Author Archives: lauraejacobson

The future of business is the future of public health

Crisis had been a feature of capitalism even before Marx gave it its name. The abundance of theories intended to explain crisis — from Marx to Keynes and beyond — demonstrates the centrality of disruption to production and profit.1 And, … Continue reading

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Preciva Strives to Make Cancer a Global Health Priority

I recently took the position of Director of Clinical Research at Preciva, an Oregon registered benefit company whose mission is to see that every woman and girl has a chance to live free of cervical cancer. Our goal is to … Continue reading

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Hult Prize Challenges and Reflections

Last month I participated in the Hult Prize, a start-up accelerator competition funded by the Clinton Global Initiative and Hult International Business School to identify and launch social businesses that tackle the toughest health and development problems faced by the world’s most … Continue reading

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Claire Wendland’s A Heart for the Work: Journeys through an African Medical School

Medical anthropologist and physician, Claire Wendland’s A HeartFor the Work traces the development of medical students from their introduction into the University of Malawi, College of Medicine, through their preclinical training and into their lives as practicing physicians. Medical training is a … Continue reading

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The President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a $15 billion commitment by former president GW Bush to fight the HIV/AIDs pandemic in resource-limited settings, has been hailed as the greatest bipartisan achievement of the Bush presidency. To date, it is also the … Continue reading

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The Role of Tryptophan Depletion on Depression in HIV-infected Ugandans

This morning at Mbarara University of Science and Technology in Uganda, Dr. Pricsella Martinez of UC Berkley gave a talk on the “Reversal of IDO-induced Tryptophan Catabolism to Improve Depression in ART-treated HIV-infected Ugandans.” She offered evidence to suggest that … Continue reading

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Effective mHealth Interventions Require Endorsement from Local Policymakers

Uganda has one of the highest maternal mortality ratios in the world where 435 mothers are estimated to die for every 100,000 live births.1 This compares to 16 per 100,000 in developed countries highlighting a vast global disparity and a … Continue reading

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Ethical Foundations of Critical International Health

Recently, I attended the 10th annual Western Region International Health Conference at Oregon Health Science University, April 5-7, 2013 in Portland, OR. There, Dr. Chunhuei Chi of Oregon State University delivered the morning plenary talk: Against the Golden Rule- Ethical … Continue reading

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Peak oil, food systems, and public health

Robert Lawrence, MD, from the Center for a Livable Future at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health spoke on “Peak oil, food systems, and public health” at Monday’s University of Wisconsin Population Health seminar series. Peak oil, introduced by … Continue reading

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Health System Research in Rural Uganda: Perceptions from Local Leaders

This summer, I will spend 10 weeks in Mbarara Uganda working on a project with the University of Wisconsin Global Health Institute (GHI) and Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST). Here’s a little bit about what I plan to … Continue reading

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