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Global innovation takes center stage at Rice as undergraduate teams tackle health inequities

Rice University

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Students show off their prototypes at the Rice360 Institute for Global Health Technologies’ 15th annual Undergraduate Design Competition (Photo by Jeff Fitlow/Rice University).

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Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University.

At the Rice360 Institute for Global Health Technologies’ 15th annual Undergraduate Design Competition, the future of global health innovation was on full display.

Rice University welcomed 22 student teams from 18 universities across eight countries, both in-person and virtually, to present affordable, practical solutions designed to improve health care in low-resource settings at the April 11 event.

Far from just another student competition, the event serves as a global stage where future engineers, scientists and public health leaders come together to address some of the world’s most urgent health care challenges.

The projects on display showcased creativity, technical skill and a deep commitment to solving global health issues. Teams presented lifesaving innovations, including a neonatal jaundice treatment system designed for newborns in low-resource settings; low-cost, customizable prosthetics; an affordable retinal camera for early glaucoma detection; an assistive technology to break down communication barriers for individuals with hearing and speech impairments and much more.

“These students have spent months researching, designing and diving deep into these projects, answering tough questions from clinicians and experts,” said Kiara Lee, director of education strategy for Rice360. “It really demonstrates the depth of their learning and their ability to think critically in a real-world setting.”

Lee added that the competition provides students with more than just technical experience — it offers them a platform to grow as innovators and global citizens.

“This competition gives students a powerful way to show how much they’ve grown — not just in their technical skills but in how they approach problems, how they recognize their own limitations and how they communicate their ideas to others,” Lee said.

One of the most inspiring aspects of the design competition was its global reach. Students from Bangladesh, Canada, Ethiopia, Peru, Uganda, the U.S. and beyond shared their innovations and forged connections that could shape future collaborations.

“What sets this competition apart is its focus on global health technology,” Lee said. “It pushes students to think beyond a single clinic or hospital and consider how their solutions could have an impact around the world.”

That global mindset was echoed by keynote speaker Patricia J. García, professor at Cayetano Heredia University and former health minister of Peru.

“We need to prepare the new generation of global citizens to understand the health challenges of this century and to create solutions that meet people where they are,” García said. “That’s what makes competitions like this so critical.”

She emphasized that building connections across continents is essential for solving global health problems.

“After these international students connect, those relationships don’t end here,” García said. “They’ve learned from each other. They’ll carry those connections with them to solve problems across borders, because at the end of the day, we all share the same air, the same water, the same planet.”

Throughout the event, a diverse panel of judges, including experts in medicine, engineering and public health, evaluated the teams on their technical merit, creativity and commitment to equity and sustainability. Special awards recognized projects that advanced digital health, open-source technology and community-driven solutions.

“Technology has enormous power to help the most vulnerable populations, but it has to be tailored to their needs,” García said. “That’s something we sometimes forget when we don’t look outside our own experience, and that’s the beauty of bringing together people from all over the world to tackle these challenges.”

In addition to project presentations, the event featured a public poster session and two keynote addresses from the recipients of the Rice360 Innovation and Leadership in Global Health Awards. García was one of the recipients of this year’s award, and she was joined by June Madete of Kenyatta University in Kenya, who was honored for her groundbreaking work in biomechanics, health innovation and educating the next generation of innovators in Kenya.

As the day concluded, teams were honored with more than $14,000 in prizes, including $5,000 for first place and a People’s Choice Award, which drew over 200,000 votes. The winners included:

1st Place: HemoSave – Duke University
A cost-effective, real-time blood loss monitoring device designed to improve the detection of postpartum hemorrhage and reduce maternal mortality.

2nd Place: QBiT – A.R.M. – Queen’s University
An affordable, body-powered, above-elbow prosthetic for individuals with limited access to care. Leveraging 3D printing and an open-source design, this durable and customizable device enables clinics in low- and middle-income countries to fabricate prosthetics on-site, restoring mobility and independence for those in need. This team also won the Public Invention-Incremental Improvement Award , which honors student innovators who produce the most significant improvement to a project previously created by a substantially different team.

