My Global Health Journey
My journey into global health began during my undergraduate years at Point Loma Nazarene University. Before college, my world largely revolved around a 500 mile radius of my home. Moving 100 miles down the highway to San Diego was a big deal, and I would be lying if I said I did not cry when my parents drove the hour and half back home. Needless to say, I was naive about global health issues when I started college.
During my junior year at Point Loma, I was involved in the usual pre-medical student activities: research, tutoring, studying, lab assisting, etc. Several of my peers participated in a program at Point Loma called LoveWorks, a program where churches around the world invited students from Point Loma to spend a month abroad learning about their culture. I watched my peers struggle after they returned home with challenging questions surrounding privilege, fairness, and poverty. I wanted to understand why many of my friends were dealing with such strong, raw emotions that seemingly were life-changing. That summer, I delayed my summer research grant and participated in a medical service trip to Mangochi, Malawi. The trip was intended for nurses and nursing students. Without medical training and only a marginal understanding of biology and chemistry, I applied and was accepted to work alongside the nurses and nursing students in Malawi.
Without a doubt the most meaningful life-changing experience of my life was traveling to Malawi. I wish I could say I learned clinical skills, made life-long friends, or made an impact on the lives of the people in Malawi. Honestly, I did not accomplish any of these goals. But the time spent in Malawi changed me, just as it changed my peers. When I came home, I felt uncomfortable with my life. I struggled with justifying possessions, my sense of entitlement, and my privilege. The trip opened my eyes to needs beyond my 500 mile radius.
Over the past 10 years, I have been exceptionally fortunate to continue serving in several other countries, including another visit to Malawi. One of the questions I wrestle with is “who is really benefiting from these short-term trip?" This sense of urgency to address the disparity in health care is shared among many of our health care colleagues at the University of Cincinnati. How can we impact health care beyond our local community? And most importantly, how do we make it sustainable? I consider myself extremely fortunate to work among cardiologists at the University of Cincinnati who are committed to working on finding solutions to global health care disparities.
The Rwanda Initiative at the University of Cincinnati, established in 2019, is a collaboration with the internal medicine residency and faculty at the University of Kigali’s main medical center (CHUK) and 3 referral hospitals in the country. Our mission is to deliver a high quality, cardiovascular educational curriculum to our colleagues in Rwanda. The intent is to empower them to train Rwandan physicians to become cardiovascular subspecialist in order to address the countries health care needs. Like many countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, Rwanda is drastically under-served in health care providers, specifically sub-specialists.
To date, we have approximately 20 senior faculty cardiologists from the University of Cincinnati actively engaged in educating the next generation of physicians in Rwanda. Travel restrictions from COVID have only opened opportunities to implement web-based, virtual conferences. Over the last 6 months, we have collaborated with our colleagues via web-based platforms discussing key topics in cardiovascular medicine. We are tracking our effectiveness comparing pre-lecture and post-lecture quizzes, and already we are seeing significant improvement in the residents’ knowledge base and approach to patients. Our goal once COVID restrictions are lifted is to send our cardiologists to Rwanda for 2-4 week trips spanning the course of 4-6 months to deliver a comprehensive cardiovascular curriculum, to mentor the internal medicine residents, to teach hands-on clinical pearls, and to foster a long-term relationship with the program leadership.
Working with the residents at the University of Kigali is one of the highlights of my fellowship. I am excited to continue in this journey and to continue learning alongside my colleagues in Rwanda.
