When Barbara Bush was in college, she traveled to Uganda with her father, former President George W. Bush, for the launch of PEPFAR, America’s HIV/AIDS relief plan. “It was the height of the HIV/AIDS crisis, and for many of the people we were meeting, the disease was a death sentence,” she says. She was struck by how many people living with HIV/AIDS did not have access to the drugs needed to live healthy, productive lives. “This disparity shocked and angered me, and I resolved to do something about it.”
Bush believed that leadership was the missing intervention in global health, so she started Global Health Corps (GHC) with her sister and a few friends in 2009. The organization’s mission is to recruit and train the next generation of health leaders to transform health systems. GHC selects fellows to work at organizations that are improving health outcomes in poor communities in East Africa, Southern Africa, and the United States. The fellows work in teams of twos, with one international fellow and one local fellow.
“Nearly a decade later, we’ve built the most diverse talent pipeline in global health,” she says. BRIGHT talked to Bush about why leadership in global health matters, the organization’s new CEO, and the band The Killers.
BRIGHT: Some people might be surprised to see the U.S. included in your work. Should they be?
Barbara Bush: The U.S. is part of the globe, and it’s not immune to health inequities. We have worked in the U.S. since our founding, and many people who ask why are shocked to learn that HIV/AIDS rates in some neighborhoods of Washington, D.C. are comparable to those in major cities in sub-Saharan Africa. We’ve discovered that health issues manifest differently in different places — poor nutrition might look like obesity in Newark and it might look like stunting in Lilongwe, but the common denominator is broken and unequal health systems.
We need to promote cross-cultural, bi-directional learning to make progress. The New York Times published an op-ed last year about Rwanda’s progress in achieving near universal healthcare coverage and what the U.S. can learn from it. There is a lot of work to be done in the U.S., and a lot that the U.S. can learn from other nations, including from the so-called “low resource” countries that we work in.
BRIGHT: We recently published a piece on “Moonshots,” or how the social impact space is sometimes more focused on dramatic solutions to massive problems than the small, incremental work that creates sustainable change. How does GHC’s work fit into this theory?
BB: The idea that medical and technological breakthroughs are not enough to eradicate health inequities is core to our model. We invest in leadership because we believe that’s how we’ll close the implementation gap in global health. Transforming global health systems is messy, complex work riddled with obstacles, so we recognize that this is a long game. Progress on the road between innovation and eradication is more slow and steady than fast and furious, and our fellows and alums spend a lot of time in this “unsexy middle.”
BRIGHT: Who are some of the global health leaders GHC works with that exemplify this idea?
BB: Fatsani Banda is an incredible Malawian banker who left her job to become a GHC fellow at Partners In Health (PIH) in 2012, working to strengthen their operations and supply chain in rural Malawi. She’s stayed on with the organization since then, but moved to PIH’s team in Liberia to lend her operations skills to rebuild health systems in the post-Ebola era.
Kochelani Saili is a Zambian entomologist who studied aquatic insects before joining GHC in 2014. He served on PATH’s malaria team, excelling given his understanding of insects and mosquitoes. He implemented a national surveillance program and has since expanded his role on PATH’s surveillance team.
Kutha Banda is a talented researcher with a passion for sexual and reproductive health. As a 2016–2017 GHC fellow, she worked as a Senior Research Associate for Zambia’s Ministry of Health and now works for the National Health Research Authority where she compiles and analyzes data on the effectiveness of national health interventions to guide policymakers.
BRIGHT: GHC has a digital publication, AMPLIFY. We think a lot about how to tell dynamic stories about global health, a sector many people incorrectly assume is dull. What lessons have you learned about storytelling?
BB: We launched AMPLIFY in late 2015 to shift perspectives in global health by sharing stories not usually told from voices not usually heard. We encourage creative submissions in a variety of formats and themes broadly related to social justice, health equity, and leadership. Topics range from dealing with mental health challenges and preventing gender-based violence to developing humility and gaining a deeper understanding of your identity.
In addition to a platform for demonstrating our community’s leadership, AMPLIFY is also one of our tools for developing effective global health leaders. One of our six core leadership practices is the ability to inspire and mobilize others, and we see writing as one key way to do that. Another one of our core leadership practices is a commitment to social justice, which requires special attention to the ethics of using your voice. We believe it is imperative for emerging leaders — and especially those who are underrepresented in global health — to find, build, and use their voices. We also believe it is critical for emerging leaders to use their voices intentionally and thoughtfully, which sometimes means passing the mic.
To uphold these practices, we coach our fellows and alumni to be sensitive to power dynamics as they hone their voices through the written word. Our editorial process is highly collaborative and centers on writer authenticity and ownership. We share resources, encourage cross-cultural collaboration, provide support with idea generation and development, and allow contributors to have the final say on their submissions.
One of our biggest learnings has been that cultivating vulnerability and resilience is critical for authentic storytelling. The interior formation and external engagement aspects of our program are two peas in a pod — to be an effective leader who inspires and mobilizes others, you have to be self-aware and willing to dig deep to find out what stories lie within.
BRIGHT: GHC won a Skoll Awards for Social Entrepreneurship this year, congratulations! What does this mean for you personally, and for GHC as an organization?
BB: Thank you! We are incredibly excited. It is a wonderful validation of the power of great leadership — meaning leaders who are individually effective and collectively powerful — to transform health systems so that they deliver for all. It’s also an endorsement of the importance of cross-cultural collaboration and diversity in global health leadership, as these are two core components of our model. It means that what we have been doing to disrupt the status quo is being celebrated. This is how movements advance.
BRIGHT: What’s next for GHC? How do you hope the organization will grow under new leadership?
BB: GHC has been in my life for the better part of a decade, and I’m so proud of what our community has been able to achieve. Since my co-founders and I started GHC in 2009, our movement has grown in ways we could not have imagined. In June, we will welcome our tenth fellowship cohort, tipping our global crew of fellows and alumni past the 1,000-strong mark.
The moment when I realized that it was time for a new leader to take over the reins was bittersweet, as most necessary transitions are. Early last year, we launched a long, intentional search for our next CEO, engaging our entire team throughout the process. Daniela Terminel was everything we were looking for and more: a creative, empathetic, globally-minded visionary who leads with love.
Dani is ready and willing to take GHC to the next level. I know that she is the perfect person for the job given her reason for doing this work: “To me there is no task more rewarding than building a movement to transform broken systems through leadership. I’m ready to do my part to amplify and grow our community of change makers who lead with love to make health equity a reality.” And the cherry on top is that her leadership mantra, inspired by none other than The Killers, is “‘Cause I don’t shine if you don’t shine.”
Global Health Corps is a leadership development organization working to mobilize the next generation of health equity leaders. The diverse, global GHC community is united by the belief that health is a human right. To learn more, visit ghcorps.org and follow GHC on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.
