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MCCM Around the
World in 80 Ways
80 Ways our Faculty, Students and Alumni are Circling the Globe:
1. Dr. Sylvia Silver, associate dean of Health Sciences, is helping to build capacity in clinical infectious disease research through Professional Development Programs at the University of Cape Town. Participating on the grant with Dr. Silver and Dr. Johnson are Dr. Joseph Bocchino, chair of the department of Clinical Management and Leadership, and Dr. Zhaohai Li, professor of Statistics.
2. Robin Berlin, MD, PGY-IV, spent the last six months of her Psychiatry residency in Auckland, New Zealand, working with one of few outpatient team’s created to work exclusively with the indigenous Maori population, a group noted for its poor response to traditional psychiatric therapy.
3. Books Without Borders, with support from the International Medicine Programs Office, the GW Africa Center for Health and Human Security, Himmelfarb Library and the Dean’s Office, donated more than 4,000 textbooks and journals to The Kigali Health Institute of Rwanda, The School of Medicine of the National University of Rwanda and The National University of Rwanda School of Public. In fall 2006, the group, led by Amy Fiedler, MSIII, donated 6,000 textbooks and journals to the Orotta School of Medicine in Eritrea.
4. The GW School of Medicine and Health Sciences partnered with Physicians for Peace and the Eritrean government to establish a sustainable graduate medical education program, featuring pediatric and surgical residency training programs, at the Orotta School of Medicine in Asmara, Eritrea. The program began in July 2007.
5. Amita Vyas, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Prevention and Community in SPHHS, joined Hollywood actress Ashley Judd and YouthAIDS/Population Services International on a mission to India to raise awareness of HIV and women’s empowerment in India. During the week-long visit, Dr.Vyas spoke with commercial sex workers in Kamthipura about responsible sexual behavior to help prevent the further spread of HIV.
6. Lara Knudsen, MD-MPH (Global Health Promotion Program), MSIV, had already established herself as an international women’s health researcher and author by the time she entered GW. Her first book, Reproductive Rights in a Global Context, was released by Vanderbilt University Press in June 2006. The book is the result of Knudsen’s travels between ages 17 and 22 to five developing countries and two developed ones across five continents, exploring women’s sexual and reproductive rights.
7. Jeremy Berman, MD ’07 and 8. Zachary Steinberg, MD ’07 founded SIMA: Students for International Medical Action, an organization that is providing an opportunity for seven students to travel to Ethiopia for different summer projects. SIMA has organized several different opportunities for the students including clinical rotations at Black Lion Hospital; the All African Leprosy Education, Rehabilitation, and Training Hospital (ALERT); Fistula Hospital; and Yekatit 12 Hospital among others.
9. Cherie-Priya Dhar, MSII, worked with the Charitable Foundation of American Association of Physicians of Indian Origin in the Shirya Bhat Mission Clinic in Jammu and Kashmir. She helped with educational seminars for refugees from the Kashmir region along with indigenous communities.
10. Noah Rindos, MSIII, co-founded Ayuda Directa USA, which focuses on activities in the fields of education and health with the overriding aim to improve the basic quality of life of the underprivileged who live in Ecuador. Following in the footsteps of students like 11. Stephanie Maximous, MSIII, six GW medical students traveled to Ecuador to participate in a medical brigade providing medical care in rural settings with inadequate access to healthcare.
12. Rachel Van Dusen, MSII; 13. Aruna Kamath, MSII; and 14. Rosemary Eseh, MSII; traveled to Minas Gerais, Brazil as researchers to aid in the clinical study as part of the Hookworm Vaccine Clinical Trials. The Hookworm Vaccine Clinical Trials in Brazil are a product development partnership based at the Sabin Vaccine Institute, with support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, to develop a vaccine against hookworm. The initiative is a collaborative partnership involving the GW Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Tropical Medicine, the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, the Queensland Institute of Medical Research, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical.
