Hello all! This blog post is a combined look at the beginning of December and the entirety of January, considering both of those months were shortened by Winter Break. Here’s what we’ve been up to…

The seniors have been working hard on our Factfulness chapel. It is coming up in a few weeks and we are getting ready! We have created a Kahoot quiz for the Upper and Middle School students to take prior to the chapel, after which we will compile the data to convey it to everyone during the actual chapel. The seniors will be running through the chapel in front of the rest of the GHF’s to practice! We are eager to show the student body Hans Rosling’s look at our world more clearly to push back against the negative worldview that has become increasingly common.

The 20s and 21s continue presenting their case studies to each other. The 21s are gaining valuable insight into the public health field and the various interventions it has seen. Ells just presented a case study about an intervention for measles in South Africa.

The 20s have decided to dedicate the rest of the second semester (and possibly next year!) to creating a reference source for global health in the form of a book. They have broken it up into chapters and sections and are embarking on exciting research for their project. They have tackled this project in order to create a helpful source of information for the current fellows but also the future Global Health Fellows! An insider (the lovely Miss Julia Duarte) says that the book will cover everything from non-communicable diseases, to mental health, to refugee crises, and beyond! Much encouragement to our 20s on this new venture!

As a program, we are steady in our hard work on projects for Belize. The 20s and 21s have stepped up to continue these projects after the seniors graduate and the seniors are giving it their all in these last few months. Our projects continue to grow, even as they face challenges, much like us as students and Global Health Fellows.

As January comes to a close, we continue to work, heads down, grateful for this talented group and eager for our continued partnerships in Belize. Happy February!

Written by Madeleine Munn ’19.

Written by Ella Davis ‘21 and Erin Clayton ‘21.

The GHF ‘21 and ‘20 cohorts recently had the pleasure of enjoying a discussion with Dr. Kenneth Tiffany, a Neonatologist in the NICU at the Children’s Hospital of the King’s Daughters. His visit correlated with topics that the ‘21s are diving into. We are currently conducting interviews with mothers on pregnancy and birthing experience, as well as creating a better understanding for global maternal and infant health. Dr. Tiffany first told us about his career path to becoming a neonatologist and the many years of education that was required to become a doctor. This included a fellowship of two years working in the field of his choice – neonatology. After years of hard work, he began actually seeing patients at age 35. He also mentioned the various birth defects that he sees in his daily work, ranging from Gastroschisis to Cleft Palate. Additionally, we talked about the different physical features of these defects and how to notice them after birth: upward slanting eyes, small head, and short neck for Down Syndrome, and a smooth surface between nose and upper lip as well as an upward facing nose for Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. We particularly enjoyed Dr. Tiffany’s perspective on doctors’ shift hours. While many believe doctors should be given shorter shifts, he thinks this is a step in the wrong direction, for after certain amounts of time, their actions become instinctive. Without these longer hours, these instincts would be taken away, and surgeons run the risk of leaving the operating room mid-surgery, being replaced by newer (potentially less informed) doctors. Lastly, our favorite part of the presentation was when Dr. Tiffany shared his advice on preventing birth defects and prevention tips to share with the people we work with in Belize. One of these tips was preventing Fetal Alcohol Syndrome by educating mother’s to not drink during pregnancy. Thank You Dr.Tiffany for taking the time to help the fellows understand the work of a Neonatologist!

Written by Madeleine Munn ‘19.

Happy Thanksgiving and happy beginning of winter! This month has seen hard work for the Global Health Fellows. The boys’ team won the senior case competition and the prize of three Moe’s gift cards. We have broken up into project groups and begun project work! We have groups working on a family exercise class, a health and nutrition curriculum, a clinic, a technology curriculum, and for my group, women’s empowerment, two more books and finishing the empowerment curricula. The 19s are furthering their Factfulness chapel plans in their meetings, and the 20s and 21s are extensively studying and presenting case studies. Project groups have made deadlines and are working hard on these projects for June 2019. Every cohort continues their leadership development in leadership meetings. Recently, the 20s have sent ‘cold’ emails to their contacts and the 19s have taken a deeper look within the entire Fellows Program for an evaluation of a program we hold so dear. Things often seem to slow down in the winter, but not for the Global Health Fellows!

The Global Health Fellows are lucky to live in a world where there are Octobers, as LM Montgomery puts it. We have given our presentations on community health workers in the public and private sectors of Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Americas. Everyone did a unique job deciding what information to include in the presentation. Overall, we reached conclusions about the things that maintain a well functioning community health worker system and reinforced the effectiveness of having community health workers. We then focused ourselves back on Belize. Using the information we heard in the presentations, each group was tasked with creating a pitch tackling the community health workers in Belize. We had some extremely interesting pitches ranging from improving data collection, to tackling drug compliance, to improving the home visit system.

