University of California campuses received $1.32 million Monday to bring together centers that aim to facilitate health and poverty research.
The UC Office of the President funded the Blum Federation. The centers’ organizers will collaborate to teach and research global poverty, economic and social justice issues, according to a UCOP press release.
UCLA’s center focuses on research regarding health and poverty, said Michael Rodríguez, founding director of the UCLA Blum Center on Poverty and Health in Latin America.
“The donation will fund the work of trainees at different levels of development starting from undergraduates,” Rodríguez said. “It will provide them with opportunities to do scholarly work related to poverty and health, locally and globally.”
Rodríguez said the center will recruit students to carry out field studies that address health and poverty in Latin America.
The UCLA Blum Center founded the new UCLA global health minor in 2015 and is working with undergraduate global health organizations throughout campus to help develop a campuswide coalition that aims to tackle health and poverty, he said.
The federation also plans to introduce a poverty studies minor and opportunities for students to collaborate and design solutions for global sustainability, according to the press release.
On Feb. 3, the UCLA Blum Center announced it will work with the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua, or UNAN, to collaborate in research and education. The center and UNAN aim to develop research in chronic disease and community health, and send UCLA students to Nicaragua this summer to do field work in these areas, according to a press release.
The federation’s members will meet in May at UC Irvine to explore ways campuses can come together to research solutions to global health problems.
Compiled by Ravija Harjai, Bruin contributor.