COALESCE Program Overview

The COllaborative Research, Implementation, And LEadership Training to AddresS Chronic Conditions across the Life CoursE (COALESCE) program was co-designed by collaborators at Emory University, Centre for Chronic Disease Control, and Addis Ababa University to enhance capacity for research and action for chronic diseases in India and Ethiopia.

The COALESCE program aspires to facilitate locally-driven research and implementation that can shape chronic disease priorities, programs, and policies of the future.

Program Leadership

The COALESCE program has assembled a world-class, diverse, and interdisciplinary Executive Committee and program faculty.

Our program faculty consist of subject matter and methodological experts with backgrounds in medicine, nursing, basic sciences, epidemiology, qualitative methods, behavioral sciences, and management. Faculty will participate in the program in three different capacities: mentors, collaborating sponsors, and teaching faculty.

Mohammed K. Ali
MD MSc MBA

Program Director

Associate Professor of Global Health and Epidemiology, Rollins School of Public Health, and Vice Chair (Research) for the Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, School of Medicine, at Emory University.

Associate Director of the Georgia Center for Diabetes Translation Research

Dr. Ali has extensive experience in diabetes and cardiovascular disease research, especially with regard to health and preventive services, quality of care, and implementation science.

Dorairaj Prabhakaran
MD, DM, MSc

Program Director, India 

Executive director of the Center for Chronic Disease Control (CCDC) and Vice President (Research) at Public Health Foundation of India.

Professor of chronic disease epidemiology at the Public Health Foundation of India, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Emory University.

Dr. Prabhakaran has led several major international and national research studies, including cohort studies, clinical trials, and policy evaluations for cardiovascular health promotion.

Damen Haile MariamMD PhD MPH

Program Director, Ethiopia

Dean and Professor of Public Health and Health Economics at the School of Public Health, Addis Ababa University.

Former President of the Ethiopian Public Health Association and Member of the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Damen has tremendous expertise and experience in studies related to clinic- and community-based screening, health utilization and value, public health governance, the healthcare workforce, and both communicable and chronic non-communicable diseases.

Solveig A. Cunningham
PhD MSc

Associate Director (Scholars Program)

Associate Professor, Hubert Department of Global Health and Department of Sociology, Emory University.

Dr. Cunningham is a demographer whose work focuses on child health, chronic disease, and the implications of social factors for health over the lifespan. Her research spans work in the U.S., India, and Sub-Saharan Africa.

Shivani Patel
PhD MPH

Associate Director (Scholars Program)

Rollins Assistant Professor, Hubert Department of Global Health and Department of Epidemiology, Emory University.

Dr. Patel’s is a social epidemiologist whose work focuses on understanding disparities in cardio-metabolic disease morbidity and mortality globally, with particular interests in South Asia and the US.

Karla Galaviz Arredondo
PhD MSc

Associate Director (Practitioners Program)

Assistant Professor, Hubert Department of Global Health, Emory University.

Dr. Galaviz is an implementation scientist whose work focuses on adapting, implementing, and evaluating proven health interventions in real-world settings with a particular focus on multi-morbidities in the US and global South.

Sailesh Mohan
MPH PhD

Associate Director 

Professor, Public Health Foundation of India, and Joint Director of the Centre for Chronic Conditions and Injuries (CCCI).

Dr. Mohan leads various NCD research projects focused on improving the quality of care and health system strengthening through implementation science research and leveraging m-health technology.

Dr. Mohan has been a temporary advisor/technical expert to the World Health Organization (WHO) on NCDs since 2011.

Yewondwossen Tadesse MD

Hover Box Element

Associate Director 

Nephrologist based at Tikur Anbessa (Black Lion) and Assistant Professor in the  Department of Medicine at Addis Ababa University.

Dr. Tadesse has extensive experience training and mentoring medical students and residents in internal medicine.

He has tremendous experience planning and executing national studies on NCDs and kidney diseases.

Shifalika Goenka
MBBS PhD

Associate Director 

Professor, Public Health Foundation of India

Dr. Goenka leads the Physical Activity & Obesity Prevention program at the Centre for Chronic Disease Control (CCDC) – a WHO Collaborating Center for Surveillance Capacity Building, & Translational Research in Cardio-metabolic diseases.

Her work focuses on physical activity, obesity and climate change, and environmental policies for the prevention of non-communicable diseases.

Abebaw FekaduMD MSc PhD

Associate Director 

Director, World Bank Africa Centre of Excellence for Medical Discovery (CDT-Africa) and, Co-Director, WHO-Collaborating Centre for Mental Health Research and Capacity-Building in the Department of Psychiatry, Addis Ababa University.

Dr. Fekadu is an African Research Leader of the Medical Research Council/DfID, UK.

His research interests include clinical trials, complex interventions, mood disorders, and knowledge translation.

Participating Institutions

Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia USA (https://www.sph.emory.edu) is recognized as one of the nation’s leading research universities. The Rollins School of Public Health (RSPH) at Emory University is ranked fifth among public health graduate schools by U.S. News & World Report (2020). Located in Atlanta, GA, the “Public Health Capital of the World,” RSPH is in close proximity to the headquarters of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as well as numerous international, state and regional health agencies and non-governmental organizations.

Addis Ababa University (AAU), Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (http://www.aau.edu.et), was established in 1950 as the University College of Addis Ababa (UCAA) and is the oldest and the largest higher learning and research institution in Ethiopia. Since its inception, the University has been a leading center in teaching-learning, research and community service. AAU has 10 colleges, 4 institutes that run both teaching and research, and 6 research institutes, and strives to be responsive to the fast-changing national and international educational landscapes.

Centre for Chronic Disease Control (CCDC), New Delhi, India (http://www.ccdcindia.org) is a not-for-profit organization that seeks to address the growing challenge of chronic diseases across low- and middle-income countries. Research conducted by CCDC has produced major insights into the epidemiology, developmental origins, and treatment of diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. CCDC is also a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Surveillance, Capacity building, and Translational Research in Cardio-Metabolic Diseases.

Acknowledgments

 The COALESCE Program is a collaboration between Emory University’s Rollins School of Public Health, Centre for Chronic Disease Control (CCDC) India, and Addis Ababa University (AAU) Ethiopia. The COALESCE consortium and program are supported by grant #D43TW011404 from the Fogarty International Center of the US National Institutes of Health and generous support from the Halle Institute for Global Research at Emory University.