15. Dominique Rash, MSIII, gained first-hand experience in the field in 2006 when she traveled to rural China to sample soil to recover infective hookworm larvae. Rash spent three weeks in China working with John Hawdon, PhD, GW department of Microbiology, Immunology and Tropical Medicine, collecting samples in order to determine the location and the intensity of presence of infective larvae in the ground.
16. Michael Cashman, MSII, worked at the Hospital de Niños with Dr. Ricardo Gutierrez in the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery in Buenos Aires, Argentina. There, he learned about the diagnosis of congenital heart disease, observed surgical procedures used in the treatment of heart disease, gained exposure to post operative management and intensive care units, and improved skills in medical Spanish.
17. Oluwakemi Ajide, MSII; 18. Kimberly Noel, MSII; and 19. Heylene Sandler, MSII, served as interns for the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland this summer. They worked in the Department of HIV/AIDS, helping in various capacities including: publishing a document on scaling up HIV testing and counseling in health facilities; analyzing the national health system of the Dominican Republic and Haiti in regards to the treatment of HIV/AIDS; and policy development regarding prevention education for women.
20. Sylvia Gonsahn, MSII, worked on A Qualitative Analysis of the Education System in a Developing Country with the University of Liberia. Through this experience she worked to assess the teaching strategies utilized by university instructors in Liberia, implement the observed teaching strategies while teaching an undergraduate biology course at the university, and investigate students’ responses to Liberian teaching approaches through surveys.
21. Arash Nafisi, MSII, served as a volunteer in the Antipoverty and Grassroots Development Project in Honduras Summer Volunteer Program. The program is run through the American Jewish World Service, an organization dedicated to alleviating poverty, hunger and disease among people of the developing world. The volunteers implemented a sustainable public health project that the local community in Honduras identified as a priority.
22. Joshua Barocas, MSII and 23. Jason Bartsch, MSII, traveled to San Lucas, Guatemala where, along with four physicians and eight medical students, they worked to ensure the success of mobile clinics in pueblitos surrounding San Lucas to provide care to underserved rural populations. As a precursor, both Barocas and Bartsch volunteered at La Clinica del Pueblo in Washington, D.C., a free clinic that provides medical services to DC area Spanish-speaking citizens.
24. Vikram Bakhru, MD ’05 founded the Foundation for International Medical Relief of Children, which is a non-profit, non-denominational organization dedicated to providing access to medical care to underprivileged and medically underserved children around the world. The foundation has clinics or projects in Central America, South America, and South Asia among other regions.
25. Sarah Eberhart, MSII participated as an Ambassador. In this role, she worked with clinical staff at various project sites and will analyze clinical data for grant preparation and policy change.
26. Nina Niamkey, MSII, participated in a clinical apprenticeship in Port-au-Prince Haiti in Internal Medicine and Cardiology. She gained direct exposure to issues of poverty and diseases encountered in an urban hospital primarily focusing in adult care.
27. Lisa Jacob, MSII, participated in a Child Family Health International program entitled “Introduction to Traditional Medicine, India.” The program contains a service aspect which allowed her to provide healthcare to underserved populations in three different towns in Northern India. She also studied the philosophies behind Homeopathy, Ayurvedic Medicine, Neuropathy, and Reiki.
28. Gillian Genrich, MSII, worked in Trinidad and Tobago developing a directory of faith-based HIV/AIDS counseling and support groups. The directory will serve as a guide for individuals newly diagnosed with HIV/AIDS to find spiritual/religious support. Genrich also evaluated services offered by religious groups in the Port of Spain, Trinidad and studied the range of healing and coping strategies among the HIV positive population, according to age.
29. Matthew Neimat, MSII, worked with the Foundation for Integrated Education and Development, an organization providing medical care to more than 10,000 indigenous inhabitants of the upper Napo River region of the Amazon. While in the Amazon, Neimat helped develop medical education programs for local high schools and provide healthcare to the regional inhabitants.
