“Today we’re so much wiser!” Betty Castor (at right at the Panama Canal) said in describing the international work in which she’s involved as Executive Director of the Patel Center for Global Solutions.  “We have to listen and learn and work together on our mutual interests.” She recently visited Panama, hosted by the USF Health Office there, and said she “would like to join with Public Health in a permanent program in Panama”.  Concerned about water and sanitation challenges there (unfortunately, the “beautiful coast can’t even be utilized, given the raw sewage in the bay, where there is no sanitation”), she would like USF to help develop effective programs through a consultative process with partners in Panama.

She was really pleased to learn about the work of five public health students’ international field experiences (IFE) there: 

MPH Ariel Ansley (at left) worked at the Gorgas Memorial Institute for three months, with her most productive time in Immunology.  As a self-proclaimed “city girl”, she was proud to report that she learned flexibility on this experience!  She, along with MPH Harlee Bustamante and Laura Kennedy, helped with a community focus group in a rural area, with trapping and tagging rats in the bush, and capturing 2 types of Chagas-carrying insects from a royal palm tree.  Ariel also extracted DNA and RNA, and analyzed a human liver in the lab. 

PAHO intern Kathy Spencer was amazed at how much she accomplished (especially given she was learning and working in Spanish).  She helped create a regional strategic plan and collect the necessary data to monitor dengue at local and national levels, along with providing a surveillance workshop, reports, and surveys.  PAHO has asked her to present her work at an international dengue conference later this summer.

MPH Jenny Blanco outlined her work at Health Research International where she developed a community advisory board and a health study questionnaire using community feedback from five focus groups. Facilitating public education regarding the human papillomavirus (HPV), a sexually transmitted disease, she reported that most in the community were barely aware of cervical cancer and they were keen to absorb the information.  Ms. Blanco was impressed with community-based research and education—without the technology we have, local health professionals create effective, carefully hand-made instruments and displays. 

Having co-hosted Betty Castor in Panama recently, Dr. Ann DeBaldo said, “These students have learned a lot and made great contributions, in ‘real life public health’!” Dr. Karen Liller said “our direction is now global and given that the strategic plan highlights the importance of working internationally, these experiences mean that students are now deeply involved internationally as well”.  Dr. Boo Kwa was really pleased to see the fruits of his labor—he had traveled to Panama four years before, and was excited about the opportunities he could see for COPH faculty and students. Dean Petersen reinforced this interest and commitment for offering opportunities in Panama, and IFE Counselor Linda Rodriguez spoke about the incredible learning experience and process the students had.

To see the video, click here.