Events
You're Invited to the
2026 NC Global
Health Conference
AI for Global Health:
Shaping the Future through
People-Centered Innovation
Friday, November 6, 2026 | Durham NC
Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming the way health services are delivered around the world, creating new opportunities to expand access, improve quality, and strengthen health systems. Join leaders from across academia, industry, government, and the nonprofit sector to explore how people-centered AI is being applied in practice, and what it will take to ensure these innovations improve health outcomes for all.
Save the date: October 30 a 12:00 pm ET. All conference attendees will be invited to join us for a special pre-conference Networking 101 webinar.
Date
Friday,
November 6, 2026
Time
8:30 am - 3:00 pm ET
Location
North Carolina Central University, Durham NC
Meet the Speakers
Scroll down for our Poster Presenters!
Stephen Albright, MBA
Founder & CEO, Aphasia GPT
Helen Armstrong, MFA, MA, MA
Director, MGXD Program & Professor of Graphic & Experience Design, NCSU
Amanda BenDor, MPH
Senior Digital Health Advisor, World Bank Group
Jerry Bloomfield, MD, MPH, FACC, FASE, FAHA
Board Chair, NCGHA |
Assoc. Director for Research, Duke Global Health Institute
Phaedra Boinodiris, MBA
IBM Consulting's Global Leader for Responsible AI | Co-Founder, Future World Alliance
Kandyce Brennan, DNP, CNM
Associate Professor, UNC-CH School of Nursing | Macy Faculty Fellow
Robert Chew, MS
Fellow, Senior Research Data Scientist, RTI International
Justy Antony Chiramal, MBBS, MD, MS, DTMH
Senior Clinical Director: Global Health, Qure.ai
Brianna Clarke-Schwelm, MPH
Executive Director, North Carolina Global Health Alliance
Congresswoman Valerie Foushee
US Representative for North Carolina’s 4th Congressional District
Siobahn Day Grady, PhD, MS, MS
Founding Director, Institute of Artificial Intelligence and Emerging Research, NCCU
Bethany Hedt-Gauthier, PhD
AI Advisor, Partners in Health | Professor, UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health
Eric Green, PhD, MA, MA
Director of Undergraduate Studies, Duke Global Health Institute
Chris LeGrand, MS
Managing Partner, Indelible Partners
Katherine Lew, MPH
Chief Data Officer, BAO Systems
Daniel Messer, MS
Chief Digital and Information Technology Transformation Officer, FHI 360
Sonia Napravnik, PhD, MPH
Associate CFAR Core Director, UNC Institute for Global Health & Infectious Diseases
Nick Pearson, MBA
Founder & Co-Executive Director, Jacaranda
Agenda
8:30 - 9:00 am | Registration
Exhibitors + Poster Presentations
9:00 - 9:30 am | Welcome
- Brianna Clarke-Schwelm, NCGHA
- Dr. Jerry Bloomfield, NCGHA & Duke Global Health Institute
- Congresswoman Valerie Foushee, NC-04
- Siobahn Day Grady, NCCU
9:30 - 10:00 am | Opening Keynote
From Rwanda to North Carolina: Making AI Work for Equity
- Bethany Hedt-Gauthier, Partners in Health & UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health
10:00 - 10:50 am | Panel Discussion
Building AI for Health: Data, Design, and Equity
- Eric Green, Duke Global Health Institute | Moderator
- Helen Armstrong, NCSU
- Kandyce Brennan, UNC-CH School of Nursing
- Robert Chew, RTI International
10:50 - 11:15 am | Break
Exhibitors + Poster Presentations
11:15 - 12:00 pm | Partner Discussion
AI in the Real World: Partnership Lessons in Action
- Chris LeGrand, Indelible Partners | Moderator
- Justy Chiramal, Qure.ai
- Daniel Messer, FHI 360
12:00 - 1:00 pm | Lunch
Exhibitors + Poster Presentations
1:00 - 1:15 pm | A Human + AI Story
Still Rewiring
- Stephen Albright, Aphasia GPT
1:15 - 2:05 pm | Panel Discussion
Putting AI to Work: Implementation, Adoptions, and Impact
- Amanda BenDor, World Bank Group | Moderator
- Katherine Lew, BAO Systems
- Sonia Napravnik, UNC IGHID
- Nick Pearson, Jacaranda
2:05 - 2:50 pm | Closing Keynote Address
AI for the Rest of Us
- Phaedra Boinodiris, IBM Consulting
2:50 - 3:00 pm | Thank You
- Brianna Clarke-Schwelm, NCGHA
Poster Presentations
1. David Agor, DNP, PhD, PMHNP-BC;
Duke School of Medicine
