Dr. Latha Ganti Stead receives prestigious Fulbright Scholar grant
Latha Ganti Stead, MD, MS, MBA, FACEP has been awarded the prestigious Fulbright Scholar Teaching Award to teach in the International Public Health sector. She will be posted in Andhra Pradesh, India. Her project is entitled “Strategy & Innovation in Clinical Research for the Global Health Era.” Dr. Stead notes “It is a myth that good clinical research requires unlimited resources. Rather, well-designed projects with sound data collection and abstracting methods are actually quite economical, and can lead to paradigm shifts in healthcare.”
Her introductory lecture is entitled “Clinical Research-why should you care?” Its title reflects two travesties. One, many students in the health sciences place little value on the science of discovery, viewing themselves more as providers of care. Two, they view research as being filled with insurmountable obstacles, and thus “too hard.” In doing so, they are depriving themselves, the patients they care for, and the students they teach, a wealth of knowledge that can directly impact care of the individual patient and ultimately global health. Thus, the lecture starts out with “the Troponin story.” Dr. Stead presents a case of a 45-year-old man clutching his chest in pain. He is overweight,smokes, and has hypertension. She asks her students what is the one test that every single one of them would order. The answer, “troponin” is unanimous. That’s the jumping point. She then asks them how, was it discovered? Once she tells them the simple but elegant project that led to its use in clinical practice, they are hooked. To this end, Dr. Stead will be conducting two formal courses: 1) Foundations of Clinical and Translational Research and 2) Critical Appraisal of the Literature to Enhance Global Health Initiatives.
As a Fulbright grantee, Dr. Stead joins the ranks of distinguished participants in the Program. Fulbright alumni have become heads of state, judges, ambassadors, cabinet ministers, CEOs, university presidents, journalists, artists, professors and teachers. They have been awarded 43 Nobel Prizes. Since its inception more than 60 years ago, approximately 300,000 Fulbrighters have participated in the Program.
Developing international understanding requires a commitment on the part of Fulbright grantees to establish open communication and long-term cooperative relationships. In that way, Fulbrighters enrich the educational, political, economic, social and cultural lives of countries around the world. Fulbrighters demonstrate the qualities of service, excellence and leadership that have been the hallmarks of this Program for more than 60 years. The principal purpose of the Fulbright Program is to increase mutual understanding between the people of the United States and the people of the more than 150 countries that currently participate in the Fulbright Program. The operations of this program throughout the world is overseen by the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs of the United States Department of State and administered by the Council for International Exchange of Scholars.
Dr. Stead has a track record of scholarship. She is a published scholar with over 270 scientific abstracts and manuscripts, and 21 books. Indeed, one of the talks she frequently gives at national and international meetings is entitled: “Get Published Now!” Her numerous awards include the ACEP National Faculty Teaching award, the first EMRA Mentorship Award, the Mayo Medical school excellence in teaching, and the American Medical Association Young Physicians Section Award for Community Service.
Dr. Stead has been a loyal member of organized medicine since she was a medical student. She has served on several committees for the Society of Academic Emergency Medicine, the American College of Emergency Physicians, and the American Medical Association. She is an active member of the American Academy of Neurology and the Neurocritical Care Society. Dr. Stead is also is the founding Editor-in-Chief for the International Journal of Emergency Medicine.
Dr. Stead is Professor of Emergency Medicine and Neurological Surgery at the University of Florida College of Medicine, and Chief of Clinical Research in EM. She holds the Toral Family Foundation Endowed Professorship in Traumatic Brain Injury and is the Founding Director for the Center for Brain Injury Research and Education at UF.
