Sparkman Summer Institute

The Sparkman Center for Global Health Summer Institute is a one-week intensive workshop that introduces implementation research (IR) in global health settings and provides training on how to apply IR concepts and methods to address health inequities in global health research and practice.

Who Can Apply

We encourage all global public health academics, researchers, practitioners and policymakers to register! The program is also open to advanced students with professional experience in global public health.

Approach

Implementation research helps to solve a range of implementation problems with evidence-supported interventions – and facilitates real-world health impact at scale. However, real-world impact cannot be achieved without addressing issues of health inequities – and this is especially true for global health. While there are several degrees and training programs in implementation research relevant to global health – there are very few that explicitly target issues of health inequities contextualized to global health settings^[1].

The workshop combines 4 modules taught over 5 days, including:

• High-level lectures | introducing IR in global health, and relevant IR concepts and approaches for addressing health inequities in global health research and practice.
• Case examples | demonstrating the application of concepts and approaches from the lectures to real-world global health research and practice cases.
• Problem-solving clinic | working with participants to apply IR concepts and approaches to their own global health research, practice, and/or policy cases to address health inequities.

Program Instructors

Kunle Alonge, MD, PhD, MPH: Professor, University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health; Director, UAB Sparkman Center for Global Health

Stef Baral, MD, MPH, MBA, MSc: Professor, Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Director of doctoral program in implementation science at JHBSOPH

Malabika Sarker, MBBS, MPH: Associate Dean of Global Engagement, Professor of Behavior and Social Science, Brown University; Founding Director of the Center of Excellence for Science of Implementation and Scale-up at BRAC University in Bangladesh

Janet Turan, PhD, MPH: Professor, University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health, Mixed-methods researcher; Senior Advisor, UAB Sparkman Center for Global Health

Save the Date!

The 2025 Sparkman Summer Institute will be held July 16-22, in Birmingham, Alabama at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Public Health.

Registration OPEN!

Registration will be open from May 1, 2025 to June 1, 2025

Total Cost

Low-to-Middle-Income-Countries: $1,300 – $2,800

High-Income-Countries: $1,500 – $3,000

Costs include:

• Registration Fees
• Housing
• Meal vouchers for weekday breakfast and lunch
• Weekend activity in Birmingham

*Lower-range would be dorm-style housing with upper-range being a hotel stay. Check the registration page for more detailed options. Limited, needs-based scholarships are available. If interested, you will be prompted to apply for scholarships after you complete your course registration.

CUGH

The Consortium of Universities for Global Health (CUGH) is a rapidly growing Washington, DC-based organization of over 190 academic institutions and organizations from around the world engaged in addressing global health challenges. CUGH supports academic institutions and partners to improve the well-being of people and the planet through education, research, service, and advocacy.

CUGH Membership

As an institutional member of CUGH, all UAB students, staff, and faculty can create an account and take advantage of the various member benefits.

CUGH has also introduced a membership management portal for easy updates for all users.

For more information and to create an account, visit the CUGH website below.

CUGH Annual Conference

The Sparkman Center was the 2025 CUGH annual conference co-host alongside the UAB School of Public Health. The conference focus topic was Innovating and Implementing in Global Health for Sustainable Future and was held in Atlanta, Georgia, February 20-23, 2025.The next annual conference will be held in April of 2026 and will be held in Washington D.C.

Visit the CUGH annual conference site below for more details and event registration.

D43 Insight Training Grant

The Sparkman Center is excited to be a member of the Integrated Networks of Scholars in Global Health Research Training (INSIGHT) consortium, part of the Fogarty Launching Future Leaders in Global Health Research Training Program. The INSIGHT consortium brings together four top-ranked universities, The University of Alabama at Birmingham, Baylor College of Medicine (BCM), the University of Maryland Baltimore, the University of Pittsburgh, and their respective international research training sites in Africa, Asia, and the Americas.

INSIGHT aims to provide the next generation of aspiring global health researchers in the U.S. and in LMICs by giving scientists, early in their careers, a mentored research training experience in global health at established biomedical and behavioral research sites across 24 LMIC institutions in 20 countries. Trainee research projects are supported by experienced and dedicated mentors with expertise in clinical, public health, laboratory, and implementation research.