Center for Global Health awards 2014 trainee, faculty mentor global health travel grants

Trainee Global Health Grant Awardees

Nana Assah, College of Pharmacy
Project: “Developing a Partnership between Okurase and MUSC through a Volunteer Health Organization”

Originally from Ghana, Assah has an extensive background in the sciences, mostly biochemistry. This led him to pursue an advanced degree, PharmD, in the pharmaceutical sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC). His existing connection to Ghana provides valuable experience in assisting Project Okurase and the community they serve. This summer, he’ll work in various capacities at a clinic in Ghana with Cynthia Swenson, Ph.D., Project Okurase’s co-director. He is committed to making disease prevention his life’s work. Assah’s clinical pharmaceutical knowledge and preexisting relationship with West Africa will fill a role at Project Okurase that is positively representative of MUSC and professionally rewarding for a career in pharmaceutical sciences.

“I see this MUSC medical mission as a tool to strengthen my expertise as a healthcare professional,” said Assah. “It offers me the opportunity to start helping small communities who are deprived of good healthcare due to poverty. To me it is a dream come true and the beginning of the fulfillment of my career goals as a healthcare professional (Pharmacist).”

Theresa Cantu, College of Graduate Studies
Project: “Lipidomic analysis of pansteatitis in Sharp-toothed Catfish at Kruger National Park, South Africa”

Cantu brings a unique and exciting project to this year’s pool of grant recipients: Lipidomic analysis of pansteatitis in Sharp-toothed Catfish at Kruger National Park, South Africa. She is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in the biomedical sciences at MUSC with hopes of a long career researching the physiological and pathophysiological processes associated with environmental health. Cantu feels she has the knowledge and wherewithal to complete what may be the most challenging project of her academic career in the summer of 2014, thanks to previous work with her mentor, Louis J. Guillette, Jr., Ph.D.—Guillette is the Director of the Marine Biomedicine & Environmental Sciences Center at MUSC.
“It is my career aspiration to become an internationally recognized scientist, and because of that, I need experience working in other countries and with international collaborators,” remarked Cantu. “This grant will help tremendously in securing funds to travel to South Africa and set up the groundwork for future projects/grants investigating the disease progression of pansteatitis in wild populations.”

Zakery James, College of Dental Medicine
Project: “AAPHD Global Oral Health Partnership - Central India”

James, a second year dental medicine student, has a strong desire to make an impact on public health dentistry in rural and low resource settings. He co-founded the MUSC chapter of the American Association of Public Health Dentistry (AAPHD) and hopes to use AAPHD as a launching pad for trips to Central India and other underserved areas around the globe. He’ll travel to Nagpur, India in the summer to provide dental health services at Lighthouse Children’s Home, a small orphanage in the city. In serving communities of need, he hopes to gain a thorough understanding of the proper methods to assess the full spectrum of oral health care and its effect on population health over time.

“The MUSC Global Health Trainee Travel Grant not only has awarded my team and me valuable financial assistance for extensive travel costs to India, but the grant application process and timeline offered a concise, constructive platform to organize our thoughts, desires and goals into deliverable objectives for our project,” said James.

Cameron Jones, College of Medicine
Project: “Service-Learning project in Quito, Ecuador with Child Family Health International”

Jones is traveling to Quito, Ecuador as part of Child Family Health International, a non-governmental organization that focuses on providing community-based learning experiences for students in the healthcare field and supporting underserved communities, in spring 2014. As a first year medical student, Jones’ undergraduate background in English provides him with a fresh, unique perspective on medicine and the nuance of holistic practice in low resource settings. Through skills and knowledge attained volunteering with Alliance for Hispanic Health and completing coursework, Jones is prepared to assist his preceptors in screening patients through interviews and physical examinations.

