Articles
We Need Cancer Groundshot and Cancer Moonshot, Says Rutgers Global Health Institute Director
Rutgers Global Health Institute, Feb 2, 2024
In a Q&A published in advance of World Cancer Day (February 4), Richard Marlink, director of Rutgers Global Health Institute, discusses what we can do about the crisis of cancer in sub-Saharan Africa.
Time to Step Up and Fight Cancer in Africa
Health Policy Watch, Feb 4, 2023
In this op-ed published on World Cancer Day by Health Policy Watch, Wilfred Ngwa and Richard Marlink of Rutgers Global Health Institute write that cancer is threatening sub-Saharan African populations to a degree that demands a large-scale response.
White House Announcement on Cancer Moonshot Initiatives Highlights Botswana-Rutgers Partnership for Health
Rutgers Today, Dec 20, 2022
During the recent U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, the White House’s Cancer Moonshot program highlighted several initiatives to drastically improve cancer outcomes in Africa. Two Botswana-Rutgers Partnership for Health efforts were featured.
Take a lesson from George W. Bush: Fund global COVID aid
Star-Ledger, Apr 14, 2022
A piece written by the Star-Ledger editorial board includes comments from Rutgers Global Health Institute director Richard Marlink about a model for global coronavirus aid that is similar to AIDS interventions in Africa and other regions.
Institute Honored by the American Repertory Ballet for Support During the Pandemic
Rutgers Global Health Institute, Mar 5, 2022
COVID-19 testing and vaccination clinics at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center, where the ballet is a member company, are part of Rutgers Global Health Institute’s Equitable Recovery program. The clinics, which are open to the public, helped the ballet’s dancers safely return to the studio and stage.
Global vaccine equity: Calls rise to put principle into practice
Christian Science Monitor, Dec 3, 2021
Vaccine equity “is not just altruism but is critical for getting out of this pandemic,” Rutgers Global Health Institute director Richard Marlink told the Christian Science Monitor. The article describes how “domestic pressures and the impulse to take care of one’s own” have interfered with the success of COVAX, the international collaboration designed to ensure global access to COVID-19 vaccines.
What We Know About the Omicron Variant
Rutgers Today, Dec 1, 2021
With the first confirmed case of the Omicron coronavirus identified today in the United States and as the variant continues to spread around the world, Rutgers Today gathered perspectives from some of the university’s experts in infectious disease, epidemiology, pediatrics and global health. Richard Marlink, director of Rutgers Global Health Institute, is among these featured experts.
N.J.’s health system is failing underserved groups. How can the care divide be bridged?
NJ.com, Nov 20, 2021
A state-by-state scorecard of racial and ethnic disparities finds that all states’ health systems are failing people of color, according to a report released on November 18 by the Commonwealth Fund. Rutgers Global Health Institute director Richard Marlink discusses this report and the importance of addressing social determinants of health.
Better Together Event Explores Equitable Recovery
Rutgers Global Health Institute, Jun 30, 2021
Rutgers Global Health Institute and Rutgers University Alumni Association co-presented a virtual event about pandemic-related challenges minority communities are facing across the state, problems unique to underserved neighborhoods in Rutgers’ backyard, and what is needed to address these disparities. Institute director Richard Marlink led the discussion, which brought together university and community partners.
In Venezuela, politics overshadow COVAX shipment and vaccine rollout
Devex, Apr 15, 2021
Rutgers Global Health Institute director Richard Marlink discusses the COVAX (COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access) initiative and the need for a global response to the pandemic within the context of Venezuela’s efforts to obtain vaccines and release a vaccination plan amidst a power struggle between President Nicolás Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaidó.
Rutgers professor discusses COVAX initiative, US involvement
The Daily Targum, Mar 8, 2021
Rutgers Global Health Institute director Richard Marlink discusses the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) initiative to distribute vaccines more equitably worldwide. He says participation in COVAX is in the best interests of the U.S. and other wealthy countries due to the potential for virus variants to arise in countries where fewer people have received vaccines.
For more articles, click on the page numbers below…
Rutgers Global Health Institute Launches Program to Help Small Businesses Impacted by the COVID-19 Pandemic
Rutgers Today, Mar 5, 2021
Rutgers Global Health Institute has launched a program that offers crucial support to small businesses facing economic and operational challenges due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The program, Equitable Recovery for New Jersey’s Small Businesses, is designed to help small businesses and nonprofit organizations in low-income and minority communities.