3rd Place: BiliRoo – Calvin University
An innovative technology that integrates filtered sunlight phototherapy with kangaroo care (critical skin-to-skin contact between parent and child) as a low-cost, effective treatment for neonatal jaundice in underserved communities.

Crystal Sea Award: All Eyes – University of Texas at Austin
A low-cost liquid-lens phoropter (an instrument that helps determine eye prescriptions) designed to replace traditional, more expensive systems, making vision care more affordable and accessible. This award recognizes student innovators addressing unmet health needs through creative engineering.

Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Award: SignTalk – Shahjalal University of Science and Technology
An assistive technology platform breaking communication barriers for people with hearing and speech impairments. This award celebrates teams that thoughtfully integrate diversity, equity and inclusion throughout the design process.

Public Invention – Open-Source Award: Manuvera – Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology
A low-cost, customizable and child-friendly prosthetic solution for pediatric amputees, developed with open-source accessibility in mind.

People’s Choice Award: The Guardian – University of Lagos
A noninvasive diagnostic device that detects amniotic fluid leakage and differentiates it from other types of vaginal discharge, helping to prevent complications and improve maternal and neonatal outcomes.

“This competition is about more than just technology,” Lee said. “It’s about preparing students to become the next generation of innovators who will lead with empathy, creativity and a commitment to global health equity.”

 

Early-life exposure to air and light pollution linked to increased risk of pediatric thyroid cancer

Yale University

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New Haven, Conn. — A new study led by researchers at Yale University suggests that early-life exposure to two widespread environmental pollutants— small particle air pollution and outdoor artificial light at night—could increase the risk of pediatric thyroid cancer.

The study—a collaborative effort involving multiple Yale departments and institutions across the U.S.—found a “significant association” between exposure to ambient fine particulate matter air pollution (PM2.5) and outdoor artificial light at night (O-ALAN) and increased risk of papillary thyroid cancer in children and young adults up to 19 years old. The exposures occurred during the perinatal stage of life, typically defined as the time from when pregnancy occurs up to a year after birth.

“These results are concerning, especially given how widespread both of these exposures are,” said Dr. Nicole Deziel, PhD, MHS, an environmental epidemiologist with the Yale School of Public Health (YSPH) and the study’s lead author. “Fine particulate matter is found in urban air pollution due to automobile traffic and industrial activity, and artificial light at night is common, particularly in densely populated urban areas.”

The research team analyzed data from 736 individuals diagnosed with papillary thyroid cancer before age 20 and 36,800 matched control participants based on birth year. Using advanced geospatial and satellite modeling, the team assessed individual-level exposure to PM2.5 and O-ALAN based on residential location at birth. All of the study participants were from California.

The findings showed that for every 10 micrograms per cubic meter increase in PM2.5 exposure, the odds of developing thyroid cancer rose by 7% overall. The strongest association between exposure and thyroid cancer was found among teenagers (15–19 years of age) and Hispanic children. Similarly, children born in areas with high levels of exposure to outdoor light at night were 23–25% more likely to develop thyroid cancer, according to the study.

"Thyroid cancer is among the fastest growing cancers among children and adolescents, yet we know very little about what causes it in this population," said Deziel, an associate professor of epidemiology (environmental health sciences) and co-director of the Yale Center for Perinatal, Pediatric, and Environmental Epidemiology. "Our study is the first large-scale investigation to suggest that these exposures early in life—specifically to PM2.5 and outdoor light at night—may play a role in this concerning trend."

In addition to Deziel, the research team included experts from Yale’s Departments of Biostatistics, Chronic Disease Epidemiology, and Pediatrics, as well as researchers from the University of Southern California, UC Berkeley, and the American Cancer Society. Deziel and several of the study’s authors are affiliated with the Yale Cancer Center. The team’s collective expertise ranged from environmental exposure modeling and biostatistics to pediatric endocrinology and cancer epidemiology.