30. Yasar Torres-Yaghi, MSII, worked for Mision Barrio Adentro (Mission into the Neighborhood) in Caracas, Venezuela. Mision Barrio Adentro is the largest medical outreach initiative in Venezuela providing healthcare access to more than 70 percent of the population. Yasar worked with a team of medical students from around the world in underprivileged neighborhoods observing doctors, nurses, and certified medical professionals giving patients emergency medical attention for skin lacerations, puncture wounds, and water related diseases.
31. The Global Health Track: The Global Health track is designed to increase students' awareness about international health systems, regional diseases and to learn how to assess the specific health needs of countries at various stages of development. Students attend a lecture series during their first and second years of medical school that include topics such as: health and the Millennium Development Goals; maternal health; child mortality rate; communicable diseases; HIV/AIDS; environmental sustainability; infectious diseases; and the effects of global terrorism on health. Students also participate in a summer experiential opportunity, a practice of medicine scholarly project, and fourth year elective related to global health. There are currently 53 first and second year medical students participating in the track.
32. Anita Thomas, MSII; 33. Homa Khorrami, MSIV; and 34. Nahma Khorrami, MSII, attended the Three Days, One World Global Health Summit in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The students reflected upon the urgency of issues that face the developing world today and talked candidly about potential solutions. The conference, hosted by Physicians for Peace and The George Washington University among others, explored in particular, maternal health, child health, and infectious diseases. Conference organizers included Dr. Jim Scott, Dean of the Medical Center, and Dr. Huda Ayes, Executive Director of the International Medicine Programs.
35. Sophia Bous, MSII, volunteered at an orphanage in Cairo, Egypt in multiple capacities this summer. She worked with the children in teaching them the importance of nutrition, proper hygiene, education, social interactions, and general healthcare. She also worked with a local physician who cares for the children at the orphanage, to bring awareness to prevalent genetic disorders affecting children in the Middle East. She coordinated with the Ministry of Health to propose the consideration of potential treatments for those who suffer from these disorders.
36. Tyson Chadaz, MSII, traveled with Mission Madagascar to work on an orphanage rebuilding project and accompanied an ophthalmologist, who offered free services. Chadaz helped advertise free screening and cataract surgeries, and worked closely with doctors and nurses from the area. Mission Madagascar also provided free prescription glasses to Malagasies who could not afford them.
37. Jaclyn Davis, MSII, worked this summer at the Children’s Health Project of DC, which serves communities in the Anacostia region of Southeastern Washington, DC. The project is a comprehensive pediatric medical and dental clinic serving children ages 0–21. Along with a clinical preceptorship, where Davis worked with pediatricians and dentists on mobile units in the community, she developed educational tools for children and families and piloted educational seminars.
38. Monica Hannon, MSII, developed a project entitled DC Community Health Education project where she worked at the Emery Shelter in Northeast Washington, DC, a shelter that provides transitional housing primarily for middle-aged African American males who have recently been incarcerated and have a history of substance abuse. This project, funded by the Arnold P. Gold Foundation, provides residents the opportunity to attend eleven class sessions and participate in a community health project on topics such as nutrition, high cholesterol, heart disease, hypertension, diabetes, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis, and cancer. Monica not only provided relevant health information and skills to the residents, but also equipped them with skills to share knowledge with other individuals in their own community.
39. Alexandra Davalos, MSII, interned for the Federal State Affairs Office at the National Association for Community Health Centers and learned how to implement successful health care advocacy efforts at the federal and state levels. She participated in a multitude of activities such as lectures, site visits, congressional hearings, and advocacy coalition meetings. Through these activities she gained experience engaging in the legislative process of policy making and learned how to develop solutions and manage resources to address policy issues facing community health centers.
40. Rebecca Smith, MSII; 41. John Winters, MSII; and 42. Sam Noureddini, MSIII, had the opportunity to intern at the Office of the U.S. Surgeon General. This summer, the students gained valuable experience by assisted in training United States Public Health Service officers, monitoring their readiness status, evaluating requests for officers to respond to public health emergencies, notifying and briefing officers being deployed and evaluated the outcomes of deployment. They were exposed to domestic and international public health issues that challenge our nation.