The 20s and 21s continue to meet together to present and discuss case studies in pairs. They are learning a lot about effective and ineffective public health interventions.

The 19s are in a heated case competition- boys vs. girls! Each team of three will study this case (link case!!!!!) and present it to the entire GHF program. Our wonderful faculty leaders will determine a winner and they will be able to hold it over the other group for the rest of the year. In all honesty, it is an extremely interesting case and I am eager to see what both groups come up with!

Happy end of October everyone. The Global Health Fellows are digging in!

Written by Sahib Chandi ’20

The Global Health Fellows class of 2020 departed early in the morning this last Thursday to the Virginia Eye Consultants. Along with Mrs. Goodson and Ms. Nasimiyu, we each had the rare opportunity to witness two cataract surgeries. Once we arrived to the Norfolk office, we were given a tour of their facility, which featured an array of administration offices, examination rooms, as well as a multitude of the latest technology for eye exams. Some of these machines were even able to determine certain topographical information, a clearly formative turn in Optometry. We were also shown a room dedicated to LASIK operations for eye correction surgery.

GHF 20’s enjoy a morning at Virginia Eye Consultants!

At the end of the tour, we were taken upstairs to the surgical units, where we each watched two cataract surgeries. Since we divided into smaller viewing groups, some of us saw the implementation of different lenses, of which included toric and multifocal lenses. I had the opportunity to view the multifocal lens, which, by indication of our hostess, had distinguishable rings in its appearance. This recent advancement, unlike monofocals, improves all aspects of vision along with cataract removal. Therefore, many patients no longer need to wear glasses or contacts after surgery. Since only three of us were allowed in a viewing room at a time, the other three of us sat in the lobby and discussed the surgeries we saw. Some of the discussions began with expressions of astonishment at the miraculous nature of this surgery. I especially expressed awe at the complete removal of the clouded lens, a quick, yet delicate process.

Personally, I was most astonished by the ease and speed at which the surgeon performed the cataract surgeries. Each surgery, took about 15 minutes in total, for the removal and replacement of the clouded lens. After seeing this process, I can say that this surgery has an extreme potential to improve the quality of life of those who live with cataracts, but have inequitable access to healthcare. Along these lines, the 20s will meet and discuss a specific case study in India which tackles this problem. Through our discussion, we hope to apply what we learned from this experience to a service-oriented context.

Written by Madeleine Munn ’19.

Hello all!

The Global Health Fellows have had a busy beginning of the new school year! We spent time discussing our time in Belize and our goals for this year. We have divided into mixed groups and are studying community health workers in Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Americas in the public and private sector. We are working toward presentations to the whole group at our next meeting, during the first week of October.

Individually, the 19s have come up with a plan to give an upper school and middle school chapel regarding the book Factfulness: Ten Reasons We’re Wrong About the World – and Why Things Are Better Than You Think by Hans Rosling. We plan to do it second semester after the college craziness dies down. Speaking of college, the 19s have crafted their addenda to their college applications explaining the Global Health Fellows. Only a few more months until applications are in…

The 20s and 21s meet together. At their most recent meeting, Mrs. Goodson introduced the case study protocol to the 21s and talked about the value of case studies. She highlighted the six elements of success, which we use to evaluate case studies, and the important points to touch on when presenting a case and its background. Sahib kicked off the season of case studies with his presentation on Maternal Mortality in Sri Lanka.

It’s been a great first month of school and Global Health (except for Hurricane Florence!), and we are so excited to keep up this great momentum!

GHFs visit the Museum of Natural History by Madeleine Munn (2019)

GHF 20s at the Outbreak exhibition!

On Saturday we visited the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History before hitting the road toward home. There was a fascinating exhibit called “Outbreak” about infectious disease and the way it is spread. Plus, we visited the rest of the museum- and some of us immersed ourselves in butterflies! What a perfect way to end a fabulous retreat. We had a long, hot bus ride back, just reaching home before it started storming. We are so grateful to all of the organizations we met with in DC this week- they are doing the work we are inspired by. This retreat was a perfect way to keep us moving forward into the school year. Here’s to a new season of life and learning!

Friday’s Visit to Baltimore by Erin Clayton (2021)

Connor (’20), Ells (’20) and Ingrid (’19) stop to pose on their tour at JHU’s Bloomberg School.

