The UMB President’s Global Impact Fund (PGIF), run by the Center for Global Engagement, provides initial support for transformative initiatives that develop cross-campus and international collaborations and enhance UMB's global engagement and reach.

One of the first cohort of awardees is focused on energizing gastroenterology development in Rwanda (EGD-Rwanda), lead by Erik von Rosenwinge, MD, Associate Professor at UM School of Medicine), and Kenechukwu Chudy-Onwugaje, MBBS, MPH, an Associate Scholar at the Center for Global Health at the Perelman School of Medicine at University of Pennsylvania (and former GI Fellow at UM School of Medicine).

EGD-Rwanda is a partnership with the Rwandan Society for Endoscopy, the University of Rwanda, and collaborators at Harvard and Dartmouth universities. The primary goals are to improve gastroenterology care in Rwanda, jump-start the formation of a self-sustaining Rwandan gastroenterology fellowship training program, expose UMSOM trainees to global health and global health research, and strengthen the partnership between the University of Maryland Baltimore and Rwanda.

To learn more about PGIF projects, visit the website.