Visiting speaker wants academics to get comfortable with uncomfortable conversations
Helena Lamptey, PhD, MPhil
Nadia Sam-Agudu, MD, CTropMed, is an influential voice in global health and implementation science, and the WashU community can hear from her in person on Monday, April 21 at noon in Great Room B at the Eric P. Newman Education Center (EPNEC).
Her lecture, titled Uncomfortable Conversations in Global Health and Implementation Science will address themes from historical nomenclature to the lingering effects of colonialism and necessity of speaking out for what is right. "Uncomfortable conversations are necessary for conflict resolution and progress," Sam-Agudu asserts, aligning this belief with an ethos she's maintained throughout her career.
Born in Ghana, she spent her formative years in a household that encouraged curiosity and the pursuit of a wide base of knowledge, which deeply influenced her career trajectory. She obtained her BA degree in Interdisciplinary African Studies at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville and then completed medical training at Mayo Medical School. Subsequently, she completed both her pediatric residency and fellowship in pediatric infectious diseases at the University of Minnesota Medical School. She is now a Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Minnesota and Associate Dean of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for medical students underrepresented in medicine.
Throughout her career, Sam-Agudu has championed the need for open dialogue in academic settings, particularly in the diverse sphere of global health. She has been called a “double agent” because she has roots in the global South but lives and works in the global North, which puts her in a unique position to facilitate these dialogues. “Double agents like myself can call out or critique either side [global North or South] on an issue”, she argues, helping participants to better understand deep-rooted historical complexities.
Reflecting on the importance of addressing challenging topics, Sam-Agudu explains, "In academics, on any topic... we tend to avoid uncomfortable conversations. We avoid conflict resolution. Sometimes we don't avoid conflict as much as we avoid conflict resolution. And in order to have conflict resolution, uncomfortable conversations need to be had."
Sam-Agudu’s talk will be a dynamic and interactive session, where the audience will be invited to join in the uncomfortable yet essential discussions on decolonizing global health. Attendees are encouraged to reflect on their motivations for being in the field of global health, to examine their own biases against equity and justice. She invites participants to prepare by familiarizing themselves with some of her work on the topic, specifically the BMJ Global Health article she co-authored with Dhananjaya Sharma, Decolonising global health in the Global South by the Global South: turning the lens inward.
"I'm basically going to put the whole audience into one uncomfortable conversation that either they've had to a only a small degree or that they've avoided altogether... Many times when we say “decolonization”, we think only of global North vs global South, right? But there are so many other players and discussions we need to have."
Join us for what promises to be a compelling, challenging, and enlightening event. This is a unique opportunity to engage with one of the foremost thinkers in global health and to reflect on your own role in making the field more equitable.
Written by April Houston.