SCOPE 2026 winter Newsletter
First three Left-to-right: SCOPE Fellows: Bewuketu Terefe, Blaine Mengistu-Gunn & Brooke Erickson
scope FELLOWS ADVANCE PARTNERSHIPS & MENTAL HEALTH WORK
In 2025, SCOPE Fellows played a key role in strengthening partnerships, advancing global health initiatives in Ethiopia, and supporting leadership development. The fellows collaborated across institutions and countries, combining academic experience with community-based engagement.
2026 Fellows: Introducing the 2025-26 SCOPE fellows
Two University of Washington (UW) SCOPE Fellows have been named for 2025-26: Marin Strong and Meron Girma. Marin and Meron bring strong backgrounds in global health and community-engaged research, contributing expertise in maternal health, HIV, and health equity. Marin Strong, a community health nurse and PhD candidate, and Meron Girma, a first-year medical student.
Kavya Kumar, SCOPE Student Assistant
Introducing SCOPE STUDENT ASSISTANT: KAVYA KUMAR
Kavya Kumar is the new SCOPE Student Assistant and an undergraduate public health student at the University of Washington. As a student assistant, she supports program operations, communications, and event coordination. She is interested in global health equity, community-based interventions, and health systems, and is also conducting undergraduate research in immunology.
SCOPE Board & Staff Updates
2026 brings a number of changes and news for the SCOPE Board and Staffing. We are excited to share that Dr. Dieudonne Hakizimana has been awarded a grant from the UW Global Innovation Fund to support his post‑LAUNCH assessment for sustaining faith leader–led initiative to improve newborn and infant health in Ethiopia and inform long-term scale-up efforts. Meet new board members, Dieudonne Hakizimana and Hiwot Weldemariam. We give our thanks to Brian Jacobsen for serving as SCOPE Treasurer for many years and to David Citrin for his time as SCOPE Managing Director.