All in one place: mapping the university’s global reach

UIC has students, medical residents and faculty working in projects and initiatives all over the world. But information about those efforts is scattered across individual and campus websites — all over the online world.

The Center for Global Health has launched a new web-based clearinghouse of information on the university’s health-related global reach to encourage collaboration between all U of I departments and colleges engaged in international projects.

“There are lots of global projects on campus, but often the people involved are unaware that there are other groups working in the same locations,” said Timothy Erickson, professor of emergency medicine and director of the center.

“We wanted to develop a web-based tool cataloging all our global initiatives so people working in the same locations abroad could work together collaboratively in a coordinated fashion.”

The website features an interactive map showing more than 25 UIC projects in locations like Fiji, Nepal, Haiti, Guatemala and Vietnam. Erickson invites other departments and colleges to submit projects or affiliations to be displayed on the map.

“It is not the intent of the Center for Global Health to take credit for these projects, but to highlight the great work our faculty and students are doing all over the world,” Erickson said.

The center, located in the College of Medicine, offers a Global Medicine program for medical students. The center is involved in collaborative research projects around the world and sends interdisciplinary teams to respond to global health crises and disasters.