Summer 2018
Prithvi Mohan
Location: Vellore, India
Organization: Christian Medical College
The main hospital of the Christian Medical College is 8 km away from the medical school campus, which entails a 25 minute ride in jam packed bus through the intense potholes of the streets of Vellore. My first time seeing the hospital was a sweltering mid-afternoon in June, after a morning full of administrative madness. I was struck by the towering blue buildings and the sprawling maze of departments. However, the size of the building immediately paled in comparison to the sheer mass of people present in and around the hospital. It’s not an exaggeration in the slightest to say every surface in the hospital was occupied by all kinds of individuals – patients, family, employees, etc. Imagine the madness of Times Square on a summer weekend. Now multiply that by 5 and make every second person sick and very much in need of help. During my first day in outpatient pediatrics, I learned that parents travel for days to bring their sick children to CMC, and line up the night before clinic to give their kids a fighting chance to see a specialist. Suddenly, the scores of men and women I witnessed sleeping in corridors and eating their meals in the Pediatric building stairwells made complete, heart wrenching sense...Read More
Sarah Caughey
Location: Puttaparthi, India
Organization: Sri Sathya Sai General Hospital
I traveled to the wonderful country of India this summer to work on a project at the Sri Sathya Sai general Hospital in Puttaparthi. My mentor this summer was predominantly Dr. Narayan from the Weill Cornell Trauma department but I was also connected to a local mentor name Dr. Dabir, a practicing dentist at the General Hospital. I spent June 15th- August 3rd in India completing my elective time and then traveled to Chennai for a trauma conference before heading back to the states. My responsibilities on site changed some from my proposed responsibilities due to a miscommunication with training materials. On site I rotated through the General medicine department, obstetrics and gynecology department, mobile clinic, and pediatrics department working closely with an individual physician to learn about clinical medicine. When my mentor from Weill Cornell, Dr. Narayan, traveled to India later in the summer I was able to continue his previous research project, working to train healthcare providers in Stop the Bleed- a module for hemorrhage control training. This research did not require IRB approval and looked more at the training module and how effectively it could be taught to nonnative English speakers. We were hoping to gather an appreciation for the effectiveness of this model to help influence future forms to be more applicable in a global health setting. The research was centered around the administration of pre and post training surveys that we are currently in the process of analyzing.
I had incredible, varied clinical experiences this summer that have made me truly excited for the upcoming year of more hands on medical learning...Read more
Summer 2016
Tasher Losenegger
Location: Maharashtra, India and Uttar Pradesh, India
Organization: Harvard South Asia Institute
With the Harvard South Asia Institute under the guidance of WCM’s Dr. Satchit Balsari and in conjunction with UNICEF and Teerthanker Mahaveer University, Tasher researched infant mortality in government run clinics. Through literature reviews and in-depth field assessments and interviews, he determined what programs already existed to address high rates of infant mortality, how well the programs had been implemented, and proposed areas of improvement based on data collected. The findings have led to two projects, one at a district hospital and one in a tribal district, which are now under development for implementation
Shobana Ramasamy
Location: Vellore, India
Organization: Christian Medical College
During her summer experience in Vellore, under the mentor-ship of Dr. Nitin Kapoor, Shobana worked as a research assistant for the bariatric clinic of the Department of Endocrinology. The overall aim was to better understand health related quality of life in Indian bariatric patients. Shobana’s roles included interviewing patients, collecting information, and analyzing data in order to ultimately identify the best measure of obesity that correlated with quality of life in women. This experience allowed her to see a research project through every step from conception to the completion of the paper. In addition, Shobana also rotated through various hospital departments observing physicians and interns.
Summer 2015
Katherine Li
Location: Pune, India
Organization: BJ Medical College
Katherine spent eight weeks at the BJ Medical College in Pune, India working on a pilot study under the mentorship of Dr. Jyoti Mathad. The study investigated the characterization of suppressed immunity in pregnancy and the associated risk for developing active TB infection. Her role was to coordinate patient enrollment, sample collection, and sample analysis. Additionally she was involved in an effort to transfer patient data from paper copies to a web-enabled tablet interface. Katherine also learned about many other trials taking place at BJMC, and attend clinical rounds at various hospitals throughout Pune.