV-2 origin stalemate: Can it be fixed?
Room 1335 HSLC (available by 80 bus, bicycle or free parking in Lot 60 after 4:30 p.m.)
UW-Madison alumnus J. Stephen Morrison, senior vice president at the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), will discuss the root factors that drive the continued unresolved controversy over the origins of SARS-CoV-2, not the least the toxic, escalating strategic confrontation between the United States and China. The current stalemate has already generated significant scientific and geopolitical consequences, and creates a stark barrier to future global cooperation on health security threats. In the background is the looming possibility of an inexorable drift into a bifurcated world, a US-China Cold War. What are the options to get to the bottom of the origins question, and to preserve cooperation on matters of vital, mutual self-interest?
Morrison writes widely, has directed several high-level commissions and is a frequent commentator on U.S. foreign policy, global health, Africa and foreign assistance. He served in the Clinton administration and as committee staff in the House of Representative. He taught at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. Morrison earned his Ph.D. in political science from UW-Madison in 1987.
The webinar is co-hosted by the School of Medicine and Public Health Office of Global Health and the International Division.
Sept. 28: 4:30-5:30 p.m.
White Saviorism and Decolonizing Global Health with Anna Kalbarczyk, DrPh, MPH, a global health researcher and practitioner from Johns Hopkins University with international working experience in South America, Asia and Africa.
Watch the full recording here.
The history of international health is riddled with examples of systemic racism and coordinated disease control efforts focused on promoting colonial interests — this is the foundation on which modern day global health is built. While there is a growing body of literature on fostering equitable partnerships and conducting meaningful stakeholder engagement, current global health initiatives from education and training to intervention design and implementation continue to face criticism of colonialism and saviorism. This seminar will explore the meaning of saviorism in global health training with a focus on historical underpinnings, the role of academic institutions and how they can influence a paradigm shift. This seminar will also consider the catch-22 in global health training – to get experience, you need to have experience – and how this has reinforced problematic practices.
Kalbarczyk currently serves as the assistant director of the Johns Hopkins Center for Global Health and holds a faculty appointment in the Department of International Health at the Bloomberg School of Public Health.
The webinar is co-hosted by the UW Madison Global Health Innovation Club.
Watch the full recording here.