The Department of Global Health offers student travel support up to $4000 to graduate and professional students at the University of Washington to help support in-depth fieldwork experiences in global health.  Applications are accepted and reviewed on a rolling basis until May 1, 2025 or until funds are exhausted, and should be submitted around 90 days prior to proposed travel dates. All travel fellowship recipients must abide by all fellowship, Department of Global Health, and University of Washington policies that pertain to travel under the fellowship. Failure to do so may result in the withdrawal of a fellowship.

The application is now open. The full application, including eligibility information and instructions, may be downloaded here. 

DGH Travel Funding is generously supported by the Thomas Francis, Jr. Global Health Fellowship, the Stergachis Endowed Fellowship for International Exchange, and the Global Mental Health Consortium. You can learn more about recent travel fellowship recipients here. 

The funds have been generously provided by the family of Dr. George Povey and other donors to honor his contributions to global health. George was an uncompromising and tireless clinician, teacher, and activist, promoting social justice, gender equality and maternal health in resource-poor settings. The award will be based on evidence of commitment by the applicant to these values that characterized the lifetime of Dr. Povey.

Nuno Alberto de Jesus Ximenez, MPH in Global Health, Department of Global Health, 2023 Warren George Povey Endowed Fund for Global Health Fellowship recipient

Country of Travel: Timor-Leste

Nuno travelled to Timor to assist HAMNASA, a local organization, in evaluating its mother and child tuberculosis program across four health facilities. The primary goal of this evaluation was to identify the barriers and facilitators to the success of the project, which has been implemented since 2021. The results of this evaluation program aim to provide recommendations to the Ministry of Health of Timor-Leste, suggesting the incorporation of tuberculosis screening as part of antenatal care. This is particularly important considering Timor-Leste's high prevalence of tuberculosis cases. 

Aneth Dinis, PhD in Global Health Metrics and Implementation Science, Department of Global Health, 2023 Warren George Povey Endowed Fund for Global Health Fellowship recipient

Country of Travel: Mozambique

Aneth applied to the Warren George Povey Endowed Fund to disseminate her dissertation results in Sofala and Manica provinces in Mozambique. Aneth’s research area of interest is service delivery of maternal and child services, which aligns well with her dissertation topic - The impact of audit and feedback in reducing neonatal mortality. She hopes the dissemination will help inform and tailor better strategies to improve population health. 

The purpose of the Stergachis Endowed Fellowship for International Exchange is to promote global health by providing financial assistance to graduate or professional students who would like to work on public health projects in developing countries, preferably in Uganda.   

Robin Klabbers, PhD in Global Health Metrics and Implementation Science, Department of Global Health, 2023 Stergachis Endowed Fellowship for International Exchange recipient  

Country of travel: Uganda 

Robin’s research is a part of the Head StART study, a cluster randomized trial taking place at health centers in refugee settlements in mid- and southwestern Uganda. The study is a collaboration between the University of Washington, the Infectious Diseases Institute at Makerere University in Uganda, and Medical Teams International and focuses on investigating whether community antiretroviral therapy (ART) delivery can improve viral suppression among refugees newly diagnosed with HIV in refugee settlements. Currently, this form of differentiated service delivery, in which people living with HIV (PLHIV) form groups and take turns collecting the group’s HIV medication from the health center and bringing it to the others in the community, is only available to PLHIV who are “stable in care” and are already virally suppressed. We are interested in studying community ART delivery for refugees newly diagnosed with HIV because we hypothesize that the social support and assistance in overcoming barriers to care that community ART delivery offers, would be especially beneficial during the time following a new HIV diagnosis. If community ART delivery is shown to be effective for this new population, this research could help inform a change in Ugandan HIV guidelines and promote early HIV care engagement in refugee settlements. 

The purpose of the Thomas Francis, Jr. Global Health Fellowship is to promote global health by providing financial assistance to graduate or professional students who would like to gain practical global health field experience in international and/or underserved community settings. Dr. Thomas Francis, Jr. taught Dr. Jonas Salk the methodology of vaccine development, and designed and directed the Salk polio vaccine clinical trials. 

Floria Nyandaya, Global Health Master’s in Public Health, Department of Global Health, 2023 Thomas Francis, Jr. Global Health Fellowship recipient 

Country of travel: Nigeria 

Floria travelled to Lagos, Nigeria, to conduct a landscape analysis of diversity gaps in cancer drug clinical trials and evaluate phase III clinical trial readiness at the Marcelle Ruth Cancer Center in collaboration with Hurone AI. With a passion for improving oncology health disparities among underrepresented populations, Floria seeks to utilize digital health technologies to enhance clinical trials and augment treatment and care in resource-constrained settings. Her collaborative work will promote trial diversity, leading to more accurate and representative outcomes for approved cancer drugs in diverse settings. By leveraging machine learning, Floria's practicum aims to democratize access to affordable, equitable, and context-specific oncology care, benefiting patients in Nigeria and individuals of African descent. 