43. Matt Bivens, MSIII, and 44. Brandon Jones, MSIII, spent the summer of 2006 in Costa Rica on a program through the Universidad Latina, a small private university in San Jose working in primary care offices alongside healthcare teams providing door-to-door care and education on important public health issues and vaccines.
45. Grace Deukmedjian, MSIII, participated in the Himalayan Health Exchange during the summer of 2006. This healthcare service program provides medical and dental care to underserved people living in the remote Trans-Himalayan regions of Ladakh and Chang Thang Plateau. Deukmedjian was able to assist in providing healthcare to villages in the outskirts of Leh, Lasakh, a Tibetan refugee colony, and in the villages of Tangste and Karzoke along the Tibetan Borderlands.
46. Kofi Essel, MSII, was one of eight medical students selected nationally for the American Society for Nutrition (ASN) and the American Medical Student Association (AMSA) summer clinical nutrition internship. Essel worked on several projects, one of which is called Nutrition Detectives. Nutrition Detectives is a nutrition education program for elementary school children, that teaches kids how to make healthy choices. They learn how to read food labels, detect marketing deceptions while simultaneously learning to identify and subsequently choose healthy foods. Essel helped to create a more culturally sensitive program for the New Haven Public School district. The program is now being run in over 15 states and accessible online.
47. Haala Rokadia, MSIII, volunteered her time to Operation HeartBeat, an organization providing surgical teams and emergency personnel to assist victims of the 2005 earthquake in Kashmir. The organization also provided aid to the reconstruction efforts. In addition to raising funds here in D.C. for infrastructure, Haala also headed to Pakistan and encouraged Pakistani physicians to volunteer in the northern regions and organized a trip for public health students to further contribute to the cause.
48. Michael McManus, MSII, worked at the Center for Workforce Studies conducting studies on specialty selection choice among medical school graduates in an attempt to understand what kinds of student characteristics, medical school experiences and special programs influence their decisions. One project he worked on was building a set of recommendations for medical school's to increase the number of students who choose specialties that are currently, or in jeopardy of, experiencing shortages.
49. Uchenna Okereke, MSIII, worked at the Tutwiler Clinic, a rural health clinic located in a medically underserved country in the Mississippi Delta. In this particular county, the closest physicians are 30 miles away. A staff of 27 people cares for more than 7,400 patients annually. Working in the clinic allowed Okereke to see how socio-economic disparities negatively influence health and disease prevention in a rural community.
50. Patrick Lowerre, MSII, worked at San Francisco General Hospital this summer to design a healthcare survey as a screening tool for dentist office use to help identify key factors that cause increased risk in dental caries in children. He also designed a pamphlet to educate patients on the screening process, good oral health practices, and how to reduce the risk of developing dental caries. This pamphlet will be distributed at community clinics and dentist offices.
51. Michelle Yun, MSII, worked with Senator Kennedy’s Health Policy office, part of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee. She assisted the staff in researching health topics, promoting new legislation, and gathering information from congressional hearings, briefings, and meetings. Her main projects involved the investigation of the recent XDR TB situation and promotion of the new Senate TB bill, Comprehensive TB elimination Act of 2007, endorsed by Senators Brown, Hutchison, and Kennedy. Through her research, she had the opportunity to talk with TB experts such as Dr. Ken Castro, CDC Director of the Division of TB Elimination; Dr. Martin Cetron, CDC Director of the Division of Global Migration and Quarantine; and Dr. Peter Small, Senior Program Officer for Tuberculosis at the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
52. Justin Gettings, MSIII, worked during the summer of 2006 in the western highlands of Guatemala for the non-profit healthcare organization, Talentos de Salud Internacional (Health Talents International). He spent 8-weeks in Guatemala dividing his time between a clinic in Montellano and assisting with mobile clinics in the high mountain town of Chichicastenango. He worked with mainly poor indigenous people of Mayan descent and had over 1,000 patient encounters. He assisted with a group of American Ophthalmologists who performed over 45 cataract removal surgeries. Other visiting surgical teams performed a variety of Gynecological, ENT, Plastic, and General Surgery procedures.