“The MUSC Global Health Trainee grant provides students with an amazing opportunity to serve and learn from the world at large,” said Jones. “Every MUSC student that does research, shadows, or volunteers abroad brings back invaluable experiences that enrich and diversify the MUSC community. Thus, in helping provide the resources for these travels, the Center for Global Health has a lasting impact on not only the grant recipients but those we will care for and work with throughout our careers”

Vasanthan Kuppuswamy, College of Medicine
Project: “Evaluation of a Home-Based Infant Care Program in Rural Southern India"

Kuppuswamy is a first year student in the College of Medicine with roots deeply embedded in the global health community, specifically India. He founded and directs the Tamil Nadu India School Fund, an organization that brings educational opportunities to students in south India. Kuppuswamy will work with Andrea Summer, M.D., MSCR and The Pallavaram Children’s Medical Center, Inc in Chennai, India in early summer 2014. He plans to collect data on immunization uptake rates, breast-feeding rates, incidence of adverse health events requiring hospitalization and incidence rates of infants below the fifth percentile of height and weight according to the World Health Organization growth chart.

“Through the resources available to me, I hope to combine my own ideas for global health with guidance and mentorship from experienced individuals,” said Kuppuswamy. “It is my hope that receiving the Trainee Global Health Grant will allow me to travel to India this summer and accomplish these goals.”

Lauren Little, College of Health Professions
Project: “Service-Learning Project in Uganda”

Little will travel to Masindi, Uganda at the beginning of the summer with Palmetto Medical Initiative (PMI). She is an active student in the Doctorate of Physical Therapy program at MUSC, committing her time outside the classroom to the C.A.R.E.S clinic and SuperStars at the Children’s Museum of the Low-country. She will work with an inter-professional team of health professionals to minimize clinical errors, increase efficiency and better outcomes for patients in Uganda. Little’s depth of experience in working with and treating patients from diverse backgrounds will make her cultural transition simpler.

“This experience will not only teach me how to work professionally with other members of the healthcare team but it will allow me to practice on how to best educate patients so that they can continue healing after conventional treatment is over,” explained Little. “Most of all, this opportunity will teach me new ways to be a stronger physical therapist. I know this experience will be life changing; making me a better person as well as a better physical therapist.”

Susan Linn, College of Medicine
Project: “A Summer Internship Exploring Public Health in a Rural Ugandan Village"

As part of the Uganda Village Project (UVP), Linn will service the rural Iganga district by designing and implementing community-based health programs including needs assessments, outreach about family planning, mosquito net distribution for malaria prevention and shallow well construction to increase access to clean water. This trip will take place this summer, between rainy seasons. Linn is a first year medical student with interests in working with underserved populations domestically and abroad. She has served these interests by volunteering at Crisis Ministries and joining the Global and Tropical Medicine Interest Group. Her previous experience working at a health clinic in Cusco, Peru gives her an early grasp on language proficiency and cultural competency needed for travel to remote, rural regions of the world.

"This summer I will be interning with Uganda Village Project in order to explore my interest in global health, as well as learn what it takes to design and implement community health programs in low resource areas,” said Linn. “By receiving the Global Health Trainee grant, I will be able to undertake this once in a lifetime opportunity to work alongside the people of the Iganga district of Uganda to improve the health of their communities."

Rebecca Shamis, College of Dental Medicine
Project: “AAPHD Global Oral Health Partnership - Central India”

Shamis is traveling to Nagpur, India in spring 2014 to provide oral health care to an orphanage in the region. She will assist a group of roughly 20 students to perform extractions, operative work, and oral hygiene procedures under the supervision of licensed dental professionals, in compliance with American Dental Association standards. Shamis is a second year dental medicine student and co-founder of MUSC’s chapter of American Association of Public Health Dentistry (AAPHD). She currently serves as Community Service Chair for both the American Student Dental Association (ASDA) and Delta Sigma Delta Dental Professional Fraternity. Shamis is looking forward to gaining a clearer understanding of dental public health in a low resource setting by traveling to rural India.

