Continuing the work initiated by Bahaa Abalkhail and Jim Ware, the King Abdulaziz University MPH in Biostatistics and Epidemiology Program continues to grow under the able guidance of Marcello Pagano, Fran Cook and Julie Buring, and with the administrative support of Megan Scott. The program has 13 new students entering in fall of 2016 – the largest group it has has ever had! The second student group is just wrapping up the coursework of their two-year program and are expected to graduate in January 2017.
Two faculty members from HSPH are returning to Jeddah to teach in the spring – Julie Buring and Mike Stoto. The program has also come full circle with Leena Merdad, who earned a degree from HSPH, now teaching at King Abdulaziz University as part of our HSPH/KAU collaborative program. HSPH also had a positive visit from Professor Abalkhail over the summer to plan for the fall semester, reconnect with the faculty, and discuss the future of the program.
Through this collaboration, the Biostatistics and Epidemiology departments are trying out a new prototype of knowledge transfer. The continued success of the program suggests that this approach might be fruitfully applied in other parts of the world. Stay tuned for future developments!
