From families to communities, Tulane program builds global collaborations

The Celia Scott Weatherhead School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine builds a culture of innovation through the sharing of ideas. A recent international collaboration created through a U.S. government award seems certain to continue that tradition.

Last fall, Tulane University hosted Dr. Aleksandar Stevanovic, a professional fellow from the University of Belgrade’s Institute of Social Medicine, as part of the U.S. Department of State’s Professional Fellows Program (PFP), administered by the American Councils for International Education.

The PFP is an international exchange designed to foster institutional partnerships between emerging leaders from Europe and Eurasia and their counterparts in the United States.

During his month-long fellowship at Tulane, Stevanovic engaged closely with the Mary Amelia Center for Women's Health Equity Research (MAC) under the supervision of Kelli Stidham Hall, co-director of MAC and the school's associate dean of research. Stevanovic contributed his public health background and research expertise while building meaningful professional relationships across campus and the broader New Orleans community.

“The experience was amazing,” Stevanovic said. “Of course, it's a professional fellowship, but it's also cultural. Exchange is one of the pillars. They really expect us to be involved, to get to know our host institution, but also the local community.”

Caitlin Moore, a senior program manager for MAC, and Stevanovic submitted the exchange proposal that was selected for funding: “From Families to Communities: U.S.-Serbia Academic Partnership to Advance Maternal Health and Family Well-Being.”

After identifying and securing the opportunity, Moore worked closely with Stevanovic to co-design the goals and activities of the fellowship.

Several elements of each country’s work in health care were identified as converging areas, where lessons and practices learned in one community could be applied to the other. Shared challenges included resource distribution, combating workforce burnout, community engagement, addressing health disparities, and developing more home health care for women and families.

“We are sharing the same challenges, and since our healthcare systems obviously are very different, we are approaching the problems differently,” Stevanovic said. “But this is exactly the value of an exchange. We get to learn from each other, from certain frameworks and solutions that we're trying to implement.”

Both Moore and Stevanovic pointed toward a specific example to illustrate the value of such collaborations: doulas. Louisiana and Serbia have similar challenges of delivering in-home care for new mothers, yet each place has different methods they employ to address those challenges.

“So, I was very interested in learning more about doulas, as this is a concept we didn’t necessarily develop in Serbia,” Stevanovic said. “In my country, the practice involves trained home visiting nurses who provide preventive and supportive services for women who have given birth, but the thing is we have a deficit of health workers, nurses included. So, now there is a big question of how to do more with less, and doulas are intriguing.”

The project developed by Moore and Stevanovic, with support from Hall and the MAC team, will mean continued collaboration in the form of a reciprocal exchange in Serbia.

A two-day symposium held in Serbia in July will bring together members of the Tulane community, New Orleans practitioners, and their Serbian counterparts to address emerging challenges in maternal and child health, best practices, and similarities. Several members of the Tulane community — including Moore — will attend the symposium.

This next phase of the program will provide an environment for all parties to craft joint programming, exchange information, and build capacity.

“I think that given the similarities between Louisiana and Serbia, it is very fruitful for a long-term partnership, both with our existing aligned research interests in maternal health and with other coexisting research interests we haven’t fully explored yet, such as tropical medicine,” Moore said.

Those interested in attending the symposium virtually or learning more can reach out to Moore at cmoore26@tulane.edu or Stevanovic at aleksandar.stevanovic@med.bg.ac.rs.