Students lead global health equity effort in Nigeria
Driven by a commitment to global health equity, McGovern Medical School students William McCarthy and Rakesh Kathiresan traveled to Ogun State, Nigeria, in the summer of 2025 to combat schistosomiasis, using innovative, low-cost diagnostic tools to reach underserved communities along the Oyan River.
Working alongside Nigerian public health expert Tope Olubodun, with support from Soneye Islamiat, director of Ogun State’s Neglected Tropical Disease Office, the team conducted urine screening clinics in five remote fishing villages in July and August. The effort resulted in treatment distribution to 404 residents in underserved communities where access to diagnostic services and medication is often limited.
With local ethical approval and UTHealth Houston Institutional Review Board approval, the team piloted new point-of-care diagnostic tests, including the SchistoFilter, a device designed by McGovern Medical School students. The team also tested DTree, a molecular diagnostic co-designed and evaluated by Stanford University PhD candidate Hope Leng.
The initiative grew from a collaboration with Stanford University’s Manu Prakash, PhD, whose work on accessible diagnostics inspired McCarthy to guest lecture in Stanford’s Frugal Science course in spring 2025. That connection led to an on-campus innovation sprint and the development of the SchistoFilter, a low-cost, reusable diagnostic tool designed specifically for schistosomiasis screening.
The fieldwork in Nigeria was funded through $10,000 raised via peer-reviewed crowdfunding, which was matched by Prakash. Additional support includes a $12,000 grant secured by McGovern Medical School faculty mentor Jayhun Lee, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, through the 2025 Global Health Educational Innovations and Research Faculty Award from the Office of Global Health Initiatives.
Moving forward, students from Health in Your Hands — Simon Birk, Caroline Crain, Madison Horn, Richa John, Megan Ngai, Catherine Zhang, Kat Le, and Ivy Zheng — will continue to coordinate global health efforts alongside McCarthy and Kathiresan. The group plans to expand this accessible diagnostics model to cervical cancer screening, neurodiagnostics, and health education initiatives across multiple continents.