In 2022-2023, a Bass Connections team is working to address the shortages of labor, funds and infrastructure in neurosurgical settings around the world. Using the World Health Organization’s health system building blocks - from research and technology to service delivery - team members are assessing the big-picture challenges facing these countries’ overloaded neurosurgeons.

“We are a new team ... but we have high hopes to impact not just the individuals in one country, but the systems in multiple countries.” 

When Jasmine Daniel became a Blue Devil, she immediately began to notice the complex relationship between Duke and Durham. She was already interested in research, community engagement and education, having participated in the Knowledge in the Service of Society (KISS) FOCUS cluster as a first year, so when she heard about a Bass Connections team that was strengthening university-community relationships through deep engagement with the Durham

Since 2013, the Education & Human Development theme of Bass Connections (EHD) has engaged students and faculty in interdisciplinary research exploring the range of factors contributing to positive life outcomes from personal and communal health to social and familial connections to income and employment to happiness.