Interview with Founder of Global Health Impact Project, Nicole Hassoun

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Professor and founder of the Global Health Impact Project: Nicole Hassoun. Hassoun is an Associate Professor of Philosophy at Binghamton University, SUNY. Professor Hassoun has launched the Global Health Impact, which tries to inflict positive change in global health by considering how essential medicines for TB, HIV/Aids, and malaria are affecting global health. Hassoun’s vision to provide access to medicines has grown in both scope and membership since its inception in 2007. She now leads a team comprised of advisory board members, collaborators, and even a student research team.

Below are the questions and responses from the interview with Professor Hassoun, conducted by Binghamton University student, Heawon Kim:

Kim: What is your role in the GHI project? Hassoun: Founder and head of the project.

Kim: How long have you been apart of this project? Hassoun: Seven years, since its inception in 2007.

Kim: What have you contributed to it? Hassoun: The conception of the project, papers, helped develop the model, put together a team of students and collaborators, which includes professors.

Kim: How would you like to see the GHI index being used? Hassoun: Explore the possible policies. I would like to see the project developed to guide health policy at the country and international level. I am curious to see whether it can evaluate efforts and set targets.

Kim: What have you learned while working as a part of the GHI team? Hassoun: What was most significant for me was all the different parts that go into the GHI. I’ve gained a group of students with different skills and possibilities, from whom I learn a lot. Everyone in the group has their own talents and capacities to contribute to the project. Also, I’ve learned about output of the model; it is rather interesting. It’s amazing to see the impact that is being had on global health through this project.

Kim: What are the long-term goals of the GHI index? Hassoun: The long term goals are essentially the aim of the project- what the GHI is set out to do. We want to promote human rights by encouraging access to medicine, worldwide.

Kim: What do you find the most impressive about the GHI index? Hassoun: The output of the model is extremely interesting in its construction. It’s a great challenge to construct the model in an effective way, which is what I find most intriguing and impressive.

Kim: What do you think can be improved upon on the GHI index? Hassoun: We are working on improving the disease models, especially for malaria. Hopefully we will expand it across time. Also, I hope the GHI project will look more into tropical disease. Additionally, we can expand on the view of pharmaceutical contributions by looking at generic companies.