Dr. Eteni Longondo (MPH, 2005) has been appointed head of the Ministry of Public Health in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). After studying medicine at the University of Kinshasa in his native DRC, Longondo received a Master of Public Health from the University of Washington. 

In addition to his work with the Ministry of Public Health, Longondo's experience also includes working as a doctor for Congo's national soccer team, serving as a general practitioner in Switzerland, and work with World Vision and United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

In the mid-2000s, researchers conducted a clinical trial in Ethiopia to see what it would take to eliminate trachoma, a disease caused by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis and the most common cause of blindness from infection worldwide. They randomly gave one- to 10-year-old kids either the antibiotic azithromycin to clear and prevent infection or delayed their treatment until after the trial ended.

For Mariel Boyarsky (MPH, 2015), the global element of her Global Health background manifested itself when she became a registered nurse at Kings County Hospital in Brooklyn, New York in February 2019.

It is hard to get much of a reputation if nobody knows you’re around, and that has definitely been the case for mycoplasma genitalium, the tiny bacteria estimated to be more prevalent than the bug that causes gonorrhea but is almost completely off the public’s radar.

That’s because, until very recently, it has been difficult for front-line physicians to confirm that this particular microbe — the smallest bacteria ever detected — was present in specific patients.