“I believe that learning to be culturally competent is a skill that is hard to obtain in a classroom,” said Shamis. “It requires knowing where people are coming from, acknowledging and accepting that we all stem from different life experiences. Traveling abroad and spending time with community members allows us to see not only what is different about the people we are caring for, but what we have in common with them.”

Elizabeth Slaughter, College of Health Professions
Project: “Inter-professional Service Learning Project”

Palmetto Medical Initiative (PMI) has added another great student of the health professions in Liz Slaughter. She’ll be traveling to Masindi, Uganda to assess needs of the host community to best provide them with appropriate provision of healthcare services this spring. Slaughter is pursuing a Master of Science in Occupational Therapy at MUSC and currently serves as the Occupational Therapy Clinic Coordinator for C.A.R.E.S Clinic. With a passion for rehabilitation and complementary experience, Slaughter is well-suited to effect change in Uganda.

"This grant is making it possible for me to gain professional knowledge and a once in a lifetime experience in Uganda,” said Slaughter. “This trip will give me the opportunity to practice being accepted by a community and to be resourceful with my rehabilitation services in order to be a successful therapist. In May, I will be leaving Charleston with my eyes wide open, knowing that I will return with an unimaginable amount of professional and personal experience."

Ashley Waring, College of Medicine
Project: “International Elective: Establishing Cardiac Care in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania”

Dar es Salaam, Tanzania is the site Waring is applying the medical knowledge and early clinical expertise in a project that demands both. Waring is a fourth year medical student with research experience comprising neuroscience and cardiology. In Tanzania, she is currently working with her mentors, Eric Powers, M.D. and Peter Zwerner, M.D. at a cardiac center. Her objectives are to expand the medical knowledge and treatments for low socioeconomic populations, assist in developing a catheterization lab and create a manageable database system for medical personnel at a local hospital. Through a combination of research, teaching and clinical experience, Waring is confident she can make a marked difference in rural Tanzania.

“Teaching has always been a major part of my life,” said Waring. “Currently, I am about to start my Internal Medicine residency and am pursuing a future career as a physician in academic medicine. Working with the Madaktari program will improve my teaching skills because I will have opportunities to teach Tanzanian students in the challenging environment of a developing country.

Caroline West, College of Medicine
Project: “Developing a model of screening for diabetes in the resource poor setting of rural Tanzania”

West is a first year medical student who will travel to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania this summer to work on a study that incorporates public health concepts and clinical screening methodology with Michael Sweat, Ph.D., MPH and David Ploth, M.D., respectively. West will work to reduce complications in screening for non-communicable disease by designing a screening algorithm for diabetes mellitus that is cost-effective, feasible, technologically appropriate and sustainable for the host country. She has been an active member of the MUSC student community, most notably as president of the Global and Tropical Medicine Interest Group and vice-president of Alliance for Hispanic Health. She has also dedicated a large share of her time to Burn Care International, an international non-profit that raises funds for a pediatric burn unit in Cochabamba Bolivia. West hopes to continue working globally beyond medical school to build sustainability of global health programs and longitudinally impact communities.

"Students can take it upon themselves to get involved in international research projects right here on the MUSC campus, however, without the offering of a grant such as the one from the Center of Global Health, actually seeing your research in the context of its foreign setting becomes a financial difficulty,” said West. This grant advances research and medical outreach projects by providing the means for students to spend time in the place where they have spent hours researching and talking about with their mentors.”

Faculty Mentor Grant Awardees

Patty Coker-Bolt, Ph.D., OTR/L
Associate Professor, Division of Occupational Therapy
College of Health Professions

Palmetto Medical Initiative - Uganda Service Learning Project

Terry Dixon, MD, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Pediatrics
College of Medicine

Service Learners International - Haiti Service Learning Project

Cynthia Cupit Swenson, Ph.D.
Professor, Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
College of Medicine

Project Okurase - Ghana Service Learning Project