Global Health Educators Community (GHECo)

The CUGH Global Health Educators Community (GHECo = “gecko”) provides professional development and networking opportunities for professors who teach global health courses, design curricula and experiential learning activities for nonclinical undergraduate and graduate programs, and oversee baccalaureate majors and minors, academic master’s degrees, and research-based doctoral degrees.

    GHECo is an international, multidisciplinary community of practice for global health educators that began hosting monthly Virtual Teachers’ Lounges (VTLs) and other events in September 2023. GHECo membership is free to everyone; CUGH membership is not required. To receive invitations to the monthly online GHECo meetings and special events, please sign up for the mailing list using the form at https://cugh.groups.io/g/gheco. Questions about GHECo may be directed to the founding co-chairs, Kathryn H. Jacobsen (University of Richmond) and Caryl E. Waggett (Allegheny College)

    Join the list

    To receive invitations to the monthly GHECo meetings and special events, please create an account at https://cugh.groups.io/g/gheco. All global health educators are welcome to join the listserv and attend GHECo events. CUGH membership is not a requirement for participation in the community.

    DomainGlobal Health Learning Objective
    ValuesDescribe the history, values, and functions of global health.
    GlobalizationExplain how travel, trade, and other aspects of globalization contribute to health, disease, and health disparities.
    SocioeconomicsSummarize the economic, social, cultural, and political contributors to individual and population health.
    EnvironmentExamine the connections between human health and environmental health, including considerations of water, sanitation, air quality, urbanization, ecosystem health, and climate change
    EthicsDiscuss the relationship between human rights and global health.
    Healthcare SystemsCompare the financing and delivery of medical care in countries with different types of health systems and different income levels.
    GovernanceExamine the roles, responsibilities, and relationships of the agencies and organizations involved in prioritizing, financing, and implementing public health interventions locally and internationally.
    EpidemiologyCompare the burden of disease, disability, and death from infectious diseases, reproductive health issues, malnutrition, noncommunicable diseases, mental health disorders, and injuries in countries with different income levels
    InterventionsIdentify evidence-based, cost-effective, sustainable interventions for promoting health and preventing illness across the lifespan from the prenatal period through older adulthood.
    EvaluationEvaluate policies that seek to solve major population health concerns and achieve health equity.
    Reference:  Jacobsen KH, Waggett CE, Bayles BR, Berenbaum P, Carlson GL, English R, Faerron Guzmán CA, Gartin ML, Grant L, Henshaw T, Iannotti LL, Landrigan PL, Lansbury N, Li H, Lichtveld MY, McWhorter KL, Rettig JE, Sorensen CJ, Wetzel EJ, Whitehead DM, Winch PJ, Martin KW.  Planetary Health Learning Objectives: foundational knowledge for global health education in an era of climate change.  The Lancet Planetary Health.  2024 Sept; 8(9): e706–713.  doi:10.1016/S2542-5196(24)00167-0

    DomainPlanetary Health Learning Objective
    Earth System ChangesIdentify the natural and human-generated causes of altered biogeochemical flows, climate change, biodiversity loss, environmental pollutants, land-system change, freshwater change, ocean acidification, atmospheric aerosol loading, stratospheric ozone depletion, and other global environmental changes.
    Ecological SystemsDescribe how the ecosystems formed by human, domestic animal, wildlife, plant, and other biotic populations are affected by human actions across trophic levels, geographies, and time.
    Human Health OutcomesExplain how extreme temperature and precipitation events, reduced air and water quality, population displacement, and other global changes increase incidence, prevalence, and mortality from infectious diseases; malnutrition; respiratory, cardiovascular, and other noncommunicable diseases; sexual and reproductive health issues; psychosocial health disorders; and injuries.
    Risk AssessmentAnalyze how economic, social, cultural, political, environmental, technological, and health systems affect ecosystem and human vulnerability and resilience to environmental change.
    GovernanceEvaluate how local, national, and international laws and policies have contributed to environmental problems and solutions.
    ActionsCompare the roles and responsibilities of governments, the commercial sector, civil society organizations, communities, and individuals in promoting conservation, restoration, mitigation, and adaptation related to environmental change
    EthicsArticulate the principles of intragenerational, interspecies, and intergenerational environmental justice.
    CommunicationDemonstrate environmental and health literacy by accessing, evaluating, and communicating reliable scientific information about global environmental change.
    Reference:  Jacobsen KH, Waggett CE, Bayles BR, Berenbaum P, Carlson GL, English R, Faerron Guzmán CA, Gartin ML, Grant L, Henshaw T, Iannotti LL, Landrigan PL, Lansbury N, Li H, Lichtveld MY, McWhorter KL, Rettig JE, Sorensen CJ, Wetzel EJ, Whitehead DM, Winch PJ, Martin KW.  Planetary Health Learning Objectives: foundational knowledge for global health education in an era of climate change.  The Lancet Planetary Health.  2024 Sept; 8(9): e706–713.  doi:10.1016/S2542-5196(24)00167-0

    Most Recent GHECo Newsletter

    16 February 2026

    GHECo Online Conversation on February

    The next GHECo virtual teachers’ lounge (VTL) will be held on February 20 (Friday) from 3 to 4pm New York time. All are welcome. Please contact kjacobse@richmond.edu and/or cwaggett@allegheny.edu to receive the link to participate.

    GHECo Data Visualization Workshop on April 8

    GHECo and Teach Global Health in collaboration with ASPPH will be hosting a one-day, in-person workshop on data visualization and data communication on Wednesday, April 8, 2026, in Washington DC (the day before the annual CUGH conference starts). The presenter will be data viz expert Stephanie Evergreen. Participants will learn strategies for effectively communicating quantitative and qualitative data to diverse audiences and will use Excel on their own laptops to apply their new skills. The workshop fee is $150; scholarships are available for those with demonstrated need. Seats are limited. Apply now at https://forms.gle/s6Un47poHkvHKZZm8. 

    GHECo In-Person Education Workshop on April 9

    As part of the annual conference of the Consortium of Universities for Global Health (https://www.cugh2026.org), GHECo will host a free in-person workshop on Thursday, April 9, from 9am to 12noon at the Hilton Hotel in Washington DC. Register for this in-person workshop at https://forms.gle/NojxUdUnT9U9o1JZA. (We are sorry that an online option is not available for this event.) The conference website includes information about other workshops and conference activities.

    Upcoming Online Events (all are free!)
    Help us grow GHECo

    If you have colleagues and friends who are involved in global health education but are not yet on the GHECo mailing list, please invite them to sign up at https://cugh.groups.io/g/gheco.

    Do you have items for the GHECo Newsletter?

    Is your institution hosting an upcoming webinar or seeking job applicants? Is your professional society seeking submissions for an upcoming conference? Have you recently published a journal article about global health education? Would you like to host a special-topics VTL for a geographic region, an area of professional practice, or another theme? Please email information about upcoming events and new resources related to global health education to kjacobse@richmond.edu and/or cwaggett@allegheny.edu so that we can share them in the next GHECo newsletter!