The Yale Institute for Global Health (YIGH) has selected Amy Bei, assistant professor of epidemiology of microbial disease, and Anna Rivara, associate research scientist in chronic disease epidemiology, as the first recipients of the YIGH Spark Award. Both awardees were selected based on their technical merit, population impact, and long reaching implications for future global health work.
Bei will use the Spark Award funding to identify novel antigens for malaria vaccine discovery using a reverse-vaccinology approach with genomic and transcriptomic data by assisting with costs related to genomic sequencing. Rivara plans to use award funding to identify preferred diabetes care strategies among high-risk adults in American Samoa by supporting travel and research costs for this foundational global health experiment.
YIGH created the new Global Health Spark Award to support preliminary steps as YIGH-affiliated faculty identify, coordinate, and/or prepare for global health projects. Two awards will be granted each year of up to $10,000. The Global Health Spark Awards are intended to support YIGH-affiliated faculty across the spectrum of research and implementation science and can support a range of activities that are determined to be consistent with the YIGH mission, at the discretion of YIGH reviewers.