MUSC Center for Global Health announces 2026 Impact Grant awards advancing global partnerships

The Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) Center for Global Health awarded four College of Medicine faculty-led teams with 2026 Global Health Impact Grants, providing $15,000 in seed funding for projects designed to address pressing health issues in underserved communities across low- and middle-income countries.

But the grants are about more than funding – they are about building the foundation. Designed to catalyze new ideas and partnerships, the program supports early-stage initiatives that have the potential to grow into long-term, sustainable efforts. The emphasis is on collaboration: projects that bring together multidisciplinary teams, strengthen local health workforce capacity and develop innovative models that can be scaled and sustained over time.

From East and South Africa to Belize, global health projects led by MUSC faculty members are taking shape with a shared goal: to build stronger, more sustainable health systems through partnership. This year’s awardees reflect vision, spanning disciplines and regions while tackling a range of global health priorities that include cardiac care, maternal health, vision care, global surgery and emergency medicine systems.

The four awardees and their global health project titles include:

• Cole Buchanan, M.D., assistant professor, College of Medicine
  Project title: Peripartum Cardiomyopathy: Point of Care Cardiac Ultrasound Training and Education.
• James Hill, O.D., associate professor, College of Medicine
  Project Title: Building Sustainable Low Vision Rehabilitation Capacity in Belize through Clinical Training and Education.
• Kathryn Koval, M.D., assistant professor, College of Medicine
  Project Title: Every Second Counts: Building a Scalable Framework for Emergency Care in Rural Uganda.
• Mike Mallah, M.D., assistant professor, College of Medicine
  Project Title: Strengthening Bidirectional Surgical Education and Research Partnerships between MUSC and South Africa Through Faculty Engagement and Structured Collaboration.

Investing in scalable, partnership-driven solutions

Each initiative highlights a consistent approach: bidirectional engagement, where knowledge and expertise flow both ways, and solutions are built with partner communities. It’s a model that prioritizes long-term capacity over short-term intervention.

Improving maternal cardiac care in Tanzania

Cole Buchanan, M.D., will lead a project at Muhimbili National Hospital in Dar es Salaam focused on peripartum cardiomyopathy, a life-threatening condition affecting pregnant and postpartum patients.

His team will train maternal-fetal medicine providers to use point-of-care cardiac ultrasound, enabling faster diagnosis and treatment in settings where access to formal echocardiography is limited. The project also includes a virtual multidisciplinary education forum and analysis of existing patient registry data to inform future collaboration. The project addresses a clear high-burden clinical problem – delayed diagnosis due to limited access to echocardiography, which contributes to maternal morbidity and mortality.

“I am incredibly grateful to receive the MUSC Center for Global Health Impact Grant award,” Buchanan said. “We hope this project will be a step toward improving the cardiac care for pregnant women in Tanzania by equipping local doctors with the tools and knowledge needed to care for these complex patients. The Center for Global Health’s support is critical to the success of this project, and we cannot wait to get started.”

Expanding low-vision care in Belize

James Hill, O.D., will partner with the Belize Council for the Visually Impaired to strengthen low-vision rehabilitation services across Belize.

Through hands-on training, clinical mentorship and capacity-building initiatives, the project aims to equip local providers with the skills and tools needed to expand care for individuals with visual impairment. By focusing on education and knowledge transfer, the initiative seeks to build sustainable, locally driven expertise rather than relying on short-term outreach models. This project addresses the lack of low-vision rehabilitation services for more than 1,400 individuals on the national blind register, a critical gap in Belize’s healthcare system.

“I am thrilled that this project was chosen for the Global Health Impact Grant,” Hill said. “The visually impaired children of Belize will now have access to resources, devices, doctors and teachers that will allow them to succeed in life. The collaboration with the team at the Belize Council of Visual Impairment will allow us to train their doctors to provide these critical services across the entire country, targeting rural areas first.”

Strengthening emergency care systems in Uganda

Kathryn Koval, M.D., will lead a project in Uganda to improve emergency medicine readiness, particularly in rural settings.

Building on World Health Organization (WHO) assessment tools, Koval’s team will develop the Emergency Care Implementation Tool (ECIT) – a practical, consensus-based framework designed to help health leaders to translate identified system gaps into actionable, phased improvement plans.

“Over the past two years, we have built a collaborative, international team spanning five universities to develop an Emergency Care Implementation Tool,” Koval said. “This tool will translate WHO recommendations into a phased, contextually appropriate emergency medicine readiness plan to support medical directors in rural facilities throughout Uganda. A huge thank you to the Center for Global Health for making this work possible.”

Advancing global surgery collaboration in South Africa

Mike Mallah, M.D., will expand MUSC’s global surgery partnerships in South Africa, including collaborations with Stellenbosch University.

His project focuses on building a sustainable, bidirectional surgical education and research partnership, with structured faculty engagement, new residency training opportunities and a formalized institutional partnership. The initiative aims to move beyond short-term exchanges toward long-term, equitable collaboration across multiple surgical specialties.

“Our Global Surgery Program is thrilled to accelerate our momentum with the backing of the CGH Impact Grant,” Mallah said. “This support will strengthen our bilateral relationship with our South African partner by including more departments, faculty, residents and students. In the long term, together we will improve the health care of South Carolinians and South Africans alike.”