2017 triangle global health awards
Announcing our
2017 Triangle Global Health
Award Winners
The Triangle Global Health Consortium is pleased to announce our 2017 Triangle Global Health Award Winners. Each year the Triangle Global Health Awards recognize the passion and expertise our local leaders bring to improving the lives of people around the world.
Our 2017 Award Celebration was held on Tuesday, May 2 from 7:00-10:00pm at Top of the Hill in Chapel Hill, NC. Thank you to everyone who joined us to honor and celebrate our local global health leaders!
We were extremely impressed with this year's diverse pool of award nominees. Thank you to all who made nominations and congratulations to our 2017 award winners!
global health champion
Margaret "Peggy" Bentley, MA, PhD
Carla Smith Chamblee Distinguished Professor of Global Nutrition, Department of Nutrition
Associate Dean for Global Health, Gillings School of Global Public Health
Associate Director, Institute of Global Health and Infectious Diseases
Faculty Director, Duke-UNC Rotary Peace Center Fellows Program
Fellow, Carolina Population Center
Margaret "Peggy" Bentley, MA, PhD has been selected as our 2017 Triangle Global Health Champion in recognition of her life-long commitment to advancing global health around the world and here in our local community. Her work has focused on the fields of women and infant's nutrition, infant and young child feeding, behavioral research on sexually transmitted diseases, HIV, and community-based interventions for nutrition and health.
Dr. Bentley is an expert in both qualitative and quantitative research methods and the application of these for program development and evaluation. She formerly led an NIH-funded intervention to improve child growth and development in Andhra Pradesh, India and currently leads an NIH-funded trial in North Carolina for prevention of obesity among infants and toddlers. She is Principal Investigator of a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grant for analyses of nutrition data from the Breastfeeding, Antiretroviral and Nutrition (BAN) study.
As the founding board chair for the Consortium, Dr. Bentley set the vision of North Carolina as an unparalleled place of innovation and collaboration. She also maintains an on-going commitment to mentoring students and professionals. In fact, Dr. Bentley says the greatest accomplishment of her professional career is her love of mentorship. She is most proud of mentoring junior faculty and students by helping them become successful in their own work and careers. “I am truly honored to receive this award and it is a highlight of my career,” Dr. Bentley said. “Many of my present and former students and colleagues from North Carolina and around the world share this award with me. I have never regretted my move to Carolina nearly 18 years ago and am proud to have been a part of the Triangle Global Health Consortium from its inception.” We are honored to recognize Dr. Bentley and her many incredible contributions to the global health community.
Peggy Bentley: Tribute to a Global Health Champion
corporate impact award
BD has been selected as the winner of the Triangle Global Health Consortium's 2017 Corporate Impact Award in recognition of their efforts to improve diagnostics for a number of diseases that pose threats to global health. BD is a leader in the diagnostics industry, with solutions that enable better and faster diagnosis through technologies that improve the accuracy and speed of clinical decision making and result in enhanced patient care.
In 2016, BD announced a collaboration with PATH and GSK to develop a rapid test to support clinical care and ultimately a goal to eliminate Plasmodium vivax malaria, a disease that puts 2.85 billion people at risk worldwide. BD has also joined together with global stakeholders to optimize the use of diagnostic tests in the fight against antimicrobial resistance and reverse current trends projected to cause up to 10 million deaths annually by 2050. BD has recently committed to extending their tuberculosis diagnostic technologies for 40 additional low- and middle-income countries, making a total of 85 countries that are eligible for access pricing. With support from the Paul G. Allen Foundation, BD is developing a rapid, cost-effective diagnostic for Ebola that includes the ability to test for other potential sources of fever.
We are proud to recognize BD’s work in global health in creating solutions that enable better and faster diagnosis and improve clinical care of patients.
breakthrough innovation award
BioMedomics, Inc. has been selected as the winner of the Triangle Global Health Consortium's 2017 Breakthrough Innovation Award in recognition of their innovative rapid point-of-care diagnostics line, which provides unprecedented ease of use, efficiency and accuracy for the diagnosis of lethal and widespread hemoglobin disorders. These tests are CE Mark approved, and are currently sold in countries around the globe.
In September 2016, BioMedomics was selected from 30 highly innovative start-up companies as the First Place Winner for the RESI Boston 2016 Innovation Challenge. That same year, BioMedomics was also awarded with a $250,000 loan from the North Carolina Biotechnology Center. BioMedomics is a ISO certified point-of-care diagnostics company focused on developing unique rapid POC tests for blood disorders. Their innovative work contributes to improving the quality and speed of point-of-care diagnostics which help save lives around the globe.
We are pleased to honor BioMedomics’ efforts with our inaugural Breakthrough Innovation Award.
ward cates emerging leader award
Three finalists for the Ward Cates Emerging Leader Award were chosen for their leadership, innovation, and spirit of collaboration in global health.
Ms. Katie Grimes is a Public Health Analyst with RTI International, supporting research and program operations in sexual violence prevention, HIV/AIDS, global health security, and LGBT+ health. She works across 5 countries, employing evidence-based practices to improve health disparities among at-risk populations and strengthen health systems.
Mr. Caleb Parker has been with FHI 360 for ten years, supporting the organization’s global health objectives with his skills in geospatial analysis and qualitative research. He developed an ArcGIS training workshop and manual designed for staff working on health and development programs, and has provided this training for more than 140 staff in 12 countries.
Dr. Lavanya Vasudevan is a research scholar in the Center for Health Policy and Inequalities Research at the Duke Global Health Institute. She currently serves as an expert on digital health taxonomy and evidence for the World Health Organization (WHO), specifically advancing integration of digital health interventions with national health systems globally.
We received an incredible response from the community voting process, and over 3000 votes were received! After tallying the votes, Dr. Lavanya Vasudevan was named our 2017 Ward Cates Emerging Leader. Congratulations to Dr. Vasudevan and to all three of our Emerging Leader finalists!
