For those of you who don't follow me on Twitter, today marked the third annual Duff Center symposium. The first year, we looked at issues surrounding the BP Oil Spill; last year, we looked at nuclear issues; this year, we looked at global health. We had an insane number of speakers come this year, so it was great to have such diversity of thought on campus. Our head of upper school cracked a joke when Jonathan Safran Foer came to visit which I think is still relevant: "The nice thing about having people like this come to GA is that in college you get these same kind of speakers but no one goes. Here, people do go. Because it's mandatory."
Our Keynote speaker was Dr. Robert Michler who works closely with Heart Care International (HCI) which is a non-for-profit that brings American doctors and equipment to the developing world to perform pediatric heart surgeries. One of the many amazing things about this charity is that their patient care statistics match and often improve upon patient care statistics for US hospitals. What I really liked about Dr. Michler's presentation was the focus he placed on sustainability. HCI doesn't just pick a country, go there for a few weeks, and leave. This organization really focuses on training for doctors in the developing world and long term involvement. They work very closely with governments, the clergy, and local doctors to get the support they need to do the work they need to do. Recently, they've gotten the funding in the form of the Alison Scholarship to bring local doctors to the states for further training. One thing they run into in particular is a brain drain. Many doctors will leave their native countries to practice in the developed world as opposed to staying to work with their communities. Programs like this encourage doctors to stay and work in their native countries as well as improving on patient care there. I rarely get excited about these kind of things, but HCI does some really good work in the right way. They leave a lasting impact and work very closely with the community. I think it's especially exciting that they work with the clergy since religious leaders can so often be such an important part of a community all across the world.
As for breakout sessions, I attended one that focused on HIV research and one that focused on global health issues in a more local environment. The session on HIV research was somewhat disheartening. Retroviruses are scary stuff. There is some hope - the speaker in that session is working with something called Tetherin which prevents newly formed virus cells from leaving the cell they're formed in - since we understand restriction factors better now than in the '80s when the HIV/AIDS epidemic first appeared on the radar. But still, scary stuff. My other breakout session focused on the experience of Dr. Bragg - our speaker - in Elmhurst Hospital in Queens. Elmhurst is the most diverse zip-code in America and it's located near La Guardia and JFK airports, so a lot of interesting cases come through their emergency room door. They see a lot of crazy things that you don't see in America that often. To add to my growing germophobia, polio and TB are making a resurgence even in America which is slightly disconcerting.
A lot of interesting work is being done in Global Health. For more info, I direct you here and to Twitter where you can find the experience of about 12 students under #gasymp. Enjoy!
Our Keynote speaker was Dr. Robert Michler who works closely with Heart Care International (HCI) which is a non-for-profit that brings American doctors and equipment to the developing world to perform pediatric heart surgeries. One of the many amazing things about this charity is that their patient care statistics match and often improve upon patient care statistics for US hospitals. What I really liked about Dr. Michler's presentation was the focus he placed on sustainability. HCI doesn't just pick a country, go there for a few weeks, and leave. This organization really focuses on training for doctors in the developing world and long term involvement. They work very closely with governments, the clergy, and local doctors to get the support they need to do the work they need to do. Recently, they've gotten the funding in the form of the Alison Scholarship to bring local doctors to the states for further training. One thing they run into in particular is a brain drain. Many doctors will leave their native countries to practice in the developed world as opposed to staying to work with their communities. Programs like this encourage doctors to stay and work in their native countries as well as improving on patient care there. I rarely get excited about these kind of things, but HCI does some really good work in the right way. They leave a lasting impact and work very closely with the community. I think it's especially exciting that they work with the clergy since religious leaders can so often be such an important part of a community all across the world.
As for breakout sessions, I attended one that focused on HIV research and one that focused on global health issues in a more local environment. The session on HIV research was somewhat disheartening. Retroviruses are scary stuff. There is some hope - the speaker in that session is working with something called Tetherin which prevents newly formed virus cells from leaving the cell they're formed in - since we understand restriction factors better now than in the '80s when the HIV/AIDS epidemic first appeared on the radar. But still, scary stuff. My other breakout session focused on the experience of Dr. Bragg - our speaker - in Elmhurst Hospital in Queens. Elmhurst is the most diverse zip-code in America and it's located near La Guardia and JFK airports, so a lot of interesting cases come through their emergency room door. They see a lot of crazy things that you don't see in America that often. To add to my growing germophobia, polio and TB are making a resurgence even in America which is slightly disconcerting.
A lot of interesting work is being done in Global Health. For more info, I direct you here and to Twitter where you can find the experience of about 12 students under #gasymp. Enjoy!
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