Many people around the world suffer from enormous health inequities, and there is increasing recognition that the conventional way of educating health workers is part of the problem.
In December 2008, a group of innovative health workforce educators met to share experiences and explore collaboration with the aim to increase the impact of academic institutions on community health and the development of more equitable health systems.
Located in underserved and rural regions of Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas and Australia, the founding members of THEnet: Training for Health Equity Network came together through a research project that sought out innovators identifying successful educational and institutional strategies to reduce health inequities and workforce shortages in marginalized communities.
THEnet envisions a world of healthy, vibrant communities where all people attain the highest level of health. THEnet and its partners contribute to greater health equity through transformative health workforce education, research, and service based on the principles of equity, social accountability, and community engagement.
We work with change-makers and educators to engage with communities experiencing health inequities and apply an equity and social determinants lens. These approaches put people and communities at the core of health and education policies.
We center priorities from communities underserved by current systems. By sharing evidence, insights and practical examples, we help shape better health and education systems
Through meaningful relationships, we yield co-created, innovative solutions for building healthy, resilient, and sustainable communities.
We transform thinking on how to measure success of health workforce education institutions, by tracking how they meet the needs of the systems and communities they serve.
We cultivate collaborations across disciplines, sectors, countries, and communities. Together, we’re on a mission to find solutions that tackle health inequities, worsened by social factors and climate change.
Board Chair
Kathy Cahill, MPH is a leader in global health with experience in policy and strategy development, monitoring and evaluation, relationship management and program development and implementation
Board Member
Board Member
Founder/President of Global Health-Systems-Philanthropy and a professional nurse, Dr DeLuca held clinical, teaching and management roles in critical care and top leadership positions in large affiliated medical centers.
Board Member
Dr Sarah Larkins is an experienced research leader, general practitioner and Dean, College of Medicine and Dentistry, James Cook University in Australia, comprising disciplines of Medicine, Dentistry, Pharmacy, Public Health and Tropical Medicine and Biomedicine and Molecular Cell Biology.
Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder of THEnet
Co-Founder of THEnet and Volunteer Senior Director, Research and Programs
Dr. Neusy, THEnet’s co-founder, is an honorary associate professor of medicine at the NYU School of Medicine, where he co-founded and directed the Center for Global Health.
Director of Programs
Administrator
Building on THEnet’s existing online resource center on health equity, social accountability, and health system strengthening, we are partnering with NOSM University’s Dr. Gilles Arcand Centre for Health Equity on the CREATE Project (Community-Engaged Research, Education, Advocacy, and system Transformation to advance health Equity). Together, we are also co-developing an open-access repository of social accountability research materials to empower researchers to create and strengthen socially accountable research networks and projects.
Dr. Dharamsi currently serves as the Dean of the College of Public Health at the University of North Texas Health Science Center. With 25 years of experience, he brings an interdisciplinary background and extensive international and community development experience as an educator, scholar, and administrator.
Dr. Dharamsi’s academic journey began in Canada, where he earned an interdisciplinary PhD from the University of British Columbia (UBC) and achieved tenure in the Department of Family Medicine. He also co-directed the UBC Center for International Health.
His work is at the intersection of public health, medical humanities, global health, ethics, and the social determinants of health.
Born in Tanzania, Dr. Dharamsi is a first-generation high school and college graduate. He is deeply committed to student success. He began his career as an inner-city schoolteacher.
His career includes leadership roles as regional director for early childhood development and poverty alleviation in East Africa with the Aga Khan Development Network, founding associate dean of the School of Osteopathic Medicine at the University of the Incarnate Word in San Antonio, dean of the College of Health Sciences at the University of Texas at El Paso, and senior advisor to the provost at New Mexico State University.
Dedicated to advancing public health, Dr. Dharamsi actively serves on the boards of several national and international organizations, including the ASPPH Global Engagement and Partnerships Advisory Committee.
Charlie Labarda, MD, PhD, is a Professor of Medicine and Dean of the School of Health Sciences at the University of the Philippines Manila (UPM-SHS), where he has taught for more than a decade. He is a regular member of the National research Council of the Philippines, belonging to the Medical Sciences Division (Division III). Before joining the medical faculty at UPM-SHS he trained in at the Department of Family and Community Medicine at the Philippine General Hospital. He finished his PhD in the Department of Psychology at The University of Hong Kong, his Master in Development Management from the Asian Institute of Management (high honors), Doctor of Medicine (cum laude) at the Our Lady of Fatima University-College of Medicine, and his undergraduate Social Sciences studies (cum laude) at UP Tacloban College. He was a topnotcher in the Physician Licensure Examination (8th place).
He served as the Unit Faculty Representative to the All UP Academic Employees Union-Manila Chapter. He is also part of the UPM-SHS core faculty for the Leadership and Development Program (LDP) capacitating local chief executives (governors and mayors) in strengthening their health systems to achieve the goals of universal health care and sustainable development goals (SDGs) of the Philippine government. He also volunteers as civil society partner of DSWD in its 4Ps Program as Vice-Chairperson for the National Independent Monitoring Committee (NIMC). He also helps in various DOH and WHO projects in line with his advocacies around medical education, health equity, disaster public health, resilient and healthy communities, and mental health especially in low resource settings. Recently he became part of the Data Science for Public Policy Working Group based at the UP Center for Integrative and Development Studies (UP-CIDS), promoting the use of data science for public policy.