The impact of papillary thyroid cancer on children can be extensive.

Compared to adults, children are often diagnosed with thyroid cancer at more advanced stages with larger tumor sizes. Pediatric survivors of thyroid cancer can suffer aftereffects ranging from temperature dysregulation and headaches to physical disabilities and mental fatigue. The disease can interfere with important life milestones such as education, employment, and raising a family and it can contribute to feelings of anxiety and depression.

Both PM2.5 and O-ALAN are considered environmental carcinogens that have been shown to disrupt the body’s endocrine system, including thyroid function, in animals and adults. The particles associated with PM2.5 pose a threat because they are small enough to enter the bloodstream and can interfere with hormone signaling, including those involved in regulating cancer pathways. Outdoor artificial light at night has been shown to suppress melatonin and alter circadian rhythms, which can also influence hormone-regulated cancer pathways.

The current research raises important environmental justice concerns. Communities of color and lower-income populations are often disproportionately exposed to both air pollution and light pollution—inequities that may contribute to the higher thyroid cancer burden observed in Hispanic children.

The researchers emphasized that more work is needed to replicate and expand on their findings, ideally using improved exposure metrics and longitudinal designs.

“In the meantime,” Deziel noted, “our results point to the critical importance of addressing environmental factors in childhood cancer research. Reducing exposures to air pollution and managing light pollution could be important steps in protecting children's health.”

The study appears online in Environmental Health Perspectives.

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Journal

Environmental Health Perspectives

 

Wesley Sundquist named to TIME’s annual TIME100 list of the 100 most influential people in the world

University of Utah Health

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Wesley Sundquist, PhD.

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Credit: David Titensor / University of Utah Health

University of Utah Health researcher Wesley Sundquist, PhD, has been named one of TIME’s 100 most influential people in the world for his lab’s research leading to a highly effective drug that prevents HIV infections. The list recognizes the impact, innovation, and achievement of the world’s most influential individuals.

The drug, lenacapavir, was developed at Gilead Sciences, and is exceptionally effective at preventing HIV. A single dose provides protection for six months. 

And in multiple clinical trials involving tens of thousands of people, lenacapavir has shown 99.9 to 100 percent efficacy in preventing HIV—results that Sundquist describes as “spectacularly successful.”

If distributed broadly, the drug has the potential to dramatically decrease infection rates worldwide. “It feels like our work has made a difference,” Sundquist adds.

But the story of lenacapavir started decades ago with basic, curiosity-driven research in Sundquist’s lab. The lab wasn’t specifically aiming to discover new therapies—rather, they were simply trying to understand how the HIV virus particle is put together. They discovered that one of the key components of the virus is extremely sensitive to change: a prime target for drug development.

Sundquist consulted with biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences, which developed lenacapavir. Sundquist’s collaborator at Gilead, Tomáš Cihlář, PhD, is a co-recipient of TIME’s honor.

“Today, we recognize Dr. Sundquist for his work that began more than 20 years ago as a quest to understand the structure of HIV and has now led to a medication that could prevent the spread of HIV worldwide,” says Rachel Hess, MD, MS, Associate Vice President for Research at University of Utah Health. “This is an amazing example of fundamental research creating the environment to improve health around the globe.”

“By discovering fundamental aspects of HIV biology, Dr. Sundquist’s work has led to a lifesaving advancement in improving human health,” says Bob Carter, MD, PhD, CEO for University of Utah Health and Senior Vice President for Health Sciences. “We’re honored that the global impact of his work has been recognized and incredibly proud that his work continues at U of U Health.”

Sundquist’s accomplishment is a testament to the critical role of basic science in forming the foundation of discoveries that save lives. “We view ourselves as, first of all, trying to understand the natural world, which I think has great intrinsic value,” Sundquist says. “But we also view ourselves as sort of the feedstock for new ways of approaching medicine.”