On our 3rd day in DC, we boarded the bus for Baltimore at the early time of 7:15, already filled up on breakfast from our hotel. Everyone was tired after the long day of Thursday, but our excitement about visiting Johns Hopkins overpowered our lack of sleep. After a short 1 hour bus ride to Baltimore, we arrived to Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and were met by Taryn Mallonee and Lauren Black, the director and assistant director of recruitment, communications, and events for the school of Public Health. After they led us to our conference room, Ms. Mallonee and Miss Black asked us about our own interests in Global Health and our favorite experiences in the field. I thought this was unique and something that we had rarely been asked on the trip. We then had the opportunity to learn all about how the Bloomberg School operates and about the student body. One of the aspects of the conversation I found particularly interesting was how of the 10 divisions of the school, one of them was Mental Health. I thought it was interesting how Johns Hopkins is the only school of Public Health that has a specific Mental Health program. The admissions experts also informed us on the great extent of Johns Hopkins research. After our first session, Ms. Mallonee and Ms. Black took us on a tour of the Bloomberg school building and also John’s Hopkins Hospital. We saw everything from labs, classrooms, and lecture halls to the gym, coffee shop, and study rooms. The facilities were beautiful and it was a great opportunity to see the work in action.

GHFs learn about the research of JHU Public Health students around the globe.

After the tour and a quick break, we had a Q&A with faculty member Dr. Donna Strobino, a professor and vice chair of Education in the department of Population, Family, and Reproductive Health. Professor Strobino was very knowledgeable about topics especially related to our work on Women’s Empowerment in Belize. She also reassured everyone that is ok to not know what you want do, and even made the fellows all laugh saying she did not know what she wanted to do. After Professor Strobino’s educational discussion, we had a second Q&A with current doctoral student Justin Jacob, who is a part of the department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Justin’s presentation described his unusual undergraduate path which involved multiple major changes, work at the Center for Disease Control that was unrelated to his studies, and ultimately ending up back at Johns Hopkins doing what Justin believed he was meant to do. This discussion continued our topic of how you do not really know where you will end up until you get there.

Madeleine Munn (GHF 19) asks Dayna Myers questions about Global Health NOW

After our morning at the University, we had a lunch break in the Hospital cafeteria followed by a break time, where my cohort went to  a coffee shop to discuss the morning’s events! We returned back to the Bloomberg School of Public Health and then had a fascinating meeting with Dayna Kerecman Myers from Global Health Now. Global Health Now is an online publication and subscription service where the most important Global Health related articles of the day are published or republished from other publications. All Global Health fellows subscribe to the website and so it was an amazing experience to hear about the behind the scenes aspect of the website. I was impressed how Ms.Myers wakes up at 5am every morning in order to publish the days newsletter. After meeting with Global Health Now, we loaded onto the bus to drive back into DC and to our surprise visit to the World Bank Group’s Visitor Center. We enjoyed a in depth and detailed tour by a volunteer tour guide, which outlined the World Bank’s efforts since its founding. We finished off our last night with a delicious dinner at Bar Louie and some ice cream from Haagen Daz.

GHFs Visit Chemonics, the State Department, CARE, and Mary’s Center by Julia Duarte (2020)

On Thursday, I woke up to Madeleine calling my name at 7:00. After a few more minutes of comfortable sleep, I forced myself to get out of bed and I proceeded to get ready.  Thoughts reminiscing about the inspirational speakers of the previous day and preparing myself for the full day ahead ran through my head as I brushed my teeth. Once we were all ready, Madeleine, Anaiya, and I grabbed our bags and went downstairs for breakfast.

GHF 19s present about our program and work in Belize to a panel at Chemonics.

After we were all fueled by waffles and coffee, we jogged on to the bus at 8:10, a time which was a little earlier than planned in the event that we met some D.C. traffic. Our cautiousness was awarded by an extra 20 minute break outside in the nice weather. When 8:50 came around, we crossed the street to the large building that houses the private international development company, Chemonics. We made our way up an elevator to a sunlit room where we would be both presenting to a panel of experts (this was the only company to ask us to do this)  and listening to the presentation of the panelists. I grabbed a coffee (yes, for the second time) and sat down with my cohort at a table and directed my attention to the ‘19s, who would be presenting our mission and previous work in the field. Watching the seniors carry themselves with poise and listening to them speak with clarity and a sort of passion made me only hope that someday I could be as confident of a public speaker as they were. I was definitely proud to have them representing this program. Once the presentation concluded, I saw the amazed gazes of the three women sitting in front of us. Ms. Doris Youngs, Ms. Ashley Greve, and Ms. Megan Nelson directed some questions our way, which excited me to see three experts interested in the work of a handful of teenagers.

Panel of experts at Chemonics!

After they talked about their own work within and outside of Chemonics, we began to slowly pour out our thoughts and questions to them. With each question, the three spoke with more and more passion and displayed their knowledge and experience in front of us. I was so overwhelmed (in a good way) by so much information that two hours flew by too quickly. We said hasty goodbyes and headed off to lunch. I ate a filling salad at Panera while getting to know Leila, a newbie to this program.

