Institute for Global Health
The Institute for Global Health at BC Children’s and Women’s hospitals is dedicated to improving the lives and health of children, women and their families around the world, particularly the most vulnerable, through research, education and partnerships.
As one of Canada’s leading global health institutes, we are committed to health equity and implementing sustainable, effective interventions to improve health in partnership with communities.
Overview
A range of health-care providers and staff across BC Children’s Hospital and BC Women’s Hospital + Health Centre leads our projects. They include doctors, allied health-care clinicians, nurses, data scientists, epidemiologists, engineers, economists, researchers and public health experts.
Our diverse team is eager to engage with partners and collaborators to tackle global health challenges. These could include universities, hospitals, non-governmental organizations, global health networks and funders, and students and trainees. Many of our Institute for Global Health leaders are associated with the BC Children’s Research Institute and the Women’s Health Research Institute.
With over 40 different global health initiatives happening around the world, our work enables transformative innovation and provides evidence-based solutions to improve health world-wide.
Our focus areas include:
- Addressing global health needs, particularly for women and children
- Global capacity-building, research and patient care through subspecialty programs, such as nursing and allied health, nutrition, surgery, orthopedics, cancer, transfusion medicine, vaccines, endocrinology, diabetes, and obstetrics and gynecology
- Innovating throughout the perinatal journey to end preventable maternal and newborn deaths
- Improving sepsis outcomes and preventing antimicrobial resistance
- Innovations for global access to medical oxygen
- Developing data-driven solutions to inform evidence-based care decisions
The Institute for Global Health is generously supported by the BC Children’s Hospital Foundation and the BC Women’s Health Foundation.
Our projects
Learn more about our projects in research, care, and capacity-building across the world.
Get involved
The Institute for Global Health values collaborations and mentorship. We encourage health-care workers, clinical trainees, students and others to engage with us.
- Become a member: Help us build and strengthen a community passionate about global health and find opportunities for collaboration and knowledge dissemination. Learn more about eligibility in the Member Application Form
- Get mentorship: We connect clinical trainees and undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral students from all backgrounds in BC and around the world with mentors
- Become a partner: We collaborate with academic centres, non-governmental organizations, clinical providers and others
Sign up by email at globalhealth@cw.bc.ca to receive our quarterly update, which includes funding opportunities, events and more.
Annual conference
The Global Health Conference is an annual event bringing together a community of students, trainees, clinicians, researchers and faculty from across health professions and disciplines to share knowledge.
The 2025 conference “Creativity through Crisis” will examine the intensifying impact of global events such as conflict, climate change and COVID-19, and lessons from mental health that address these challenges.
The conference is available both virtually and in-person at BC Children’s Hospital on Thursday April 10, 2025. Register to attend.
Funding and opportunities
- Institute for Global Health Seed and Project Grants (PDF) catalyze the development of high-quality, transformative global health projects in research, education or capacity-building. Project leads based at BC Children's Hospital, BC Women's Hospital + Health Centre and its affiliated research institutes are eligible
- The Institute for Global Health Trainee Travel Grant supports clinical trainees participating in a global health elective in a low- or middle-income country focused on the health-care of neonates, children, adolescents, and/or women as part of their clinical training
- The Social/Global Health Impact Fellowship & Training (SHIFT) (PDF) combines research, education and clinical experiences to train the next generation of medical leaders in global health and/or social medicine at BC Children's Hospital and BC Women’s Hospital + Health Centre. This two-year post-residency fellowship will support doctors in developing leadership and scholarly skills to improve health equity for women, children and their families in at-risk populations in Canada and/or in global settings
Contact us
Address:
Institute for Global Health
305 - 4088 Cambie Street
Vancouver, BC
V5Z 2X8
Phone: 604-829-2562
Email: globalhealth@cw.bc.ca
Resources
- Learn more about building sustainable global health partnerships with input from experts in all World Health Organization regions through a consensus-driven framework
- Planning and preparing for your global health elective or project can help ensure a safe and fulfilling experience. For pre- and post-departure training materials and a Training of Trainers program for clinical trainees, contact globalhealth@cw.bc.ca
- Find resources from UBC’s Faculty of Medicine pre-departure checklist for students, residents, training modules and Go Global
- For a list of ongoing funding opportunities to support your global health activities, contact globalhealth@cw.bc.ca