The Impact of the U.S. Re-engaging with the World Health Organization
Rutgers Today, Feb 3, 2021
Richard Marlink, director of Rutgers Global Health Institute, discusses the importance of a global COVID-19 vaccination strategy and how WHO involvement benefits the U.S. overall.
When it comes to vaccine efficacy, here’s why 94% isn’t much different than 72%
ROI-NJ, January 29, 2021
In an interview about the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines, Richard Marlink, director of Rutgers Global Health Institute, responds to public opinion about the differences among vaccines that are authorized or in the pipeline for use in the United States.
Rutgers professor explains consequences of coronavirus vaccine hoarding
The Daily Targum, January 26, 2021
Richard Marlink, director of Rutgers Global Health Institute, discusses the global health consequences and moral implications of wealthy countries hoarding vaccines. Allowing the virus to replicate not only will result in additional deaths, he said, but also increases the chances for the virus to mutate, which could create new, potentially worse strains that the vaccine may not protect against.
Rutgers expert: We likely will need COVID-19 vaccines annually
ROI-NJ, December 30, 2020
In an interview about COVID-19 vaccines, Rutgers Global Health Institute director Richard Marlink discusses that people may need to get vaccinated annually as well as the importance of a global approach to controlling the pandemic.
Members of Congress face backlash as they get priority for scarce vaccine
ABC 6, December 21, 2020
Rutgers Global Health Institute director Richard Marlink is among the “experts, pundits, and social media users” interviewed for a national story about U.S. Congress members being among the first to receive coronavirus vaccines. Marlink acknowledged high-profile influencers promoting vaccination can help assuage public doubts, but that does not necessarily justify bending the rules so they can get the vaccine before their age or health dictates they should. Adhering to official guidance can also send a positive message.
For more articles, click on the page numbers below…
No Longer a Death Sentence: Transforming Cancer Care and Prevention in Africa
Rutgers University Foundation, September 20, 2020
Botswana only recently managed to get on top of an HIV/AIDS epidemic that ravaged the country in the late 1990s. Now this African nation of just over 2 million people faces a second epidemic—cancer—and the potential loss of life is staggering. Rutgers Global Health Institute, in partnership with the Botswana Ministry of Health and Wellness, is helping the country build sub-Saharan Africa’s first comprehensive cancer care and prevention program.
Improving Cancer Care in Botswana: An International Partnership
Rutgers Nursing magazine, July 28, 2020
In Botswana, a democratic nation in southern Africa with a population of about 2.3 million, a stark lack of resources exists for cancer diagnosis, treatment, and prevention. A severe shortage in the specialty-trained workforce is a major challenge to providing comprehensive cancer care. Today, new nursing education programs are being launched in Botswana, with assistance from Rutgers School of Nursing’s Center for Global Health. These School of Nursing initiatives fall under the umbrella of the Botswana-Rutgers Partnership for Health, led by Richard Marlink, director of Rutgers Global Health Institute.
Rutgers faculty discusses effect of coronavirus on minority communities
The Daily Targum, April 19, 2020
Preliminary coronavirus disease (COVID-19) data has shown that Black and Brown communities have experienced the most pandemic-related deaths in the United States, according to a press release. Health experts are now demanding more racial data on the crisis. Richard Marlink is among the Rutgers faculty interviewed in this story about the disproportionate ways in which the pandemic is impacting minority communities.
The scarlet C: Coronavirus survivors face the stigma and discrimination
Los Angeles Times, April 18, 2020
Customers boycott a pharmacy. People scream at a family on the street. A man has trouble summoning an ambulance to his home. There’s a common thread linking all these stories: fear of COVID-19. Richard Marlink is among the experts quoted in a story that asks, When do social safeguards against the novel coronavirus mutate into their own contagion of fear and loathing?
COVID-19: Limited health care access further divides ‘haves’ from ‘have-nots’
Healio, April 9, 2020
A recent report by the Federal Reserve found that in 2018, nearly 40% of people in the United States would not be able to afford an unexpected $400 expense. Richard Marlink, MD, director of Rutgers Global Health Institute, and Russell Scott Phillips, MD, director of the Harvard Medical School’s Center for Primary Care, spoke with Healio Primary Care about ways in which social determinants of health are impacting patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Impact of COVID-19 in Sub-Saharan Africa
Rutgers Global Health Institute, April 1, 2020
The COVID-19 global pandemic has reached many African countries that are already suffering from malnutrition and disease, under-resourced health systems, and limited economic funding. Richard Marlink, director of Rutgers Global Health Institute and a leader in the global response to HIV/AIDS, understands what it means to address health problems in sub-Saharan African countries, home to more than 1 billion people. He discusses the impact of COVID-19 in the African region and what can be done to help these countries.