53. Neetu Sekhon, MSIII, traveled to Kigali and Gyseni, Rwanda where she worked in clinics with over 200 patients. Most of her patients were coping with infectious diseases such as parasitic infection from swimming in contaminated waters, Staph infection, and ringworm.
54. Dawn Flandermeyer, MSIII, worked in Shikokho Medical Clinic, located in a small village of about 1,500 people in the Ikolomani Division of the Kakamega District. This division is the poorest in the Kakamega District while the district itself is considered the third poorest of seventy districts throughout the country. Dawn taught first aid and disease prevention classes in primary schools, gave talks on how to prevent and recognize malaria, distributed mosquito nets to children to help prevent malaria, conducted a two-day seminar on female mental and sexual health, coordinated voluntary counseling and testing site (VCT) outreach days for HIV/AIDS testing, and established a medical filing system.
55. Carin Smith, MSIII, volunteered in a government clinic in the rural town of Bangkla, Thailand as well as participated in a mobile clinic that traveled to Isan in the Northeastern region of the country. Some of the prevalent conditions with which Carin dealt included back and knee pain from patient daily manual labor, ulcer/gastritis, and depression/anxiety. Through the mobile clinic, a team of nurses, one practitioner, a pharmacist, and a dentist, along with Carin and her mentor were able to provide medication and glasses to residents of the area. They were able to see 1,491 patients, give out 3,763 prescriptions, and provide 116 patients with dental care.
56. Mira Hui, MSII, interned at the Pan American Health Organization, the regional office of the World Health Organization, probing the gaps in Chinese healthcare. She explored areas in which officials, and members of the Chinese government, believe there needs to be greater development. By coordinating study tours in the United States for high-level Chinese health officials and determining learning objectives for their tours, the Chinese could improve their healthcare system. Other students from GW also worked with PAHO on a safe needle campaign.
57. Christine Bojanowski, MSII, spent summer 2006 gaining perspective and experience in public health through an internship with PAHO. While working at PAHO, Bojanowski assisted in the Worker’s Health Program where she helped develop a Spanish version of the Safe Needle Campaign.
58. Erich Renner, MSIII, spent the first two weeks of his 2006 internship at the PAHO reading everything he could find about TB. His task was to review grants given by the regional global fund in Geneva and evaluate data from Latin American countries to gauge the effectiveness of TB programs. He created a national reporting tool to obtain information from national programs on general indicators of national TB status and operational indicators of national TB program status.
59. Sarah Doaty, MSII, traveled to Corozal, Belize with a group of physicians, nurses and other volunteers to provide ophthalmic care to the underserved population there She went on behalf of Benevolent Missions International (BMI) a non-profit organization that has been providing eye care to the people of Corozal for over 20 years. Doaty and her team performed 79 cataract and pterygium surgeries and provided eye exams to over 400 people.
60. Jordan Wallin, MD ’07 spent a two-week rotation with Operation Smile in Nairobi as an MSIV. Wallin and the other students on rotation with Operation Smile assisted volunteer pediatricians, surgeons, anesthesiologists and intensivists by taking histories, helping with physical examinations, assisting in the operating room and providing post-operative care. In the first week alone the team screened roughly 350 people.
61. Tony Matan, MD ’62 never thought he’d be a frequent visitor at San Quentin Prison, until he and a partner opened an orthopedic clinic at the high security prison. The prison serves as the home to 900 men on death row, therefore requiring many of the exams to be done in shackles and with guards present. While this is an unconventional job, it provides a service to the state of California and an interesting view into a different aspect of life.
62. Amar Narula, MSIII, spent the summer of 2006 working for AcademyHealth, a health services research organization. Narula was involved in planning AcademyHealth’s annual colloquium on the multi-year project, “Building Bridges: Making a Difference in Long Term Care,” which took place in Seattle, WA this past June. He also contributed to the monthly publication, Hot Topic.
