Looking Forward in Healthcare at SNHUs 4th Annual Global Summit

On Oct. 8, 2024, Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU) held its fourth annual Global Summit — a free, virtual opportunity for nurses and healthcare professionals to learn from global leaders in the field while earning valuable contact hours.

“This summit brings together experts, educators and innovators from around the world to share knowledge and spark meaningful conversations on how we can collectively respond to the challenges of our time,” said Dr. Stacey Rosenberg, associate chief nursing administrator at SNHU.

With over two decades of experience in higher education, Rosenberg has also worked in skilled care, acute care and public health. As a co-creator of an award-winning experiential learning model, Higher Education and Real-World Training (HEaRT), Rosenberg understands the value of training and development in nursing.

She said each presentation at the summit explores a critical topic in global healthcare, education and leadership, centered around an annual theme. 

All nursing and health professionals are invited to attend each year, according to Dr. Pam Varhol, EdD, RHIA, including faculty, staff and students. Varhol is a senior associate dean at SNHU overseeing public health and community health education and former president of the Twin State Health Information Management Association (TSHIMA).

“Professionals are welcome from organizations from around the world,” she said. In fact, this year's event saw enrollments from 39 different countries.

A Focus on the Future

The theme of this year’s summit was “Safeguarding Our Future: Empowering Communities for Global Health Protection.”

“Our theme this year reflects the need for forward-thinking approaches in an ever-evolving global landscape,” Rosenberg said.

According to Dr. Lisa Bechok, a nursing clinical faculty member at SNHU, certified nurse educator and Clint Jones New Hampshire Nurse of the Year Award recipient, the event had three core objectives:

• Exploring strategies to advance well-being and health equity
• Identifying community approaches to expand access to affordable healthcare
• Introducing transformative new tools and technologies for global health

The summit provided six presentations, beginning with a topic that’s been of great relevance across the globe since 2020.

Promoting Pandemic Preparedness

The event kicked off with a keynote presentation, “Preventing the Next Pandemic” by Dr. Devi Sridhar, a professor, chair and head of the Global Health Governance program at the University of Edinburgh Medical School. Sridhar holds a PhD from the University of Oxford and served several governments as an advisor during the COVID-19 pandemic. She’s also the author of “Preventable,” a best-selling book about pandemic prevention.

Sridhar spoke about the chain of preparedness and response and steps that can be taken to control future events of concern. She also discussed the fight against misinformation and disinformation during the pandemic and the value of the education that healthcare and public health workers can provide to communities during emergencies.

She emphasized the need to collaborate during such emergencies — not only as individuals, but as nations. “We can’t manage this in isolation,” Sridhar said. “We have to work together.”

Other Topics Explored

There were five other sessions on various topics related to this year's forward-thinking theme:

• “Promoting and Enabling Healthier Communities through Environmental Action”
  
  Dr. Katie Huffling is executive director of the Alliance of Nurses for Nursing Organizations with the Alliance of Nurses for Health Environments (ANHE), where Cara Cook also works as director of programs. The pair spoke about how nurses can act as leaders in the areas of clean air and water, climate change, planetary health and hospital sustainability.
  
  
• “Dahlmann-Body-Analysis System: Presentation of the Concept”
  
  While you’ve likely heard of Body Mass Index (BMI), this session by Dr. Nicolaus Dahlmann introduced a new model to assess body composition — the Dahlmann-Body-Analysis (DBA) system. Born in Germany, Dalhmann worked as a consultant in laboratory medicine before becoming the head of a hospital laboratory in Hamburg. He said the DBA model is more accurate than the BMI on an individual basis and has potential for clinical use.
  
  
• “Ghana Xchange Volunteer Organization"
  
  A registered public health nurse in Ghana, Theresah Agyemant is director of the Ghana Xchange Volunteer Organization, a nonprofit organization which welcomes volunteers from all over the world to offer aid to distressed communities in Ghana. Agyemant introduced the organization and its various programs, initiatives and focuses, from community outreach to disease control.
  
  
• “The Nurse’s Role in Childhood Drowning Prevention”
  
  Drowning is the leading cause of death for children between one and four years old, according to the Center of Disease Control (CDC). In this session, Christine Johnson, a nurse in the cardiac progressive care unit at John Muir Health in California, shared how nurses can play a role in preventing childhood drownings by identifying risk factors and educating families about water safety.
  
  
• “Transformative Leadership: Essential to Address Health Inequities”
  
  In the summit’s final session, Dr. Guenevere Burke and Rose Mary Nakame spoke about the Atlantic Fellows for Health Equity (AFHE) program, which equips future leaders in the field with skills to address inequalities in healthcare. Director and co-founder of AFHE, Burke is a board-certified emergency physician. Nakame is a senior AFHE fellow and the recipient of several awards including the 2022 Global Heroines of Health Award.

Advantages of Attending

SNHU is an accredited provider of nursing continuing education, and participation in the Global Summit offered the opportunity to earn 3.75 contact hours.

The summit allows you to learn about important and relevant issues in healthcare directly from leaders within the field, offering the opportunity to ask questions after each session. And according to Rosenberg, the event was created to inspire you to create change. 

“Sessions are designed to provide actionable insights that we can take away to our own organizations and communities,” she said. The goal is for participants to gain knowledge related to approaches to transform global health.

If you missed out on participating live, you can view a recording of this year's sessions. Here's what some attendees had to say:

• “I was very motivated by the presentations”
• “I’ve learned and gained so much insight about empowering communities”
• "[The conference] reinforced that our world health needs to continue to be addressed”

So, if you’re looking to learn about emerging ideas and innovations in global health, consider participating in next year's Global Summit on Oct. 14, 2025 — a virtual and free opportunity to do just that.

Mars Girolimon '21 '23G is a staff writer at Southern New Hampshire University where they earned their bachelor's and master's, both in English and creative writing. In addition to their work in higher education, Girolimon's short fiction is published in the North American Review, So It Goes by The Kurt Vonnegut Museum & Library, X-R-A-Y and more. They're currently writing their debut novel, which was Longlisted for The First Pages Prize. Connect with them on LinkedIn.