🔒For Dr. Saad Omer, global equity in health access is vital

Dr. Saad Omer grew up a continent away from the country he now calls home, obtaining his medical degree at Aga Khan University in Pakistan. In 1999, he moved to the United States, and so began not just an around-the-world journey but a career in global health.

On July 1, he set out on a new adventure, leaving his position as the William H. Foege Professor of Global Health, Epidemiology, and Pediatrics at Emory University’s schools of Public Health and Medicine to become the inaugural director of the newly minted Yale Institute for Global Health (YIGH).

A vaccinologist and infectious disease epidemiologist, Dr. Omer has worked all over the world, including Guatemala, South Africa, Uganda, Ethiopia, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan, as well as in multiple U.S. states. He earned his PhD and master’s degree at John Hopkins in Baltimore and spent the last 11 years at Emory.

“So I have had this background of working in global health and this [Yale] was an opportunity to leverage a top-tier university and its international expertise and assets, in service of global health,” he said.

He believes it’s important to look at health from a global perspective for a number of reasons. “First, a lot of our health problems are interconnected. For example, if there’s a large epidemic anywhere, people beyond that immediate population and that immediate area are at risk. But also, it’s a moral imperative to make sure that the largest global inequities are in health addressed,” he said.

“Third, a lot of these solutions are such that we learn from each other. We learn how a good, robust health system is created. Some models are present in the U.S., other models are outside the U.S. We all are better if we learn from each other.”

Examples of global inequities include vaccines or drugs that are available in some countries, like the U.S., but not in low-income countries where the diseases are more prevalent, he said, adding, “One thing all of us should be proud of is the fact that now, there is a large program that funds AIDS treatment and care in low-income countries that the U.S. government, through bipartisan efforts, pays for.”

Although YIGH is new, he noted, there have been multiple global health initiatives underway at Yale for some time. “The leadership decided that it’s time to coordinate those efforts, to enhance the footprint of Yale in global health and expand its impact in the world. The institute will work closely with various parts of Yale and leverage Yale’s intellectual and other assets to help solve – or at least address – major global health problems.”

In its first flagship program, Yale will facilitate the development of start-ups over five years by awarding 10 seed grants each year. The mission is “to improve the health and wellbeing of the people of India and around the globe by leveraging technology and local ingenuity to launch innovative start-ups for dramatic social, health, and environmental impact.” Grantees will be mentored abroad by Yale faculty, Dr. Omer said.

And what drew him to Yale and Connecticut? “There are very few institutions with the breadth of excellence that Yale has,” he said – from Yale College to its schools of management, drama, medicine, public health, and nursing.

He is also excited about YIGH’s potential economic impact on the surrounding region. If the institute attracts companies or organizations with a similar global focus, as has happened in other locations, “that obviously brings jobs but also creates an environment where other innovation flourishes. These kinds of things provide a nucleus around which other things coalesce.”

Once he settles in, he hopes to engage with entities outside Yale to build collaborations for global health, including Fairfield-based Save the Children and “a lot of businesses that have philanthropic missions and have a desire to contribute. Not right away, perhaps, but not very far in the future, I hope to connect with the broader Connecticut community around these issues.”