"Translating Resilience from the Global South to the Rural North: An Equitable Framework for AI-Supported Mental Health Care"
2. Brenda Amezquita-Castro & Erin Dobbins;
UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health & Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing
"From Disease Control to Patient Health Experiences: A Human-Guided AI Approach to Advance People-Centered Public Health Innovations"
3. Marina Bedrous;
UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health
"Beyond Clinical Risk: Integrating Social Determinants of Health into Electronic Health Records to Improve Cardiovascular Disease Prevention and Management in
Cairo, Egypt"
4. Viktor Burlaka, LMSW, PhD;
UNC Greensboro
"Burnout among Mental Health Providers in the Ukrainian Armed Forces: Association with Coping Strategies and Traumatic Experience"
5. Lindsey Cobb;
Duke Global Health Institute
"Development of serological methods for evaluating individual exposure to 'Anopheles' mosquito bites"
6. Mary Ann Fahmy;
Duke Global Health Institute
"Factors Associated with Treatment Success After Incarceration: A Systematic Review"
7. Raj Gadre, MBA;
Kennovation AI Labs, Inc.
"Surgicala AI: Intelligent Surgery, Empowered Surgeons"
8. Zarindokht Helforoush;
Florida Institute of Technology
"From Routine CT to Precision Health: AI-Enabled Lung Cancer Risk Stratification Without Additional Testing"
9. Xulei Huang;
Duke University
"Putting Diagnostic Innovation into Practice: A Qualitative Process Evaluation of the RAPID Trial at University Malaya Medical Centre, Malaysia"
10. Mohamed Jaber, PhD;
Florida Institute of Technology
"Beyond Stage: Multimodal ML using Routine CT and Clinical Data for Personalized Lung Cancer Risk Assessment"
11. Cyndy Keener, MSN, RN, NPD-BC;
Duke University School of Nursing
"Preparing Those Who Lead: Evaluating Clinical Instructor Readiness for Nursing Global Clinical Immersion Experiences"
12. Kristen Lilley, MPH;
Medicines for Humanity
"MHPSS and Microlearning Pilot: CHW Capacity Building in the Dominican Republic"
13. Yuuna Miura;
Duke Global Health Institute
"Understanding Abandonment of Cancer Care for Children in Tanzania: Demographic Factors, Clinical Characteristics, and Costs"
14. Samantha Morinville;
UNC School of Nursing
"Beyond the Numbers: Centering Malawian Nurses and Midwives in Workforce Wellbeing Innovation"
15. Akua Owusu;
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
"Home-based surgical site infection diagnostics in rural Rwanda: how image quality affects AI algorithm performance"
16. Liam Powell;
UNC Gillings School of Global Public Health
"From Surveillance to Personal Health Insight: Using Generative AI to Rapidly Prototype People-Centered Public Health Tools"
17. Peyton Pretsch;
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
"Meeting People Where Their Pets Are: A One Health Approach to Lyme Disease Testing"
18. Emma Roberts;
UNC School of Medicine
"Healing the Whole Worker: Behavioral Health Engagement and Diabetes Control Among Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Workers"
19. Emma Sell-Goodhand, MPH;
North Carolina State University
"Leveraging Digital Technology to Support Family-Based Sex Education"
20. Alcade Fabrice Uwonkunda;
Duke Global Health Institute
"A Maturity Roadmap for AI Adoption in LMIC Health Systems: A framework that measures robustness, equity, impact, and sustainability."
21. Audrey Yao, MPH;
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
"Building Capacity for Artificial Intelligence in Global Health: Evaluation of a Short Course Across Seven Low- and Middle-Income Countries and the United States"
22. Chenyang Zhang;
Duke Global Health Institute
"Urinary Malondialdehyde as a Biomarker of Oxidative Stress in a Mongolian Air Pollution Panel Study"
23. Annie Zhu & Ni Xiong;
Duke Global Health Institute
"Scaling AI-Enabled Healthcare Delivery in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: Financing and Policy Lessons from Six GHIG-9 Innovators"
Thank you to our sponsors!
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