63. Hope Jackson, MSIII, spent summer of 2006 at the Center of Media and Child Health (CMCH) in the department of Adolescent Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Children’s Boston Hospital, helping to develop health projects that educate, engage, and inform children and adults about health issues. Jackson spearheaded the next phase of CMCH’s “Mastering Media Messages” outreach initiative.
64. Sona Patel, MSIII, received one of the 2006 Dean’s Distinguished Healthcare Scholars Award for her research project focusing on perinatal depression, a subject she worked on with the MFA’s OB/GYN Department. Eager to continue pursuing her research during medical school, Patel sought approval from Charles Macri MD, FACOG, FACMG, FACS, professor and director, Division of Maternal-Fetal Medicine, to research and write an IRB protocol titled, “Development, Implementation, and Evaluation of a Perinatal Depression Curriculum for Medical Faculty, Residents and Students.”
65. Chris Scott, MSIII, helped the District of Columbia Management Agency plan and execute emergency preparedness procedures in accordance with the National Response Plan and the District Response Plan.
66. Amy Fiedler, MSIII, traveled to Geneva, Switzerland, in 2006 to work with the World Health Organization studying trends in HIV prevalence among pregnant women in sub-Saharan Africa.
67. Sahar Hindi, MSIII, interned with the World Health Organization in Geneva over summer 2006. Hindi worked with the HIV/AIDS Prevention Group focusing on developing and reviewing global policy and guidance on HIV testing and counseling.
A team of 20 GW physicians, staff and physician assistants, public health and medical students, led by Office of International Medicine Programs, embarked on a fourth medical mission to Thomonde, Haiti. The mission, in support of Project Medishare, focused on the GW-adopted Clinic and Commune of Marmont. Members of the team included:
68. Marilyn Chavannes, MSII
69. David Goodwin, MSII
70. Uchechi Wosu, MD ’02
71. Leah Berkowitz, MD ’07
72. LaPrincess Brewer, MSIV
Additional Project Medishare (Haiti) team members:
73. Sanjay Menon, MD ’06, Max Kade Fellowship Program, Austria February 2006—“Being a part of the Operation Smile experience as a medical student gave me the opportunity to see all facets of medical care.”
74. Andy Thanjan, MD ’06, Operation Smile, Honduras, February 2006—“I personally was extremely thankful to God after witnessing the disparity of many Nicaraguans. I truly appreciate and am thankful for what I have been able to achieve, because of what has been available to me; Nicaragua definitely reminded me of this. No matter what field we decide to go into, we spend our lives developing our gifts, yet it truly is not a gift until it is given.”
75. Alan Zarrinneshan, MD ’07, Operation Smile, Nicaragua, January 2006—“Studying in medical school for four years is absolutely necessary, but traveling internationally and working in one of the most underserved, impoverished areas in the world will remind you why you really went into medicine: to restore health to people who otherwise would suffer from illness and disease.”
76. Brieanne Midura, MD ’06, Operation Smile, Kenya, November 2005—“I would highly recommend this elective to student or visiting physicians who desire a change of pace or would like to observe how a national healthcare system can work for a small controlled population.”
77. Marita Mike, MD ’05, University of Malta—“I think my clinical rotation abroad was enhanced by my mentor, the educational environment that different professors and lab personnel within the institute provided.”
78. Geetha Govindarajan, MD ’05, Max Kade Fellowship Program, Austria—“It was great to experience medicine in a different culture and society.”
79. Mekeleya Yimen, MD ’05, Max Kade Fellowship Program, Austria—“Each passing day involved more opportunities to learn.”
80. Reza Sanai, MD ‘05, The American University of Beirut—“A rewarding experience was to be able to do grand rounds with the ward teams, attend outpatient clinics and didactic sessions. I was even able to give a presentation on CMV in Spanish to the pediatric staff.”