Gary Selnow is professor emeritus at San Francisco State University and a research professor at Claremont Graduate University (CGU) in the School of Community & Global Health. He is also the co-director of the WiRED International Center for Community and Global Health at CGU.
Selnow is the executive director and founder of WiRED International, a non-profit organization started in 1997 while he was serving as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Zagreb. WiRED is a volunteer-driven NGO that provides medical education to underserved communities in low-income regions. WiRED works in coordination with many international NGOs and with medical schools in the United States and abroad. WiRED received the prestigious 2009 international public health award from the Berkeley School of Public Health.
Since founding WiRED, Selnow has turned his attention to growing and establishing the organization’s presence as an international medical and health education non-profit. Working with a team of physicians, medical editors, reviewers, and technology experts, Selnow contributes content to hundreds of medical and health training modules produced by WiRED. All modules are evidence-based and peer-reviewed, and are available without cost to global audiences. Examples of training series include diagnosing rheumatic heart disease, controlling diabetes, understanding infectious diseases, and addressing mother and child health issues.
Funded by grants from the U.S. State Department, the National Institutes of Health, USAID, several large foundations, and individual donors, Selnow directed WiRED health and medical training programs in Iraq, the former Yugoslavia, Africa, Eurasia, and South and Central America. The most sweeping current project is development of a comprehensive and World Health Organization-compliant community health worker (CHW) training program. This program, released in 2020, trains CHWs in medical foundations, clinical procedures, specific diseases, community health instruction, communication, and health data collection. WiRED-trained CHWs fill a critical role in the healthcare systems of low-income countries, and, because of the COVID pandemic, they are in especially great demand.
Selnow is the author or co-author of seven books. He was twice a Fulbright Scholar—in Austria, then at the University of Zagreb in Croatia; he served for three years on a Fulbright Senior Scholar review panel. Selnow coordinated a national communication program for a White House task force and served as a research methodologist for the U.S. Information Agency. He consulted with the U.S. Department of State, NBC Television, and the National Academy of Sciences. Along with being a pilot in the U.S. Air Force, Selnow was also a regular commentator on Public Radio International’s Marketplace program, and was awarded the 2004 President’s Medal at San Francisco State University.
Co-authored with W. Crano. “The Quiet Work in Disease Prevention.” Medical Journal of Southern California Clinicians 12, no. 1 (2018).
Co-authored with M. Othman and M. Katchani. “On Approaching One Health.” The Journal of Southern California Clinicians, (2017).