For more articles, click on the page numbers below…
We’ve saved millions of people with HIV/AIDS. Now, let’s do the same for cancer.
Star-Ledger, December 1, 2019
Health systems in sub-Saharan African countries have improved their responses to and treatments of HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases, but they have failed in preventing, diagnosing or treating cancers that are preventable and curable. This op-ed by Richard Marlink appeared in the Star-Ledger in recognition of World AIDS Day.
Botswana Rutgers Collaboration Worthy-Masisi
Botswana Daily News, March 26, 2019
On a trip to the United States, Botswana’s president Mokgweetsi Masisi visited Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey and agreed for Botswana and the university to develop a collaborative partnership. Richard Marlink, who has been coming to Botswana regularly for the past 24 years, believes that the success of the Botswana Harvard AIDS Institute could be replicated at Rutgers.
Rutgers Establishes Collaborative Partnership with Botswana
Rutgers Today, February 15, 2019
Rutgers University and Botswana leaders signed an agreement to launch the Botswana-Rutgers Knowledge Collaborative, a joint initiative to exchange knowledge through technology and develop programs that help Botswana address its strategic development goals as the country emerges as a regional hub of southern Africa. Richard Marlink, who for the last 22 years has led partnerships in Botswana to combat HIV/AIDS nationwide, signed a universitywide agreement with the University of Botswana focused on health—the first international agreement initiated by Rutgers Global Health Institute.
Confronting the Brutal Inequality in Cancer Care
Rutgers Global Health Institute, February 15, 2019
Every single day, nearly 47,000 people around the world, on average, are diagnosed with cancer. And while the disease can affect anyone, there is extreme disparity when it comes to cancer care and prevention globally. “People are dying from curable cancers in Botswana because of delays in each step of the cancer care process,” says Richard Marlink, an oncologist and director of Rutgers Global Health Institute.
Q&A: 30th anniversary of World AIDS Day
Healio, December 1, 2018
To mark the 30th anniversary of World AIDS Day, Infectious Disease News spoke with Richard Marlink, MD, director of the Rutgers Global Health Institute. As an oncologist, Marlink treated some of the first HIV/AIDS patients at the former St. Vincent’s Hospital in New York and helped establish the first HIV/AIDS clinic in Boston.
Clinical Care and the Global Impact of AIDS
Rutgers Around the World, November 26, 2018
In this episode of Rutgers Around the World, a podcast produced by Rutgers Global, Richard Marlink shines a light on the field of global health by reflecting on his career path and his work in fighting HIV/AIDS in the United States and abroad.
For more articles, click on the page numbers below…
Advice from an AIDS fighter about climate-change denialism
NJ.com, November 30, 2017
The first volume of the federally mandated Fourth National Climate Assessment, released Nov. 3, was damning and conclusive: The Earth has warmed at an accelerated pace since the mid-20th century, due chiefly to human pollution. Five days later, Kathleen Hartnett White, President Donald Trump’s nominee to chair his Council on Environmental Quality, testified at her Senate confirmation hearing that the extent to which humans have affected climate change is “very uncertain.”
A Global Perspective
Rutgers Magazine, October 31, 2017
Since the very beginnings of the AIDS epidemic, hematologist/oncologist and former Harvard professor Richard Marlink has been at the forefront of the worldwide fight against the disease. With his appointment as the inaugural Henry Rutgers Professor of Global Health and founding director of the new Rutgers Global Health Institute, Rutgers University is poised to significantly increase its already substantial impact on the health of populations around the globe.
Urgently Creating the Better in Global Health
The Hastings Center Report, September 30, 2017
In 1996, when I helped form a partnership between the Harvard AIDS Institute and the government of Botswana, AIDS was more prevalent in Botswana—where one out of every four adults was infected—than in any other country in the world. Shortly after the Botswana Harvard Partnership was established, the new triple‐drug antiretroviral therapy emerged in the West. This regimen demonstrated remarkable effectiveness when at least three ART drugs were administered together.
Building the Rutgers Global Health Institute
Robert Wood Johnson Medicine, May 1, 2017
In 2016, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, recruited Richard Marlink to lead the new Rutgers Global Health Institute, a universitywide effort, based at Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences. In addition to holding a Henry Rutgers professorship, Marlink is faculty at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and a member of the Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey.
