Summer 2019
Pamela Capellan
Location: London, United Kingdom
Organization: Imperial College Ophthalmology Research Group (ICORG)
This past summer I had the wonderful opportunity to conduct my summer elective with the Imperial College Ophthalmology Research Group (ICORG) in London, UK. At Imperial College’s affiliated hospital, the Western Eye Hospital, I spent most of my time working on research projects, shadowing various specialties within ophthalmology, and attending lectures on advancements in the field. A typical day at the hospital consisted of me attending a morning lecture followed by shadowing an ophthalmologist for a few hours and concluded with working on my research projects. I worked on a population-based study focused on the incidence of retinal detachment in patients with a history of retinopathy of prematurity in the UK with Dr. Rahila Zakir, a vitreoretinal surgeon and ophthalmic consultant. I also worked on a review looking at the correlation between retinal changes and psychiatric disorders with Melanie Almonte, a clinical research fellow, and Professor Cordeiro. Towards the end of my time at ICORG, I began gathering data on a future project with another clinical research fellow, Timothy Yap, observing how frequently normal tension glaucoma patients are sent for an MRI scan and their results. My experience at the Western Eye Hospital surpassed my expectations because each day I learned something new whether that was practicing using a slit lamp on patients, reading optical coherence tomography scans, or understanding the UK’s healthcare system. When shadowing, I observed the interactions between the physicians and patients and noted how little conversations focused on the financial aspects of the patient’s care. I also noted the dependency patients have to the country’s healthcare system if they are unable to afford seeing a physician privately. For example, a patient whose eye condition was declining his quality of life, had to wait an extensive time for the surgery because he was unable to afford private care. My elective gave me a glimpse into the world of ophthalmology both from a clinical and research perspective. It also further inspired my original objective which was to experience working abroad to determine if it is something I would like to incorporate in my future career while also allowing me to begin forming international connections.
Summer 2018
Yili Zhao
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Organization: World Health Organization Headquarters
Yili worked as an intern in the Surveillance and Prevention of Noncommunicable Disease Unit in the Department of Prevention of Noncommunicable Diseases, and Mental Health Cluster at WHO HQ. Her team consisted of six members; one team leader, two Technical Officers, two Consultants, and one to two interns. The team members came from Russia, New Zealand, Australia, Morocco, the United Kingdom, and the States.
At the HQ level, most of the work is organizational, and the meat of the work that WHO accomplishes is at the regional offices. She felt that the most valuable parts of her experience were the lunchtime seminars, conferences and talks that described what other departments and the general organization were working on, since the teams are fairly isolated from one another on a day to day basis. She also really enjoyed being part of the intern board where she witnessed the inner workings of the WHO and getting involved with advocating for more rights and greater diversity.
Summer 2017
Rosanna Sobota
Location: Milan, Italy
Organization: Humanitas University
Rosanna spent eight weeks at Humanitas University in Milan, Italy working in the lab of Marinos Kallikourdis. Her research focused on studying the inflammatory markers in both the brain and heart in a mouse model of heart failure and in aging mice. She was responsible for the statistical analysis of data, including comparisons between the experimental and control groups of each model and correlating inflammatory makers with the behavioral and echocardiogram outcomes. During her experience, she was able to learn how to perform PCR and how to culture cells with sterile technique, while she also expanded her comfort level with statistical software.
Evguenia Makovkina
Location: London, England
Organization: King’s College London and Maudsley Hospital
Last summer, Evguenia conducted a clinical research project jointly at King’s College Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology, and Neuroscience and the Maudsley Hospital under the mentorship of Dr. Dennis Ougrin. Her responsibilities included retrospectively examining the long-term effects of incorporating psychotherapy into assessment of adolescents presenting to the emergency room with self-harm. She learned a great deal about the UK’s model of healthcare delivery and clinical disorders of child and adolescent psychiatry.
Summer 2016
Andrew Ebanks
Location: Geneva, Switzerland
Organization: World Health Organization
Andrew interned at the World Health Organization in the Department of Non-Communicable Disease (NCD) Surveillance under Melanie Cowan. His role involved several distinct projects throughout the course of eight weeks. Andrew kept track of submitted documents and verified whether or not they met requirements. He worked on the most recent Global Health Survey, proofreading and editing any discrepancies in the drafted report as well as created a presentation for the Director of the NCD department to present at a conference on the topic. Andrew’s goal was to understand how an international health organization functions, specifically how departments interact with each other and with local country offices.
Summer 2015
Asia Gobourne
Location: London, United Kingdom
Organization: Kings College
Asia spent eight weeks at Guy’s and St. Thomas Hospital, Kings College in London. Her objective was to conduct an analysis comparing the health system she observed with the US health system, specifically in regards to Emergency Medicine. She studied how medical issues presenting in the emergency setting differed amongst underprivileged and diverse patient populations when they had free access to care. During her experience she also had the opportunity to help write patient notes, read ECGs and discuss treatment plans with attending physicians.
Alexandra Berman
Location: Menorca, Spain
Organization: Sanisera Archaeology Institute
Alexandra participated in a bioarchaeology research project located in Menorca, Spain. Under the guidance of her host mentor, Julie Thomas, she assessed the ethnic characteristics of individual cranial and post cranial skeletal remains from the Sanisera population and compared the structural bone changes in skeletal remains from the Sanisera site to samples in osteological collections. Through comparative analyses, Alexandra was able to better understand how lifestyle and weight bearing activities played a role in the ultimate structure and remodeling of bone. She learned more about the global movement of peoples and genetic ancestry of the population through biological affinity.