Message from the Executive Director

Whether you are returning to campus or kicking off a new year at MUSC, welcome! The Center for Global Health supports our international students, scholars, and faculty while advancing global health education, research, and partnerships across the MUSC enterprise. We are excited to launch our redesigned monthly newsletter as a way to keep our community connected. Most importantly, we want this space to reflect you—our students, scholars, faculty, physicians, staff, alumni, and partners.

Have news to share? Have you published research, returned from a global experience, hosted international visitors, presented at a conference, received an award or celebrated a milestone? Send us your stories, photos, and updates so we can showcase your work.

In this issue, discover how a 2019 MUSC medicine alum is making a global impact, learn about an inspiring palliative care partnership in Eswatini led by College of Nursing Dean Dr. Catherine Durham and Dr. Carrie Cormack, and join us in celebrating the recent accomplishments of an MUSC student and international postdoctoral scholar.

We look forward to connecting, learning, and celebrating with you throughout the year. Here's to a wonderful year ahead!

Sincerely,

Kathleen Ellis

Executive Director ‌

MUSC Center for Global Health

Top Story

Calculating his journey from mathematics to global health, MUSC graduate makes mark abroad

James Segars kneels next to a child during a 2019 MUSC global health project in Tanzania. Submitted Photo

By Adam Wise

Before James "Mac" Segars, M.D., ever stepped foot into a classroom as a student at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), he found himself in a room with two executive leaders from the University’s Center for Global Health.

Even now, more than a decade later, he’s not entirely sure how it all happened.

“I was just a med school applicant, I hadn’t even been accepted yet,” Segars said. “They just immediately took all this interest in me for reasons that I still don’t fully understand to this day other than they are just good people who like to develop interested students.”

MUSC College of Nursing faculty and students partner with providers in Eswatini, delivering hands-on care and building lasting global health connections.

Building bridges in Eswatini

The MUSC College of Nursing (CON) faculty and students' recent trip to Eswatini, South Africa, was more than a single week abroad. It was the foundation of a lasting relationship, one that the CON hopes to nurture through future visits centered on palliative care and our growing partnership with Good Shepherd College of Nursing.

The trip was supported by a Research Pilot Grant from the MUSC Center for Global Health.

COM student receives honor

Congratulations to M3 Caleb Ratz, whose submission, GloScope, was selected as an Honorable Mention in the Promising Global Health Nomination category of the Changing What’s Possible: Medical Breakthroughs initiative. GloScope is a concept for a low-cost, sterilizable, and reusable laparoscope designed to expand access to minimally invasive surgery in resource-limited settings

Dr. Nagingar presents her research at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology annual meeting.

MUSC postdoc wins top award at world’s premier vision research conference

For most young researchers, presenting at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology annual meeting is an accomplishment in and of itself. For Atiyabanu Nagingar, Ph.D., a postdoctoral scholar in the lab of Elizabeth Pearsall, Ph.D., at MUSC’s Storm Eye Institute, the experience culminated in one of the conference’s highest honors.

ISA announces 2026-27 leadership

The MUSC International Student Association is pleased to announce the organization's executive leadership for the 2026-27 academic year:

President: Ranan Phookan
Logistics Chair: Abasi-ama Udeme
Service Chair: Shubham Mehta
Communications Chair: Meenakshi Mukherji
Social Chair: Charulekha Packirisamy
SGA Representative: Testimony Ajibade
ISA Advisor: Ashlan Andrews, Center for Global Health

ISA Steering Committee

Alain Greige, Carla Martinez, Shravan Paswan, Hasna Loulida, Fai Alnashmi, Lolwa Fetyani, and Ivo Woogeng

College of Nursing expands global role in palliative care education through ELNEC partnership

The MUSC College of Nursing has joined the End-of-Life Nursing Education Consortium (ELNEC) as an official partner. This partnership strengthens national and global efforts to prepare the healthcare workforce for the growing demand for palliative care. Alongside City of Hope and the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, the MUSC College of Nursing reinforces a shared commitment to improving the quality of palliative care in the United States and around the world.

Student & Trainee Travel Grant Reflections

Each month, this newsletter will feature past published reflections from MUSC students and trainees following their global health projects supported by Center for Global Health travel grants.

For more information about CGH student and trainee travel grants, please click here. Stay tuned for application period dates for the upcoming academic year!

Adrianna Soucy - St. Croix

My month-long rotation in the Emergency Department at Juan F. Luis Hospital in St. Croix was a transformative experience that significantly expanded both my clinical perspective and my understanding of healthcare delivery in resource-limited settings.

Amelia Hilton - Ethiopia

I had the opportunity to spend four weeks in Sodo, Ethiopia, at Sodo Christian Hospital (SCH), working and learning alongside both local Ethiopian staff and long-term missionaries.

Newsletter Submissions

Do you have a MUSC global health news item to share that you'd like included in a future edition of this newsletter? Please email your submissions to global-health@musc.edu.

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