Nancy Fiedler, PhD, professor of environmental and occupational medicine, Environmental and Occupational Health Sciences Institute, has been involved in research initiatives pursuing answers about the effects of pesticides on children who live on farms in Thailand. in Thailand, new funding is being applied for to evaluate the effects of prenatal exposure on cognitive and motor development of Thai infants and children. Training the university faculty in collaboration with the NIH-funded Fogarty International Training and Research in Environmental and Occupational Health Center is essential in helping the faculty work with farmers to teach them how to use chemicals more safely. “It is so hot there, and family homes are open and directly adjacent to the fields, offering no real protection from home to field. You walk straight in from work,” says Dr. Fiedler. “Storage for pesticides and equipment is often within the living quarters. It’s all right there with the kids and family.” Dr. Fiedler credits the Fogarty Foundation for bringing home these concerns, which have received too little attention. Why We Care about the rest of the World t he focus on global health is more important than ever. The issues facing developing nations have a much greater impact than most people realize. According to the World Health Organization, the consequences of an adverse event in one part of the world are highly contagious. Sharing knowledge can promote change in one small nation that can eventually improve lives all over the world. Those who choose to understand the role of health care educators and practitioners in the grandest context of all—the world stage—will be the change agents who lead us into the future. M Robert Wood Johnson I MEDICINE 35