Introduction to Students for Global Health

What does Students for Global Health do?

How does FACE AIDS fundraising work?

SGH is one part of a larger organization called FACE AIDS. FACE AIDS is a national student movement to fight AIDS in Africa, and has over 150 college and high school chapters across the US. Since 2005, they’ve raised over $1.8 million for HIV treatment. SGH functions as a chapter of FACE AIDS. When SGH raises funds, they are sent to FACE AIDS. FACE AIDS then DOUBLES our money through private donations before it is sent to Partners in Health, who provides the rural poor of Rwanda with much-needed medical care, food, and housing.

Why we support Partners in Health

Joining is simple–all you need to do is come to meetings, learn, and participate in some of our exciting events. Learn more.

Who We Are

Board of Directors

The SGH board changes yearly, based on elections held in the middle of each spring term. All members with regular attendance at general meetings are eligible to vote. The UO operates on a quarter system.

Michelle Leis
Co-Director, Co-Founder

Caitlin Conrad
Co-Director

McKenzie Becker
Director of Administration

Angela Kohama
Director of Public Relations

Matt Jones
Director of Finance

Kelly Moon
Director of Logistics & Outreach

Advisory Board

Janis C. Weeks
Professor of Biology

Professor, Department of Biology
B.S., 1975, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Ph.D., 1980, University of California, San Diego

Research Interests

Effects of steroid hormones on neural circuits and behavior; synaptic plasticity; programmed cell death; segmental identity

The major focus of our research is to understand how hormones influence the structure and function of individual neurons, from the molecular to the behavioral level. We investigate this issue in the hawkmoth, Manduca sexta (the “white rat of insect endocrinology”), which transforms from caterpillar to pupa to moth in about 6 weeks. More recently, we have expanded our work to include the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogaster , which offers molecular genetic tools. Insect metamorphosis is controlled by steroid hormones, which alter gene expression in target cells. In response to hormonal cues, individual neurons may exhibit dendritic or axonal growth, dendritic or axonal regression and/or programmed cell death (PCD). These effects underlie the reorganization of neural circuits that produce different behaviors in the different life stages. For example, we’ve determined that steroid-induced changes in neuronal architecture underlie the electrophysiological weakening of synaptic connections during metamorphosis and the accompanying loss of an outmoded larval behavior.

Steroid hormones similarly influence the developing vertebrate nervous system, and steroid hormone receptors are evolutionarily conserved in insects and vertebrates. Our goal is to understand fundamental cellular and molecular mechanisms by which steroids alter neuronal phenotype. We address these issues at the level of individually identified neurons and at synaptic connections between identified pre- and postsynaptic neurons with known behavioral functions. Our work on neurodegeneration is relevant to understanding how steroid hormones influence disorders such as Alzheimer’s Disease. We use a variety of experimental methods including cell culture of identified Manduca and Drosophila neurons, electrophysiology in vivo and in vitro (e.g., intracellular recordings and voltage clamp), confocal microscopy (e.g., to study structural changes in mitochondria during PCD) and molecular methods (including subtraction-coupled Manduca cDNA microarrays that we printed at UO).

The Weeks lab is committed to diversity and encourages enquiries from women and members of underrepresented groups.

Alex Goodell
Student

Partners

FACE AIDS is a national student organization made of over 150 college and high-school campus chapters of which Students for Global Health is an official chapter. These chapters raise money through the sale of Rwandan-made awareness pins. So far, FACE AIDS has raised over 1.2 million for Partners in Health.

Partners in Health (PIH), co-founded by Dr. Paul Farmer and Dr. Jim Kim, is an international global health and social justice organization. PIH works tirelessly to treat those in the developing world. They provide holistic, community-based treatment through a philosophy which they call “pragmatic solidarity.” They work in collaberation with the Rwandan government and the Clinton Foundation to treat HIV, malaria, and TB in rural Rwanda. PIH also works in Peru, Haiti, Russia, and other poor nations. They are based in Boston.

We have a large institutional support from the Robert D. Clark Honors College and its faculty.

Students for Global Health is a University of Oregon student group, and we receive funds from the University of Oregon. We are currently only able to accept applications from current UO students.

The African Studies Program at the University of Oregon is newly created, and now offers a minor. They have strongly supported SGH and have sponsored the 2009 HIV/AIDS in Africa Conference.

Advisory Board

Janis Weeks Ph.D.
Faculty Advisor  |  Bio

Alex Goodell

Founders

SGH was founded in the fall of 2007 by four Honors College Students at the UO. Inspired by Pulitzer-Prize-winning author Tracy Kidder’s book “Mountains Beyond Mountains” and moved by four related issues of social injustice (HIV/AIDS, malaria, genocide, women’s reproductive health/rights), the four set out to create a student group that would raise awareness and take action against global issues affecting the poor and marginalized, especially issues regarding basic health and wellness.

Michelle Leis

Alex Goodell

Katherine Philipson

Caleb Owen