The Department of Global Health presented its first graduating cohort in a ceremony held at the William H. Foege Auditorium June 11. The 54 graduates were the first to complete degrees from the UW’s Department of Global Health, which officially began offering courses 19 months ago.

The department focuses on identifying and evaluating health problems and inequities in underserved populations. Students also examine the development and implementation of innovative interventions that can reduce disease burden, according to the department’s Web site.

“We are very proud of these founding students,” said King Holmes, the William H. Foege chair of the global health department. “Most [of the faculty] is part of the ‘me generation.’ I consider our students here today part of the ‘G [or global] generation.’”

Graduates were awarded Ph.D. and master’s degrees, as well as certificates in global health, pathobiology, epidemiology and health metrics and evaluation programs.

Students transferred midway through other programs to complete their degrees in the global health department.

“Many of you are sort of like guinea pigs, because you’re coming here in one program and leaving in another,” said Stephen Gloyd, associate chair for education and curriculum in the global health department.

The graduation address was given by Dr. Tadataka Yamada, president of the Global Health Program at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

“Inequality in the world creates a great instability that creates a great problem in society,” Yamada said.

His speech emphasized the need for new ideas and immediate action to address preventable diseases such as malaria and HIV.

“In HIV, we’re losing the battle,” he said. “The solution here is you. The future depends on creativity and independent thinking.”

Other speakers from the global health department stressed the need to make global health a collective effort. As a joint department grounded in both the UW School of Medicine and the School of Public Health and Community Medicine, the global health department seeks to recruit students from all disciplines.

“Global health doesn’t represent a discipline, but rather, a field,” Holmes said. “Our goal is to pull people from other disciplines … to focus their discipline on global health.”

The department has already dipped its toes into the fields of engineering, journalism and business. Last year, the global health department teamed up with the UWs Michael G. Foster School of Business to add two global health awards to an entrepreneurial competition. The competition attracted 80 teams from 14 different countries.

In addition to setting up programs in different disciplines, the department is also working to offer a global health minor, which would supplement various undergraduate majors. If plans follow through, the minor should be available by 2009.

“Global health is not just a science,” Gloyd said. “It’s being activists with a scientific mantel.”