Global Health Corps is the creation of a team of six twenty-somethings who met through a summit focused on engaging young people in the future of global health—the 2008 aids2031 Young Leaders Summit hosted by UNAIDS and Google.
We came from different backgrounds. Barbara and Jenna had both been inspired by time serving abroad within health organizations in South Africa and Panama. Working at Google, Charlie and Andrew witnessed many talented people in technology who sought to launch new careers in health. Dave and Jonny worked at FACE AIDS, a student campaign to fight AIDS in Africa, and constantly spoke with young people who sought opportunities to serve in health. All of our experiences inspired a shared vision that led to GHC.
We share the beliefs that:
Our generation must build a world in which everyone has access to comprehensive health care.
Our generation can create this world if we engage young leaders with diverse skill-sets into building more effective and just health systems.
Our generation will step forward to serve.
Soon after meeting, we created an action plan and quickly began developing Global Health Corps. Google.org granted our first grant in December 2008, and applications for our first class of fellows opened in February 2009. Our Founding Program Director, Katie Bollbach, soon joined to design our programming and training driven by her own experience supporting health initiatives in Rwanda and Zambia. By August 2009, our inaugural class of 22 GHC fellows from eight countries began their fellowships and together we have built an ever-growing community of fellows and alumni devoted to health equity.
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