Viviana Alban, PhD in Environmental Health Sciences, Department of Environmental & Occupational Health Sciences, 2023 Thomas Francis, Jr. Global Health Fellowship recipient 

Country of travel: Ecuador 

Viviana travelled to Quito, Ecuador, to conduct a summer project investigating antimicrobial resistance (AMR) patterns in E. coli strains isolated from animal fecal samples. The scientific data will constitute baseline information for her research plans and provide valuable information on AMR profiles and potential risks associated with different animal types in a low-and middle-income country. Leading this project will contribute to her growth as an early career researcher on animal-to-human AMR transmission and child health. This travel constituted an opportunity to build technical capacity in-country and to work closely with Ecuadorian undergraduate and graduate students. 

The purpose of the Global Mental Health Fellowship is to promote global mental health research and training by providing financial assistance to a graduate student, professional student, or medical resident who would like to work on global mental health projects in low or middle-income countries. Mental health related projects include, but are not limited to, projects that address the needs of people with mental disorders, promotion of mental health,  reduction of social stigma related to mental disorders, mental health research training, and mental health policy.

Laurén Gomez, PhD in Epidemiology, Department of Epidemiology, 2023 Global Mental Health Consortium Travel Fellowship recipient

Country of travel: Kenya

Through the Global Mental Health fellowship Laurén travelled to Kisumu, Kenya where she partnered with Kenyatta National Hospital to support the implementation of neurodevelopmental assessments nested within safety evaluations of infant antiretroviral exposure (pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) and dolutegravir (DTG)).

The GMH fellowship allowed her to merge her research interests and expand on the work she conducted for her Master’s thesis, where she assessed the association of prenatal PrEP exposure and perinatal and infant outcomes. Fieldwork activities focused on capacity building through trainings and data quality systems. Results from these activities will be analyzed as part of her dissertation and will fill evidence gaps on longer-term neurodevelopmental outcomes in the context of growing DTG and PrEP use globally during pregnancy which will inform scale up in Kenya and similar countries.

Additional Funding & Fieldwork Programs

Many Departments and Centers at the University of Washington offer fieldwork experience and some offer funding. Discover additional opportunities by visiting their websites.

Travel Preparation

Information on UW administrative processes for global travel, education and research can be found on the Office of Global Affairs website. Please consult your program, department, or school for their specific requirements including orientations or documentation.

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University of Washington Hall Health Travel Clinic offers pre-travel counseling, immunizations, and health advice for adults and children who are planning to travel out of the U.S. or Canada. The clinic is a Washington State Department of Health-designated center for yellow fever vaccine. Pre-travel consultations are available by appointment. Travelers will be asked to complete a questionnaire regarding travel plans. It is important to bring all immunization records available. Because several weeks may be required to complete a needed vaccine series, we recommend the initial appointment be held at least 4 weeks before departure. You should telephone for an appointment two weeks before that, if possible. When this is not possible, the clinic will meet your travel health needs as completely as the time allows.

Additional clinic locations are listed on the UW Medicine Travel Medicine page.

Center for Disease Control and Prevention Traveler's Health Health information for specific destinations and what to know before you depart.

The UW Department of Global Health has compiled a sexual misconduct resource guide for students that provides information on organizations that assist UW students and employees who have experienced sexual misconduct if they are in the US or abroad. The UW Office of the Title IX Coordinator also has excellent resources.

A comprehensive list of insurance for UW staff and faculty can be found through the Global Operations Support. For UW students traveling abroad on official UW programs, please see information on Study Abroad Insurance. For international visitors to the UW, visit the International Students and Scholars "Other Insurance" page.

WITH UW

For students traveling with UW programs, contact UW Study Abroad for the University of Washington travel registry, For individual students, staff, and faculty traveling abroad on UW official business, contact the International Travel and Security Manager, Pascal Schuback, schuback@uw.edu. 

WITH THE US STATE DEPARTMENT

For US Citizens, register your travel with the Smart Traveler Enrollment Program. When you sign up, you will automatically receive the most current information we compile about the country where you will be traveling or living.  You will also receive updates, including Travel Warnings and Travel Alerts (where appropriate).

For non-US Citizens travelling abroad, please contact your embassy for travel registration and documentation for international travel.

U.S. Department of State, Consular Services
Passports, visas and consulate information for U.S. citizens and citizens of foreign countries. Also includes information about international law and policy. To find out more information about traveling safely abroad visit the U.S. State Department Students Abroad page.