The full TIME100 list and related tributes appear in the April 28, 2025, issue of TIME, available on newsstands on Friday, April 18, and now at time.com/time100.

Americans don’t think bird flu is a threat, study suggests

CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy

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New York, NY | April 17, 2025 - In an editorial in the American Journal of Public Health, a team led by researchers from the CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY SPH) say public ignorance and apathy towards bird flu (highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI) could pose a serious obstacle to containing the virus and preventing a larger-scale public health crisis.

The authors, including CUNY SPH Assistant Professor Rachael Piltch-Loeb, Associate Professor Katarzyna Wyka, Professor Jeffrey V. Lazarus, Senior Scholar Kenneth Rabin, Distinguished Lecturer Scott C. Ratzan, and Dean Ayman El-Mohandes, conducted a population representative survey of U.S. residents from August 5 to 15, 2024, which used an in-depth sampling framework and intentional oversampling of rural populations.

The results suggest many respondents were unaware of simple food safety practices that could reduce the risk of HPAI infection. Over half (53.7%) did not know that pasteurized milk is safer than raw milk, although almost three of four respondents (71.3%) did understand that cooking meat at high temperatures could eliminate harmful bacteria and viruses like H5N1.

Over a quarter (27%) of respondents said they were unwilling to modify their diet to reduce the risk of exposure to the virus, and more than one in four respondents (28.7%) expressed reluctance to take a potential vaccine for H5N1, even if advised by the CDC to do so.

Participants who described themselves as Republicans or Independents were significantly less likely than Democrats to support either vaccination or dietary modifications.

Rural Americans, many of whom are more likely to work or live in or near livestock industries, were less likely to accept public health measures, including vaccination and dietary changes, compared to their urban counterparts.

“These attitudes could pose a serious obstacle to containing the virus and preventing a major public health crisis,” says Piltch-Loeb, the study’s lead author. “The fact that responses vary significantly by political party and geography emphasizes the need for a carefully segmented health communications strategy to address the issue.”

Rabin, who has been engaged in health communications campaigns for more than four decades, adds that, “Working closely with agricultural leaders, farm communities and food processing companies will be critical, and the fact that most of the agricultural workers who are at direct risk of exposure to the bird flu virus may be undocumented could seriously jeopardize efforts to track and control the spread of infections.”

Rachael Piltch-Loeb, Katarzyna Wyka, Trenton M. White, Shawn G. Gibbs, Sara Gorman, Ashish Joshi, Spencer Kimball, Jeffrey V. Lazarus, John J. Lowe, Kenneth Rabin, Scott C. Ratzan, and Ayman El-Mohandes: The American Public’s Disengagement With Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI): Considerations for Vaccination and Dietary Changes. American Journal of Public Health 0, e1_e5.

About CUNY SPH

The CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY SPH) is committed to promoting and sustaining healthier populations in New York City and around the world through excellence in education, research, and service in public health and by advocating for sound policy and practice to advance social justice and improve health outcomes for all.

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Journal

American Journal of Public Health

DOI

10.2105/AJPH.2025.308080 

Method of Research

Survey

Article Title

The American Public’s Disengagement With Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza (HPAI): Considerations for Vaccination and Dietary Changes

Article Publication Date

17-Apr-2025

 

U of A researchers discover screen time surprise under grandparents' care

University of Arizona

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When Grandma and Grandpa are in charge, the children are likely staring at a screen – a long-standing parental complaint now supported by University of Arizona research. 

Previous studies have examined how grandparents from other countries oversee children's screen time, but new research published in the Journal of Children and Media found that nearly half of the time American children spend with their grandparents involves interacting with or watching media on a screen.

By focusing on the unique and expanding role of grandparents as caregivers, a growing interpersonal dynamic that can influence media habits and family relationships is uncovered, said lead study author Cecilia Sada Garibay.

