Notes from Bethesda

Many of the Fogarty Scholars are intending to keep professional blogs, though we are all fairly uncertain of what this should mean. Certainly its obvious what a professional blog should not contain; and yet so much of the personal benefit of keeping a journal (on the web or not) of your experience, is to voice you personal thoughts and impressions of a place, as naïve and unsophisticated as they may come off to others. I really enjoy observing the differences and similarities between places, and to make generalizations about cultures even though I know that is unwise. Furthermore, since we hope this blog to be of use to other students interested in international veterinary medicine and veterinary public health, a travel blog listing the sights we’ve seen will not fulfill this purpose. Likewise, lengthy diatribes about our research endeavors will likely not be read by many!

And so, please bear with us as Jenni and I determine what is appropriate to share here. Our two weeks in Bethesda were quite significant, and so I share my impressions from them here. As I mentioned previously, all 34 Fogarty Scholars, all 34 International Scholars (paired to an American scholar) and a handful of postgraduate fellows (both American and International) came together for global health nerd camp (or perhaps it would better be called boot camp considering the long hours of lecture!) at the National Institutes of Health. It was an opportunity for us to learn from leaders in the field, be taught the basics of conducting clinical research in developing countries, and, most importantly, to get to know our peers. The best part of this program opportunity to learn from the other students and to be inspired by what they’ve done and what they intend to do in the future. What was most inspiring was meeting the international students and researchers. We have a terrible habit here in the States of assuming that people in other countries are generally incompetent – or at least of assuming that we can do everything better. Well, the people I met who are doctors and researchers from developing countries were a really remarkable bunch. They are a very smart group – indeed we can be confident that there are very bright minds doing great work in all the countries that Americans seem to think need the most help.

All in all it was an excellent two weeks. I turned thirty in the middle and had a really fantastic birthday. I had traveled home for the weekend to see my grandmother who was visiting from England. I spent the morning of my birthday with her and my family, and we had a great day visiting the Boston Harbor Islands. I then flew back to DC in time to make it to a barbeque at the home of one of my fellow Scholars (who is also in my MPH program at Tufts!) where there was cake and singing. When I finally arrived back at our hotel room, Jenni had covered my bed with balloons and bought a Tiramisu from La Madeleine! I certainly got a lot of attention that day!