UB hosts international delegation in public health exchange

Health professionals from Central and South America, visiting the School of Public Health and Health Professions as part of the International Institute of Buffalo-U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program, pose for a photo with UB faculty and staff. Photo: Courtesy of the School of Public Health and Health Professions.

Health professionals from Central and South America, visiting the School of Public Health and Health Professions as part of the International Institute of Buffalo-U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program, pose for a photo with UB faculty and staff. Photo: Courtesy of the School of Public Health and Health Professions

By GRACE LAZZARA

Published November 6, 2025

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They came to the School of Public Health and Health Professions from Central and South America, ready with translators and big questions.

Part of the International Institute of Buffalo-U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program, the group of 11 health professionals was scheduled to travel the United States for three weeks looking for insights and innovations for pressing public health issues throughout their regions.

SPHHP’s Office of Global Health Initiatives (OGHI) on Oct. 10 hosted the visitors and their three translators, who came from organizations like Argentina’s Ministry of Health, Fundacion Salud Integral de Guatemala and the Peruvian Army General Health Command. Their goal while in Buffalo was to gather information on:

  • Integrating public health infrastructure across urban and rural settings.
  • Addressing health challenges through academic-community partnerships.
  • Local and state coordination to strengthen infectious disease response.
  • The importance of expanding access to preventive care.

Lina Mu, professor of epidemiology and environmental health and OGHI director, welcomed the group and kicked off an expansive discussion of how UB’s public health school integrates multidisciplinary, community-based research, international partnerships and student engagement to develop sustainable solutions to complex public health challenges.

Questions from the visitors ranged from how UB prioritizes the community projects it’s involved in and what training students receive before they take on field work, to issues related to specific research topics.

For instance, Alina Catia Herrera Huarancca, international cooperation specialist from Peru’s Ministry of Health, mentioned that her home city of Lima has 10 million residents and issues with water quality. How, she asked, are UB researchers determining the direct relationship of water to health? Josh Miller, a new faculty member in SPHHP’s Center for Climate Change and Health Equity, referenced his current research in Peru on understanding how infrastructure issues affect water insecurity.

Other SPHHP and School of Nursing faculty members outlined other areas of research, including environmental health, infectious diseases and more, as well as community initiatives, like the new mobile units Health on Wheels and the Seneca Babcock Food Pantry, run by public health faculty members and students.

In closing the agenda, Jennifer Foster, OGHI assistant director who handled logistics for the meeting, asked the group if they would be Interested in future collaborations. That question met with a resounding, “Yes!”