"I am the mother of four kids, and my mother has always helped me take care of them," said Sada Garibay, a graduate student studying communication in the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences. "I noticed that my children used media differently when they were with her than when they were with me, and my friends with children noticed the same thing. Through our research, we discovered that media consumption is not only important for grandchildren, but that understanding media is just as important for grandparents. Grandparents may want to watch along with their grandchildren or just want to understand what the children are watching."

Alongside Matthew Lapierre, associate professor of communication, Sada Garibay surveyed 350 grandparents living in the U.S. about the time they spend with their grandchildren and the strategies they use to manage media consumption. 

Participants were grandparents – but not the primary caregivers – of children between 2 and 10 years old, who they supervised at least three times a month. Of the 350 participants, 178 grandfathers and 172 grandmothers were selected, with an average age of 55. The average age of the 350 corresponding grandchildren was 5 years old. 

Survey participants also reported on their living situations: roughly 35% never live with their grandchild and family, 25% live with family a few weeks a year, 6% reported fewer than six month a year, while 8% lived with their family at least half the year – and 10% for the entire year.

Participants were asked about the last time they cared for their grandchild, and how many hours the child spent using media. That included watching TV, movies or other videos on a television set, using computers or handheld devices, playing video games or using the internet or apps on a device.

The grandparents were also asked what strategies they used to oversee their grandchildren when using media: supervisory, instructive, restrictive or co-using.

"Supervision involves keeping an eye on what your grandchild is doing, and the media they watch," Sada Garibay said. "Being instructive means explaining the content of something to your grandchild, while restrictive actions involve limiting the amount of time a child can use technology – or what content they are allowed to view. Co-using means watching media alongside your grandchild."

In addition to examining children's media consumption and grandparents' mediation strategies, Sada Garibay and Lapierre asked participants to rate their digital skills on a four-point scale. Participants also shared their perspectives on what they believe are the positive and negative impacts of media consumption and described the severity of any media-related disagreements they have with their grandchild's parents.

Digital divide

When the participants last cared for their grandchild, they reported spending an average of seven hours with that child – who in turn spent nearly half that time consuming media. The study found that children spend about two hours watching TV, and another hour playing videogames or using the internet on a device.

The survey participants employ a variety of mediation techniques, Sada Garibay said. Monitoring what their grandchildren watch was most common, followed by restricting media time or engaging in deeper discussion. Grandparents least often participated in viewing or playing alongside their grandchildren.

The study results showed that grandparents were more likely to use or watch media alongside younger grandchildren, if they themselves were younger or better understood technology. Grandparents less familiar with technology were more likely to restrict what their grandchild could watch, while younger or more technologically savvy grandparents were more likely to instead talk with their grandchild about the dangers of media and what to watch. 

The results also indicated that grandfathers are less likely to supervise their grandchildren than grandmothers, though technological know-how led to increased supervision for all grandparents.

Sada Garibay and Lapierre also found that grandparents with negative beliefs about media were significantly more likely to disagree with their adult child about media use – while positive beliefs about media were not significantly related to media disagreements with their adult child. Positive attitudes toward media were associated with higher relationship satisfaction, while increased media-related disagreement was associated with lower relationship satisfaction.

Overall, Sada Garibay said the study showed that consuming media is not only a significant part of American children's daily routines, but that grandparents approach handling these situations differently for a variety of reasons. 

"I think our most significant result was that a grandparent's level of confidence with technology was a significant predictor of the kinds of mediation strategies they use," Sada Garibay said. "The more confident a grandparent felt about media and technology, the more they were able to interact with their grandchildren's media. Grandparents with more of those skills were able to do significantly better with their grandchildren than those who don't have those skills. If grandparents can gain those technological skills, then they have better tools to manage their grandchildren's media use."

