The OGE was proud to welcome six Fulbright scholars from Jordan this month who are here for the UNMC Fulbright Faculty Development Program. All are assistant professors with backgrounds in medicine, pharmacy, nursing, and marine biology. They come from five Jordanian universities: Al-Zaytoonah University of Jordan, Jordan University of Science and Technology, the University of Jordan, Amman, the University of Jordan, Aqaba, and Yarmouk University. Their research interests range from neurodegenerative diseases including Alzheimer’s Disease and diabetes mellitus; and molecular studies of the complement system in health and disease, psychiatric mental health nursing, nanomedicine, nanoparticles, and their genetic toxicity. The scholars are also interested in academic teaching.This UNMC Fulbright Faculty Development Program focuses on One Health and will last for 10 weeks from June 20 through August 31. This program has three goals:
- Expand the scholars’ capacity to help advance higher education in their home country.
- Improve cross-cultural understanding between the U.S. and Jordan.
- Foster institutional linkages between their home institutions and UNMC.
"It is a great honor and success for UNMC to host such a large group of Fulbright scholars. It is a very competitive grant application process, and only one U.S. university is selected each year to host a group under the public health domain," said Fulbright Scholar Program principal investigator, Wael ElRayes, MBBCh, PhD. Additionally, the Fulbright Program is the flagship of international educational exchange programs sponsored by the U.S. government and one of the world’s most recognized and prestigious academic awards. This program is designed to increase mutual understanding between the United States and the people of other countries. Both of those criteria align perfectly with the high quality and global interests of UNMC.There are more than 70 faculty, staff, organizational and community leaders participating in this program from UNMC, UNL, UNO, UN Central Administration, the University of Nebraska Foundation, Creighton University, the Douglas County Health Department, and the Nebraska State Health Department. Others include Africa CDC, the American College of Healthcare Executives, the Nebraska Fulbright Chapter, the Omaha Chamber of Commerce, OneWorld Health, the Salvation Army, and many more.This specially designed program was made possible through strong collaboration between the UNMC College of Public Health and the Office of Global Engagement."This is an excellent chance to inform our faculty, students, and staff about the Fulbright program and the great opportunities it offers. It is also a great opportunity to build sustainable relationships between UNMC and the Jordanian universities," said ElRayes.