Friday, May 6, 2011

Why We Do What We Do: Leslie Curry

Leslie Curry, a research scientist at the Yale Global Health Leadership Institute, offers “great excitement” and a, “real commitment to be involved” to GHLI. As she says, “There is never a dull moment!”

In recent months, Curry has been quite busy -- her research that uncovered why acute myocardial infarction mortality rates vary across hospitals was published in the Annals of Internal Medicine unleashing a flurry of media attention. “This [media coverage] is the best we can hope for as researchers -- to catch the attention of the people who can use our evidence to actually make a difference in the quality of health care.”

Curry and Betsy Bradley, faculty director of the GHLI, have been collaborating on key global health research for nearly 20 years. Together, they focus on research and teaching in health care delivery and quality improvement in the U.S. Betsy's project with the hospital management initiative in Ethiopia exposed Curry first hand to positive global health programming and sparked Curry to get more involved in the global health realm.

“The more I became involved in global health issues, the more I wanted to contribute to research and teaching in international settings,” says Curry. “I have always had a strong interest in applied policy research and program evaluation, primarily in the U.S, and felt that these skills might be useful in other settings.”

Bradley and Curry are currently working on a project with other Yale faculty from diverse backgrounds that focuses on integrating insights from military action and management of states to global health. This project has already generated a positive student response, a vital component to GHLI’s success.

“I feel incredibly lucky to be able to contribute in some small way to the mission of GHLI,” adds Curry. “I am constantly learning from the amazing GHLI team around me.”

Amanda Sorrentino, GHLI Intern