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Journal

Journal of Children and Media

DOI

10.1080/17482798.2025.2480088 

Method of Research

Survey

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Grandparents and children’s media use in the USA: Screen time, mediation practices, and relationship outcomes

Article Publication Date

16-Apr-2025

 

Texas A&M AgriLife wildlife data supports global research of wildlife diel activity patterns April 17, 2025 -  by Sarah Fuller Texas A&M AgriLife Communications Historical beliefs of mammals’ daily activity periods may not hold true — especially in regions seeing increased human development, according to a global study. Camera trap data collected by a Texas A&M AgriLife researcher contributed to one of the largest global studies of mammal behavior to date. Their findings indicate that long-held assumptions surrounding daily activity periods for wildlife may not be accurate. (Sam Craft/Texas A&M AgriLife) Camera trap data collected by a Texas A&M AgriLife researcher helped power one of the largest global studies of mammal behavior to date — analyzing more than 8.9 million images across 445 species in 38 countries. Published in Science Advances, the study found that many species do not stick to a single daily rhythm, contradicting decades of scientific assumptions. These findings reveal the flexibility of wildlife and signal the need for a new framework to understand animal activity in a rapidly changing world. What is diel activity? Mammals’ daily schedules — how wildlife activity is spread over a 24-hour cycle based on light availability — are grouped into four categories known as a diel phenotypes, said Humberto Perotto, Ph.D., associate professor and Joan Negley Kelleher Endowed Professor in Ranch Management in the Texas A&M Department of Rangeland, Wildlife and Fisheries Management. Diurnal animals are most active during the day. Nocturnal animals are most active at night. Crepuscular species are typically active during the dawn and dusk. Cathemeral animals show irregular activity throughout the day and night.  Research born out of curiosity and anecdotal data Perotto said researchers have long suspected wildlife species weren’t restricted to these specific four categories, especially with the advent of new technology like GPS collars used to collect regular animal movement data. “Our argument was largely based on anecdotal evidence, but this research project truly quantifies that wildlife species don’t fit specifically within these parameters, and our changing environment influences their activity,” Perotto said.   Perotto first learned of the project, led by researchers at the University of Rhode Island, while studying Rio Grande wild turkey in the Edwards Plateau. “We had close to 56 camera traps set for our work, so we were collecting a lot of data not just on turkeys, but any number of wildlife that happened to pass through,” Perotto said. After conversations with the project team in Rhode Island, Perotto and his students began reviewing their extensive data set and contributing to the Global Animal Diel Activity Project. Surprising insights about mammals’ behavior The lead researchers analyzed the vast data set based on species, location, daylight length and geography and then compared their findings to published research indicating a species’ diel phenotype. Of the 445 species documented, the analysis found that only 39% of the established diel phenotypes were accurate, and that species commonly use more than one diel classification. “The most striking thing is that when you are taught an animal is diurnal or is nocturnal, that is not always correct,” said Brian Gerber, Ph.D., former University of Rhode Island research ecologist and project co-author. “Many terrestrial mammals will be diurnal sometimes and nocturnal or cathemeral other times. When you see a nocturnal species during the day, this is perhaps not as unusual as you might think.” Factors like body size, location and human presence were all found to shape diel activity patterns. Human impacts shift animal behavior patterns One of the clear trends found: Mammals in North America became more nocturnal in areas with higher human development. “As we humans develop land and encroach into wildlife habitat, this land-use change causes new behaviors in wildlife,” Perotto said. These changes may not always be harmless. For example, a species that typically forages during the daytime hours may have less success in finding food if they transition to more nocturnal behavior to avoid humans. Conservation and management implications Perotto said understanding these shifts is crucial for managing wildlife in a human-altered landscape. “Further research is needed to better understand these implications and identify ways to mitigate potentially negative impacts,” he said. “Studies like this are advancing science and helping us understand how our changing world affects the rhythms of the natural world.”   -30-   Would you like more information from Texas A&M AgriLife? Visit AgriLife Today, the news hub for Texas A&M AgriLife, which brings together a college and four state agencies focused on agriculture and life sciences within The Texas A&M University System, or sign up for our Texas A&M AgriLife E-Newsletter. For more resources including photo repository, logo downloads and style guidelines, please visit the Resources for Press and Media.

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Journal

Science Advances

DOI

10.1126/sciadv.ado384