Public Health PhD Graduate Receives Scholarship with Harvard
- L.R.
Dr Soter Ameh, a Wits School of Public Health PhD graduate, was selected for the Bernard Lown Scholars Program at Harvard School of Public Health.
Dr Soter Ameh, a Wits School of Public Health PhD graduate from the MRC/Wits Rural Public Health and Health Transitions Research Unit Agincourt, supervised by Professor Steve Tollman, has been awarded a scholarship to Harvard.Has was selected as a Lown Scholar with the Bernard Lown Scholars Program in Cardiovascular Health at the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston.
Previously Dr Ameh won the first prize for the oral presentation in the Faculty of Health Sciences and the second prize for the Cross-Faculty oral presentation at the Cross-Faculty Symposium which was held in March 2016.
The Lown Scholars Program was established in honour of Dr Bernard Lown, a world-renowned cardiologist and activist, whose career has advanced public health globally. The Program is designed to create an international cadre of talented health professionals who will use public health tools and strategies to prevent cardiovascular diseases and promote cardiovascular health in developing countries, as defined by the United Nations.
Since its establishment in 2008, The Lown Scholars Program has supported the work of more than two dozen Lown Scholars from Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East. The program has identified three topical areas of priority for 2017, including cardiovascular health in urban poor, universal primary healthcare and health inequities and psychosocial stress and cardiovascular disease
Lown Scholars are invited to the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in Boston to take two courses during the U.S. Summer 1 term (July 6th to 28th, 2017) and to stay for a one-week workshop after the end of the term (through August 4th) to develop a research proposal with their mentors.
Dr Ameh will conduct a study on an integrated chronic care model for HIV and cardiovascular health in Nigeria using his research grant of USD 50,000.