A University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa professor of the School of Nursing and Dental Hygiene (SONDH) has been selected to join the Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH) Board of Directors. Professor Kristine Qureshi, associate dean for research and global health, was selected from a group of more than 80 applications. Her three-year term will begin in April 2021.
Qureshi will help support CUGH to strengthen its academic global health community of 179 member institutions from around the world engaged in addressing health challenges to improve the well-being of people and the planet. UH became a member institution in 2018 as part of the UHealthy Hawaiʻi initiative, which seeks to leverage the UH System to improve health and health care in Hawaiʻi and the Pacific, and with the vision of Gregory Maskarinec, director of global and international health at the John A. Burns School of Medicine.
UH will present a free pre-conference satellite session on March 9, 2021 as part of the upcoming CUGH 2021 Annual Global Health Conference with keynote speaker Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Qureshi and other interdisciplinary experts from the UH System’s Global Health and Social Justice Work Group will cover key issues on “Global Health in Hawaiʻi and the U.S.-Affiliated Pacific Islands” (view agenda). This is the first known time that Hawaiʻi and the Pacific region have been highlighted at the international CUGH conference. Register here for the session.
“It is a great honor to have been selected to serve on the CUGH Board to serve alongside my esteemed colleagues who share a passion for global health and the understanding of the value that academic institutions can and should play to improve the well-being of people across the globe through education, research, service, and advocacy,” said Qureshi.
“Dr. Qureshi’s work around the world is highly effective given her depth and breadth of expertise in exactly the areas that the CUGH Board needs,” said Aimee Grace, director of the UH System’s Office of Strategic Health Initiatives who nominated Qureshi. “She will bring the important perspective of Hawaiʻi and the Pacific, an oft-overlooked region of the world.”
“The school is so proud to have Dr. Qureshi representing nursing and Hawaiʻi in this international and global platform,” said Mary G. Boland, dean and professor of SONDH. “Her unique skill set and robust professional nursing experience will be a valuable addition to CUGH and highlights the UH commitment to pursue positive health outcomes for people around the world.”
More about Qureshi
Qureshi is a recognized expert in emergency preparedness and Pacific Islands nursing workforce development, and has worked extensively in the acute care, community health and academic sectors. At SONDH, she established and is the lead of the nursing global health program.
Qureshi has been instrumental in the state’s COVID-19 pandemic response and education efforts, including helping to develop the UH–Hawaiʻi State Department of Health Contact Tracing Training Program. The program, led by Qureshi, trained 400 health professionals statewide during the summer of 2020. She also serves as unit lead for the Hawaiʻi Emergency Management Agency State Emergency Support Function (S-ESF) 8: Community Care Outreach and is co-lead on the UH vaccination team. Additionally, she and other nursing faculty created a free on-demand online program, “Nursing During Pandemics: COVID-19” that has been accessed by healthcare professionals around the world and will be offered until April 11, 2021.
Qureshi represents the State of Hawaiʻi on the American Pacific Nursing Leaders Council Board of Directors. As global director of the International Council of Nurses Leadership for Change (LFC) Program since 2016, she redesigned the program to build capacity for effecting healthcare policy and practice change among nurse leaders to improve country-level health. Today, she heads the LFC program for national-level nurse leaders in Lesotho, Africa (she previously worked in China, Lebanon, Pacific Islands, Norway and Taiwan) and will lead the program rollout in India. She has also been involved with numerous global health workforce development initiatives for the World Health Organization.
For more information on UH’s participation in the CUGH 2021 Annual Global Health Conference, contact: Aimee Grace at oshi@hawaii.edu.
