Graduation World Tour 2009 - Ward Rounds - Northwestern University

shortly thereafter. She feels that the center staff’s practicalexperience in resource-limited countries helps themquickly assess what is practical and what is not. “How doyou deliver health care when there is no running water,electricity, or doctors?” she asks, pointing out that she andher center colleagues have already faced these questionsand found answers.She describes a typical clinic scene as a mass of people,who patiently wait for hours to be seen. “When you cometo the clinic in the morning 100 to 200 patients are waitingfor you,” she describes. “Not only are they sitting in avery warm room not complaining, but they also are gratefulthat they are able to obtain this quality of health care.”Dr. Scarsi’s respect carries over to the in-country healthcare workers, too. She was grateful to meet these clinicianswho work without complaint until every last patient hasbeen seen. “Here we work from the heart, not for themoney,” she recalls one Nigerian pharmacist telling her.Giving Backto the WorldRobert J. Havey, MD ’80, GME ’84, and his associates atChicago Lake Shore Medical Associates (CLSMA) havecome up with a unique way to give back—to the world.Through solicitations to their patients, they’ve raised morethan $230,000 in support of the new Center for GlobalHealth. This fundraising has made it possible for 63 studentsto visit several different sites, including Bolivia,Jamaica, Nicaragua, and South Africa. Their Global HealthInitiative fund provides financial support to Northwesternmedical students who would like to travel to underresourcedclinics around the globe to further their education.Through flyers in the waiting room, postings on theirweb site, and an annual fundraising event, CLSMA offersits patients an opportunity to provide charitable supportthat will make a difference in both global health care andthe future of primary care medicine.Playing integral roles in the development of the new center are (fromleft), Dr. Kimberly Scarsi, Adam Koon, and Drs. Babafemi Taiwo,Shannon Galvin, Baiba Berzins, and Kristin Darin.“We are helping the people of our community and thatis all anyone can hope for in a career.”What started in 2005 as six sites in Nigeria has grownto 35, making personal visits to each site prohibitive in thetypical 10- to 12-day visits conducted throughout the year.Now Drs. Scarsi and Darin focus on more “central training,”where staff from each of the sites attend a trainingsession in a central location and then take the knowledgeback to their clinics.The center’s plans also include hiring an administratorto manage travel arrangements, visas, and grants, as well asan assistant director to coordinate all activities.Medical students have served as one of the biggestmotivators for the establishment of the Center for GlobalHealth. Today’s students enter Northwestern having traveledextensively and expect such opportunities as part oftheir continuing education. Medical student SaraPatrawala from Rochester, New York, for example, studiedin Germany while working on her undergraduatedegree in environmental sciences at Northwestern. Lastyear she spent eight weeks in India working on a project:she compared obstetric perspectives between patients in afree clinic for the poor versus one that served a more affluentpopulation.In addition to student interest, all physicians increasinglyrequire knowledge of global diseases as the worldbecomes a smaller place. Consider that the acronym AIDSrequires no explanation anywhere in the world. The diseasenot only influences the physical health of people but alsohas impacted total economies and upset the balance ofpower politically. Today global health issues play a role inthe practice of every physician whether he or she practicesin Cairo, Egypt, or Cairo, Illinois.Russell G. Robertson, MD, chair of the Departmentof Family and Community Medicine, serves as associatedirector of education for the center. Three existing departmentprograms will serve as the framework for studenttravel experiences. Students can choose from programsoffered by the Office of Medical Education (OME), theOffice of International Program Development (IPD), andthe Office of Global Health Education and CommunityServices (GHECS), explains Adam Koon, MPH, whohelps coordinate global health education for the center.Koon has traveled to under-resourced countries as part ofhis MPH studies. He recently joined Northwestern fromEmory University.Those interested in traditional study experiences inEurope and other developed countries can choose from anumber of formal affiliations offered by OME, includingprograms in Japan, Taiwan, France, Sweden, Germany,and the Czech Republic. If students desire an establishedcurriculum with formal rotations in China, Uganda, SouthAfrica, or Mexico, they can take advantage of IPD offerings.Finally, through an affiliation with the HeartlandAlliance for Human Needs and Human Rights, GHECSoffers clinical internships in Mexico and Guatemala thatrun from four to eight weeks. These shorter jaunts typicallyinterest students completing their early years of medicalschool and looking for summer experiences. Oftenfourth-year students hoping to complete their electivesabroad will work in clinics where there is a strong Northwesternfaculty presence.Recalling her senior year experience, Elizabeth K.Wolf, MD ’08, spent one month in Palacios, Bolivia, lastyear completing a family medicine rotation in a rural clinicremotely run by medical school faculty member Mark E.Molitch, MD, professor of medicine. “I saw unusualconditions such as Chagas disease,” recalls Dr. Wolf,“a parasitic ailment that I would never have seen in theUnited States.”The Department of Family and Community Medicinealso administers two different scholarships tosupport student travel through affiliated and unaffiliatedprograms at Northwestern. Recipients of the Ken andRuth Davee Scholarship as well as the Global HealthInitiative funding (see sidebar on opposite page) conductprimary care rotations and community health projects indeveloping countries.Students often seek global health opportunities fortwo reasons: a cultural and/or educational experience or towork on a project. Both have merit. Students in the firstgroup typically shadow physicians and “see what healthcare is like in another setting,” explains Dr. Murphy, addingthat such an opportunity can be the beginning of asocial consciousness that may lead to a different careerpath later in life. Those seeking project-related experiencesvisit a location where medical professionals need an extrapair of hands to manage data, help in a lab, or perhaps evensee patients under the supervision of a licensed physician.The center has already set up some of these projects inSenegal, Malawi, Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania.Despite the medical school’s enthusiasm and support,the center will clearly need to focus its efforts to become asuccess, according to Dr. Murphy. Building sustainablereciprocal relationships takes time. He sees little expansionin Latin America or Africa beyond Northwestern’s presentpartnerships. Asia, however, is wide open, particularlyVietnam and Cambodia. On the European front, Dr. Murphylooks forward to a growing relationship with France’sPierre et Marie Curie University–Paris, which ranks 39thout of the top 50 universities in the world.Multifaceted, the center also serves as a testament tothe school’s objective of providing volunteer medical servicesand relieving human suffering. Emphasizes Dr. Murphy,“Our mission in global health care is to help as manypeople as possible and to answer the important medicalquestions relevant to the people of the world.”In Botswana native dancers welcomed members of the PEPFARprogram, including Drs. Murphy, Scarsi, and Darin, who attended theglobal group’s annual tri-country meeting involving Nigeria,Tanzania, and Botswana.Learn more about the new Centerfor Global Health!Visit WardRoundsOnline.com today!16 ward rounds summer 2009 wardroundsonline.com 17