Impactful Partnerships: Building Strong Relationships One Person at a Time
Northwestern Launches Global Health Knowledge Hub with South Africa’s Stellenbosch University
October 2024
The Stellenbosch University/Northwestern University Global Health Knowledge Hub is the capstone of a long-standing collaboration between two institutions committed to tackling the world’s most pressing health issues.
Launching in 2024, the Hub will unite partners and faculty from both universities to broaden their scope of expertise and discovery. Central to the collaboration are three key areas of focus: research, education exchanges, and outreach.
Working together for more than 15 years, the Hub is a natural outgrowth of South Africa’s Stellenbosch University and Chicago’s Northwestern University relationship.
“We are thrilled to deepen and expand our partnership with Stellenbosch University and look forward to the many exciting opportunities for our faculty and trainees to come,” says Robert Murphy, MD, executive director of the Robert J. Havey, MD Institute for Global Health.
We are thrilled to deepen and expand our partnership with Stellenbosch University and look forward to the many exciting opportunities for our faculty and trainees to come.”
A delegation of Havey Institute for Global Health leadership visited Stellenbosch in March 2024 to discuss ways to expand the partnership.
Core to the advancement of their research are the newly formed series of working groups. These groups will further the continuation of global health research and collaboration between the two institutions, including in the areas of Global Primary Care, Biomedical Engineering, Medical Professions Education, and Climate, Health, Environmental Engineering.
Grants will be open to both Northwestern and Stellenbosch faculty, sharing resources and faculty expertise while furthering pivotal study. The grants in these shared funding programs provide research support to faculty who are collecting preliminary data or supplemental support for future grant submissions or ongoing sponsored research.
At the core of the education exchange are two student programs: the Public Health in Africa Study Abroad Program and the Biomedical Engineering in Africa Study Abroad Program. These provide robust learning opportunities, particularly in the areas of biomedical engineering and the health sciences.
To cultivate outreach, the Hub also has a physical presence on campus. With a dedicated “Hub” on the Stellenbosch campus, Stellenbosch and Northwestern students and faculty are encouraged to interact and collaborate with each other while on site. The campus also offers a dedicated residential living arrangement for faculty and students on or near Stellenbosch.
We are excited to expand our long-standing partnership with Stellenbosch University, especially with the addition of the new Global Health Hub. This collaboration not only strengthens our academic ties but also provides an invaluable platform for addressing critical health challenges on a global scale.”
Through research, faculty development, and a shared goal for global health equity, the Stellenbosch University/Northwestern University Global Health Knowledge Hub epitomizes how collaboration leads to success. As these relationships flourish, both universities look forward to expanding their collective global health work.
The first annual Stellenbosch University Northwestern University partnership conference will be held in South Africa March 17-18, 2025, and in Chicago in 2026. Learn more about the Hub on the Stellenbosch University/Northwestern University Global Health Knowledge Hub website.
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