Weill Cornell's Women in Global Health Research Initiative

Women’s health is a top global research priority. Yet women hold less than 25% of leadership roles in global health research. 

There is a fundamental global health leadership gender gap. A majority of trainees interested in global health are female, so why do so many women leave the field? What can we do to encourage them to stay? We have identified four main gender-based challenges for women working in global health research:

1. Lack of female role models and mentors

2. Limited access to research training and leadership development

3. Balancing career and personal life

4. Health and safety risks in the field

The Women in Global Health Research Initiative seeks to empower and support women working in the field of global health research by addressing these four main challenges and implementing interventions to overcome them. On February 2, 2015, the Center for Global Health convened the first Weill Cornell Women in Global Health Research Symposium. Over 60 women from 14 universities and 7 countries were present to discuss the current obstacles for women working in the field of global health research and to strategize about ways to retain and promote women in the field.

One of the first activities the Initiative is establishing is a network of women committed to global health research. A cross-institutional network will connect women working in global health to provide supplementary mentorship particularly for gender-related or personal issues that may be difficult to discuss with male mentors. These could include, for example, how to travel for field research while pregnant, or how to lead a cross-cultural study team as a woman in a developing country that lacks fundamental gender equality. 

Other interventions currently in development include the design of a Women in Global Health webpage and developing a standard protocol for Health and Safety procedures for institutions with faculty and staff conducting research in resource-poor settings.

If you are interested in joining our network or have any questions about our Initiative please email Victoria Starzyk, the Training Coordinator of the Women in Global Health Research Initiative: vms35@cornell.edu 

weill.cornell.edu/globalhealth/Downs-Academic%20Med%202014-Increasing%20Women%20in%20Leadership%20in%20Global%20Health.pdf