This eleventh conference will focus on Global Health on a Warming Planet, emphasizing the relationship between health and climate. The interdisciplinary conference
invites participants from different disciplines to engage in civil discourse on a
different topic each year. The format of the conference includes workshops, presentations,
and posters.
The IOC theme for 2026 is a unique opportunity for collaboration to benefit the hundreds
of students who take interdisciplinary global health courses every semester. Offering
the first officially approved interdisciplinary global health programs at the university
since 2018, the Center for African Studies is happy to co-sponsor this conference
to further understanding, research and publication in global health.
The conference series was commissioned by former President Charles J. Dougherty as
an endowed academic event. Current University President, Ken Gormley, continues to
inspire excellence in support of the Spiritan mission as the conference series develops.
The conference has three goals:
Provide a scholarly opportunity to engage established and emerging research on the
conference topic
Foster interdisciplinary discourse on each topic, such as science, health, philosophy,
religion, and policy
Enlighten public awareness and discussion of the conference topic
Conference Information
Speakers
Adelheid Onyango, PhD
Dr. Adelheid Onyango is Director of the Health Systems and Services (HSS) Cluster
at the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa (AFRO). In that capacity,
she oversees AFRO’s work with 47 Member States in building health systems that are
resilient to financial, political, economic and environmental shocks; systems that
can deliver high-quality, person-centered services throughout the life course to achieve
universal health coverage.
Dr. Onyango is leading the Regional Office HSS team, coordinating with WHO global
and countrybased teams in Africa, to design and implement strategies for health systems
governance, financing, health workforce capacitation and deployment. They are collaborating
with governments and development partners to define service delivery models inspired
by the primary health care approach, informed by science, and powered by digital innovation.
Dr. Onyango has worked with the WHO for over 27 years, in diverse geographic, socioeconomic,
and cultural contexts. With 16y based at the global headquarters and 11y at the Regional
Office, she is skilled in steering global, regional and national policy dialogues
and facilitating collaboration among diverse stakeholder groups. Her role in the AFRO
Executive Management has placed her at the frontlines of the African Region’s strategic
realignment during a period of unprecedented leadership transitions. Since February
2025, she has accompanied sta? with empathy as they navigate change and uncertainty
while co-managing organizational restructuring and resolving conflicts.
She holds a bachelor’s degree in education from Kenyatta University, Nairobi-Kenya,
and Master of Science and a Doctorate in nutrition from McGill University, Montreal-Canada.
Her early childhood education instilled a deep appreciation of and grounding in the
value of family. To this day she remains closely connected with the community of her
birth and childhood.
Presentation: Keepers of Nature and Providers of Care: an African Woman’s Perspective on Climate
and Health Date and Time: March 24, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Abstract: Keepers of nature and providers of care: an African woman’s perspective on climate
and health
Indigenous African communities cultivated crops, pastured animals, or hunted and gathered
food in patterns that aligned with largely predictable seasonal changes. These subsistence
practices were informed by indigenous ecological science which dictated how to protect
water sources, cull animals or migrate herds, and guided the cycles of fallowing and
cultivating the land. Modernization, urbanization, population growth and climate
change have progressively altered how communities manage their habitat, with variable
consequences for health and well-being.
Human health is affected by climate change through direct or indirect exposure to
extreme weather events, heat stress, air quality, water scarcity, food insecurity,
disease vectors. Vulnerability to climate change depends on the interplay between
exposure and demographic, geographic and biological factors as well as social and
ecological conditions in which people live.
Women in Africa experience sex-specific vulnerabilities as well as those linked to
their responsibilities in caring for children, the sick and the elderly, fetching
water, and producing and cooking food for their families. As part of combating the
impacts of climate change, women and communities are taking initiatives to restore
land and recover climate-smart indigenous subsistence practices. The keynote will
showcase some of these initiatives and highlight challenges to and opportunities for
successful adaptation to climate change.
Chika Onyejiuwa, CSSp
Chika Onyejiuwa was a graduate of Biochemistry before joining the Holy Ghost Congregation
in 1989. He was concreted to the apostolate in 1997 and ordained a priest in 1998.
He served as a pastor to the communities in the highly polluted creeks of Niger Delta
of Nigeria and formed part of the communities’ struggle for environmental justice
for 8 years. Chika Onyejiuwa did other graduate studies after ordination at the Institute
of Spiritual Leadership in the Catholic Theological Union (CTU) Chicago and Creigton
University Omaha, Nebraska. In 2014, he was called by the Congregation serve as the
Executive Secretary Africa Europe Faith & Justice Network (AEFJN) in Brussels that
has kept him on the frontline environmental advocacy. He is currently the Executive
Director of KIBANDA asbl; an NGO belonging to the European Spiritans that promotes
sustainable and integral human development.
Presentation: Global Warming: A Threat to Global Health Security Date and Time: March 25, 2026 at 6 p.m - 7:30 p.m. Abstract: Two global warming factors appears to underpin threats to global health. Industrial Food System: The global food system is grown with antimicrobials, pesticides,
herbicides, fungicides or any other “cides”. This has destroyed left us with poison
on our plates instead of food. Knowing that health is largely determined by what we
eat, we need agroecological transition and farmers’ managed seed system in food system
as a strategic solution. Soil Carbon Credits: The soil carbon trade is an unsustainable strategy for climate
mitigation for two critical reasons. (i) Achieving carbon neutrality does not reduce emissions, which is a key strategy
for reducing global warming. (ii) The idea that the sequestered carbon credits will remain permanent is a fallacy
because the natural disasters and other human activities are not factored in. The warming temperatures promote mutations of microbial strands producing the “superbugs”.
This antimicrobial resistance is a growing threat to public health.
Conference Schedule
March 24, 2026
Duquesne University Power Center
6:00 - 7:30pm: Opening Plenary Presentation
March 25, 2026
Duquesne University Power Center
10:00 - 10:50am: Student Presentations
11:00 - 11:50am: Student Presentations
12:00 - 12:50pm: Student Presentations
01:00 - 01:50pm: Student Presentations
02:00 - 02:50pm: Student Presentations
03:00 - 03:50pm: Student Presentations
6:00 - 7:30pm: Closing Plenary Presentation
IOC Proceeding Books
Magill, G., J. Benedict, eds. Health as a UN Sustainable Development Goal. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2026, forthcoming.
Magill, G., J. Benedict, eds. Fostering Well-being as a UN Sustainable Development Goal. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2024.
Magill, G., J. Benedict, eds. Resilience in Ecology, and Health. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. 2023.
Magill, G., J. Benedict, eds. Strands of Sustainability. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2023.
Magill, G., J. Benedict, eds. Toward a Healthy Planet. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2021.
Magill, G., L. Prybil. Governance Ethics in Healthcare Organizations, Routledge, 2020, Paperback, 2021.
Magill, G., J. Benedict, eds. The Global Sustainability Crisis. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2020.
Magill, G., J. Benedict, eds. Cascading Challenges in the Global Water Crisis. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2019. Paperback, 2021.
Magill, G., J. Potter, eds. Integral Ecology. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2018. Paperback, 2021.
Magill. G., Aramesh, K., eds. The Urgency of Climate Change. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2017.
