Omowale Goes Global

Serwaa Omowale, PhD, LMSW, MPH, assistant professor at UTHealth Houston School of Public Health in Dallas, was selected as a LEAD Global Training Program fellow.  
 
This program recruits and trains predoctoral students, postdoctoral trainees, and early career faculty from diverse backgrounds across the United States, including groups underrepresented in biomedical, behavioral, clinical, and social sciences research, interested in global mental health disparities research. The program will provide trainees with the skills and experiences needed to lead multi-disciplinary, collaborative research teams focused on health disparities research in low-resource communities.
 
Omowale’s selection as a LEAD trainee allowed her to travel to Uganda for a 10-week program to gain the necessary skills needed to lead multi-disciplinary research aimed at underserved communities across the globe. 
 
“My interest in global health is influenced by my Nkonsonkonson Summer Study Abroad experience in Ghana as an undergraduate student at Georgia State University. I had the opportunity to study the history and cultures of people in Ghana and my undergraduate capstone project focused on how Ghanaians retain their cultural practices in the United States,” said Omowale. 
 
In Uganda, Omowale and other trainees attended the Forum on Child and Adolescent Global Health Research and Capacity Building. As a researcher focused on maternal and infant health, this allowed a special insight into a session filled with leading experts in the field. The forum convened researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to advance discussions on evidence-based strategies aimed at reducing gaps in child mental health services and research in Sub-Saharan Africa. 
 
The global program allowed Omowale a mentorship with the Deputy Director of the Centre for Rural Health at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in Durban, South Africa, for four weeks. During this period, she and other trainees will collaborate on projects through the center and gain exposure to community-based organizations and health programs within the Republic of South Africa’s Health Department. 
In collaboration with the International Center for Child Health and Development (ICHAD), the foremost goal is to formulate and execute interventions for children, families, and communities that are based on concrete evidence and are relevant to addressing their unique needs.  
 
Omowale says her research experiences and pursuits parallel those of ICHAD, “As a descendant of Africans enslaved in the United States, I have continued to be interested in the histories and experiences of people in Africa with subsequent travel to Ghana, Nigeria, and South Africa. All these experiences have influenced my interest in global health, specifically in Africa. The LEAD Global Training Program will support my efforts to become a global health researcher focused on maternal and infant health in Sub-Saharan Africa”. 
 
The LEAD program is hosted by the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis and the Washington University School of Medicine Department of Psychiatry. LEAD is funded by the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities Research Training Program.