Global Health Equity & Wellness: Towards maternal and newborn health equity in Ethiopia through novel, resource-appropriate device solutions
Gleason will present novel biomedical devices aimed at early assessment of risk of cephalopelvic disproportion (CPD) and preeclampsia (PE) in pregnant women.
Speaker: Rudy Gleason, Professor, George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering
Abstract: For someone raised in the US, the statistics that quantify health inequalities around the world are difficult to comprehend. For example, in 2009, 1 in 11 children in Ethiopia died before their 5th birthday and 1 in 146 women died due to pregnancy complications. These statistics became personal to Dr. Gleason when, in 2009, his daughter Kennedy, whom he and his wife were adopting from Ethiopia, passed away before we could bring her home. This loss birthed in him a newfound passion to help address global health equity and wellness, that has reshaped his research, teaching, and service activities. Maternal and neonatal mortality rates in Ethiopia are among the highest in the world. In this talk, Dr. Gleason will present some of his recent research toward development of novel biomedical devices aimed at early assessment of risk of cephalopelvic disproportion (CPD) and preeclampsia (PE) in pregnant women in Ethiopia and pilot results for using a wearable device for continuous monitoring of neonates, during the first 7 days of life, in an Ethiopian Neonatal Intensive Care Unit setting. Dr. Gleason will also share his vision as the new initiative lead for Global Health Equity and Wellness in IPaT.
Bio: Rudy Gleason is a professor in the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering and the Wallace H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering, the Faculty Director for the Global Leadership Living-Learning Community, and the Global Health Equity and Wellness Initiative Lead at the Institute for People and Technology at Georgia Tech. Dr. Gleason’s research program has two key and distinct research aims. The first research aim is to quantify the link between biomechanics, mechanobiology, and tissue growth and remodeling in diseases of the vasculature and other soft tissues. The second research aim is to translate engineering innovation to combat global health disparities and foster sustainable development in low-resource settings around the world.
---
IPaT's fall 2024 lunch lecture calendar and lecture/talk (day of) streaming info can be found here: https://research.gatech.edu/ipat/lunch-lectures.
The IPaT: GVU Lunch Lecture Series is free and features guest speakers presenting on topics related to people-centered technologies and their impact on society. Lunch is provided at 12:00 p.m. and the talks begin at 12:30 p.m. Join us weekly or watch video replays.
