Overview

We are a world-class interdisciplinary educational, service and research organization dedicated to improving health and reducing the burden of disease in the world's most vulnerable populations. We integrate UCSF expertise in the health, social, and biological sciences, and focus that expertise on training global health leaders of tomorrow and developing solutions to today’s most pressing health challenges. Founded as Global Health Sciences in 2003 by Haile Debas, MD, IGHS underscores UCSF’s commitment to global health and to the care of vulnerable populations at home and throughout the world. We rebranded to the Institute for Global Health Sciences in 2017. At IGHS, we think big, pursuing bold and high-risk visions—malaria elimination, a cure for HIV—the sorts of problems that require broad, transdisciplinary contributions to achieve a better future. In addition, our faculty, staff and students are on the cutting edge of research, treatment, public health practice and policy development for tuberculosis, maternal and newborn child health, reproductive health, and other conditions that have a devastating impact on vulnerable populations both globally and locally. We also work in California and around the world to train global health leaders, help governments and organizations improve their health systems, and build sustainable solutions to improve health and eliminate disease. The African proverb “if you want to go fast, go alone; if you want to go far, go together” applies very well to what we want to accomplish. We partner with academic centers, international organizations, ministries of health, private industries and others in more than 50 countries. Our goal: to effectively deliver UCSF’s promise of advancing health worldwide.