Back from challenging international research assignments in countries as diverse as Colombia and Malaysia, the 2011 Downs Fellows presented their findings at an annual symposium and poster session in Winslow Auditorium.
Fourteen Yale students from the schools of Public Health, Medicine, Nursing and the Physician Associate Program worked in countries around the world on health and medical issues as diverse as diabetes control, maternal health, urban slum diseases and AIDS.
In his opening remarks, Dean Paul D. Cleary noted how prescient Wilbur Downs was in advocating international research. A full third of the School of Public Health M.P.H. class travelled internationally this year for their summer internships. Richard Belitsky, deputy dean for education at the School of Medicine, said that a Certificate of Medicine in Global Health is being created to better support student interest.
Simone Asare, MPH candidate, with her preceptor, Debbie Humphries, PhD, MPH.
Simone Asare, an M.P.H. candidate in the division of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases, shared results from her research in Ghana on the relationship between nutritional status and the prevalence of malaria and anemia among children in the Kassena-Nankana District. Some 80 percent of malaria deaths in Ghana occur in children under 5 years old.
Collaborating with local researchers, Asare traveled around the countryside on a motorcycle to interview 237 caregivers about the nutritional history of their children during the wet and dry seasons. She used the qualitative data in conjunction with quantitative indicators such as weight, hemoglobin levels and malaria parasite densities to see how hunger mediates susceptibility to malaria. Asare found an increase in the number of people going hungry in the dry season and an increased rate of disease. “It appears to be a factor in symptomatic malaria,” she said.
In the spirit of Downs, Asare also immersed herself in Ghanaian culture. Besides learning to ride a clutch motorcycle, she petted crocodiles (a revered animal in Ghana) and sampled the country’s rich cuisine. (See slideshow)
The Downs International Health Student Travel Fellowship was created to honor Wilbur G. Downs (1913 - 1991), professor of Epidemiology and Public Health at Yale, and a renowned physician/scientist in the fields of tropical medicine and infectious diseases. The Fellowship supports graduate and professional students who undertake health-related research primarily in low- and middle-income countries.
This year’s program was dedicated to the memory of Dr. Herbert Sacks, a long-time friend of Downs and a member of the Downs Fellowship Committee.
“We miss him and his wisdom, humor, and devotion to the program,” said Kaveh Khoshnood, associate professor at the School of Public Health and chair of the Downs Fellowship.