Ambassador Birx welcomes GHFs to the State Department

At 12:50, we all convened in front of the US Department of State building. Andrew and Kara, the leaders of the day, briefed us on PEPFAR right before two men came outside to escort us through security and to the elevators. At the conference room, we got the chance to meet and speak to Ambassador Birx, Mr. Jason Bowman, Ms. Neeta Bhandari and others. We learned about the United States’ involvement in the history of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the application of maps and geographic information to outbreaks and disease, public-private partnerships, and more. An hour and a half did not offer sufficient time for us to hear what the experts had to say and to ask questions. At the end, we thanked everyone who spoke to us, were ushered downstairs, and quickly hopped on the bus so that we could be taken to our next stop. At 3:00 we were dropped off at CARE, an international humanitarian organization. We met with Ms. Kristin Wells, who does advocacy work at CARE (fun fact: the first care packages were created here). CARE has certainly evolved from physical care packages to “conceptual care packages”, as Ms. Wells stated. Now, they are offering emergency relief aid, women’s rights advocacy, and long-term development programs around the world.

Next, we arrived at the community health center, Mary’s Center (which was founded in a basement!) and we listened to Ms. Bethlehem Muleta and Ms. Selene Tituana speak about the mission of Mary’s Center and community health education research that has been conducted. After we asked a few questions, we split into two groups and we were taken on a tour around the facility. Seeing many components, such has the medical sector, dental sector, and education facilities, really opened my eyes to all the good that they offer to people of all ages and backgrounds. We left the building (not before taking a few pictures.. Which reminds me, please check out our twitter! @NA_Fellows) and made our regular dash onto the bus. Before we knew it, we were at the hotel and running into the lobby. We were given ample time to change out from our formal outfits and relax before heading downstairs to head to Shake Shack (shoutout to Ells’ persistent pleas for burgers). At Shake Shack, I sat with Courtney, Connor, and Sahib and laughed at nothing and everything. That, combined with a good burger and shake, was a perfect conclusion to a perfect day.

GHFs pose in front of Mary’s Center.

I’m not done yet (so sorry)!! In the evening we all met up in Ms. Nas’ room, listened to each others’ roses and thorns, got a spiel of tomorrow’s schedule from Madeleine, and read Global Health Now! articles to prepare for tomorrow’s visit.  

At night, we were in Connor and Sahib’s room after the meeting and talked about what you expect teenagers to talk about: gossip, school, vines, etc. But looking around at the different but the most familiar faces and knowing that we are all connected by a common interest, that we all experienced the once unimaginable, and that we were in for more adventures, jokes, teasing, learning, thinking, laughs, and growing up with one another, I felt an overwhelming feeling of joy that this experience permanently intertwines us into each others’ lives. I reflected on this in my bedroom and before I knew it, my 6:00 alarm was blaring into my ear signalling the start of a new, exciting day.

GHF Retreat Blog Post 8/9/18 by Andrew Thetford (2019)

Our first day of the DC portion of our retreat was an early one.  We met at the Arch at 6:30, bags in hand, and boarded the biggest NA bus to get on the road to our first stop at Cycle Technologies.  We all made sure to be on time, because our driver, Roy, said that 6:45 was the latest time we could depart and still be on time. However, about 20 minutes into our drive, we experienced some technical difficulties with the bus and had to turn around and go back to NA to get on another, much smaller bus. It all worked out in the end, as we made it to Cycle Technologies with a couple minutes to spare due to an unnatural lack of traffic for a weekday morning in the nation’s capital.  

Ann Mullen (Cycle Technologies) presents about their product development process.

Cycle Technologies was a very good start to the trip.  They’re a corporation that designs products ranging from necklaces to apps that help women in both the US and especially countries in levels 1-3 to keep track of their menstrual cycle to avoid unwanted pregnancies as well as to facilitate family planning.  We had a great dialogue with two representatives from Cycle Technologies, and came away very impressed with their innovation and energized for our next stop, Conservation International.

Conservation International is an organization that works with foreign governments, companies, and locals in biodiversity hotspots to conserve our world and essentially our ability to live.  Our meeting with their representative, Ms. Janet Edmond, involved a general presentation about Conservation International’s work and a Q&A session regarding Ms. Edmond’s story and the interests of our group.

GHFs pose with Robert Clay, VP of Global Health at Save the Children.

Our final meeting of the day was with the Save the Children organization, a group that works around the world to improve the child mortality rate, provide children with education, and help them escape conflict and violence.  This was one of the highlights of the entire trip for some of the GHFs, and we left all of our meetings wishing we had more time.

After a rough drive in DC traffic, we made it to the hotel, unpacked, and headed out for our first dinner of the trip at some nearby restaurants.  We ended the day with a reflection meeting and preparation for the next day of our retreat. Overall, it was an excellent start to our DC/Baltimore trip!