Happy 10th Anniversary to the Botswana-UPenn Partnership!

As I mentioned in my first post, I spent this summer in Botswana working on a study looking at viral contributors to vulvar cancer. The head of the study is Dr. Carrie Kovarik, a Penn dermatologist and all-around superstar at life. I won’t blather on too much about my incredible summer (my other blog: hayleyinbotswana.blogspot.com has enough blathering to last a lifetime) but I will say that it was amazing and that it furthered my determination to make global health a part of my medical career.

Dr. Kovarik speaking about
telemedicine in Botswana

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Botswana-UPenn partnership: a collaboration between the government of Botswana and the university that has allowed students like me to spend time learning about research and health care in a developing country. In order to celebrate the past 10 years, Penn hosted a Ten Year Anniversary Symposium.

Needless to say, I was incredibly excited for this week’s events. I attended a grand rounds on viral contributors to cervical cancer, a presentation on research in Botswana, a seminar on ICT4D (Information and Communication technologies for development... this is actually an ongoing seminar series) and also a general symposium. While it was cool to hear more about what is going on in Bots, I was even more excited to see some familiar faces: doctors and friends who had flown all the way from Botswana to attend the events!

I also got to attend a meeting about telementoring which is something that I am very interested in. My mentor, the aforementioned Dr. Kovarik, is head of telemedicine for Botswana. While I was in Botswana I got involved with some amazing projects that fall under this umbrella:

• There is a robotic microscope that we would load our dermatology tissue slides into and, via the internet, Dr. Kovarik could control its movements and read the slides from Philadelphia!



We celebrated Cynthia's first
trip to the US with some Philly
Cheesesteak!

• Many speciality services like dermatology, dentistry (and oral pathology in general) and radiology are using mobile phones to take pictures of lesions or X-rays and get expert opinions from all over the world.
• Smartphones are also starting to be used for telementoring: letting residents and doctors have access to medical “apps” that connect them to medical information and to each other.

I am currently helping with a study that deals with the last project and it was amazing to have the opportunity to meet with our Botswana-based constituents: Ryan Littman Quinn (photojournalist extrordinaire/Mobile Telemedicine Programs Manager in Botswana as well as a friend) and the newest member- Cynthia Antwi. The work that they are doing for telemedicine in Botswana is really exciting and I hope to be able to continue my involvement.

Given that we are currently in our renal block (fabled to be one of the hardest parts of the pre-clinical curriculum)... my brain is currently full of ions. I can’t tell you how refreshing it was to be able to stop thinking about potassium transporters and think about how to improve access to healthcare!