A New Venture Designed to Improve Health and Wellness Globally
Pharmaceutical Intelligence, April 17, 2017
The newly formed Rutgers Global Health Institute, part of Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences of Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, represents a new way of thinking by providing positive health outcomes to potential patients around the world affected by disease and/or by a negative environmental impact.
For more articles, click on the page numbers below…
Richard Marlink, Known Globally for His Work Fighting AIDS, to Lead Rutgers’ Global Health Institute
Rutgers Today, April 29, 2016
Richard G. Marlink, a Harvard professor recognized internationally for research and leadership in the fight against AIDS, will join Rutgers as the inaugural Henry Rutgers Professor of Global Health and director of a new Global Health Institute at Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences.
[PEOPLE IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD] Dr. Richard Marlink
Larchmont Ledger, February 1, 2016
In December 2003, Richard Marlink, a professor of Public Health Practice at Harvard found himself living out that adage, “Be careful what you wish for.” The federal government announced on December 1 it was awarding grants—$125 million over five years—to combat HIV/AIDS at a global level through a program called the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.
Ebola Makes the Definitive Case for Health Workers and Strong Health Systems
Intrahealth International, November 26, 2014
Since I first wrote about Ebola here at Global Health TV two months ago, the number of Ebola deaths has more than doubled, to 5,459, and the number infected has reached 15,351, according to the World Health Organization. Ebola has caused countless angst and affliction, mostly in West Africa but also in Spain and the U.S.
Lessons from Ebola: Health care in Africa needs a PEPFAR-like approach
Global Post, November 14, 2014
With the declaration that Texas is now Ebola-free, the last potentially infected person having cleared the 21-day monitoring period, the United States is quickly shifting focus to other hot-burner topics. But while the fast fade of Ebola hysteria is a good thing, we now risk losing sight of a critical larger issue: The need to build strong health care systems in the poorest parts of Africa.
Dr. Richard Marlink: Global Clinician
Harvard AIDS Initiative, Spotlight, Summer 2013
When he was an intern in New York City in 1980, Dr. Richard Marlink knew something was going on, he just didn’t know what. The hospital where he worked, St. Vincent’s Medical Center, served patients from Harlem to Greenwich Village. “Mainly gay men, homeless people, and drug addicts used our clinics,” said Marlink. Thirty years later, Marlink would be responsible for putting more AIDS patients on treatment than almost anyone on the planet.
For more articles, click on the page numbers below…
Harvard Partnership Fights HIV/AIDS in Botswana
The Harvard Crimson, March 7, 2013
In 1996, Executive Director of Harvard’s AIDS Initiative Richard G. Marlink worked with Essex to forge a partnership between Harvard and the Botswana government using a framework that had been implemented in similar programs in Senegal, Tanzania, the former Zaire, and Nigeria.
PEPFAR in Africa, success against AIDS
Harvard Gazette, January 16, 2013
Harvard AIDS researchers gathered at the Harvard School of Public Health last Thursday to mark 10 years of work under a key federal anti-AIDS program that has been instrumental in stemming the tide of a disease that once threatened to destroy entire societies.
HSPH efforts in Africa helped lead to decade of success against AIDS
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health News, February 11, 2013
The largest public health initiative in history dedicated to a single disease was announced unexpectedly during President George W. Bush’s State of the Union address in 2003: $15 billion over five years to fund a new international AIDS effort. For AIDS researchers at HSPH, the program known as the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) offered the opportunity to dramatically scale up their efforts in African countries hit hard by the disease.
Further Research Critical to Eliminating Pediatric AIDS
Huffington Post, March 1, 2011
Thirty years ago, doctors in the U.S. identified the first case of what would soon come to be known as Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, or AIDS. In 1981, we hadn’t yet identified the human immunodeficiency virus that causes the disease. Today we hold the real prospect of eliminating HIV in one entire segment of the world’s population: infants and young children.
Plotting the Demise of AIDS
Harvard Gazette, December 2, 2011
Scientists, physicians, activists, and others on the front lines of the 30-year fight against AIDS gathered on Harvard’s Longwood Campus on World AIDS Day Thursday to plot a strategy to achieve something that most once thought impossible: ending the AIDS epidemic.
HSPH Find AIDS Drugs Work Well in Botswana
Harvard Gazette, November 17, 2005
Africa’s first large-scale public program to distribute critical AIDS drugs to a developing nation is as successful as similar programs in industrialized countries, a Harvard School of Public Health study has shown, helping put to rest concerns that such programs can’t work in developing nations.
For more articles, click on the page numbers below…