Hello again! It’s been quite a busy few weeks. After some delays with getting our instruments from Customs, the clinical trial is finally underway. A little bit of background: cervical cancer is the leading cause of death among women in the developing world and many of the screening and diagnostic technologies used in the U.S. are not available in resource-limited settings. The goal of the clinical study to determine whether optical imaging (specifically, a widefield and a high-resolution imaging system developed in the Richards-Kortum lab) may be used as cost-effective alternatives. MK and I are working with Dr. Doreen and Tefo on this project at the Women’s Health Clinic. We’ve only enrolled a few patients so far, but I’m excited to see where this goes. Dr. Doreen is an incredible clinician and it’s really amazing to watch her work. Everyone at the clinic has been very friendly and it’s quickly becoming one of my favorite places to be in Botswana.
We’ve also managed to meet with quite a few doctors over the past couple of weeks. Our meeting with Dr. Mike and Dr. Bri at Baylor has gotten us in contact with Dr. Kung and Dr. Haas at UPenn, and Dr. Brewster at UB. Through our meeting with Dr. Kung, we were able to schedule to present at the Pediatric Morning Reports at PMH, where we can demonstrate the technologies we brought to all of the attendings and residents in Pediatric Department at PMH. Dr. Kung also allowed us to shadow in the pediatric and the neonatal wards. I spent the last week in the neonatal unit and will be spending this week in the pediatric wards. It’s been really great to see the wards first-hand and to gain a better understanding of which technologies can be useful at PMH.
Dr. Haas was also a great contact. She introduced us to her husband, Dr. Gustafson, who is also a doctor and works at a private hospital just outside of Gaborone. He expressed interested in learning more about the CPAP device and we have scheduled a meeting with him as well. Dr. Haas was also interested in the Global Focus Microscope, and put us in contact with Dr. Anisimova, a doctor who is in charge of the national TB diagnosis/treatment program.
Finally, Dr. Brewster is a UB doctor who was very interested in the microscope as well. He is involved with MEPI, a program for improving medical education in the Africa. He was very interested in the possibility of purchasing a microscope and/or being part of a study to evaluate the use of the scope. All in all, we’ve been able to meet with quite a few doctors and have gotten some good feedback. I’m looking forward to meeting with Dr. Gustafson and Dr. Anisimova in the near future.
Aside from work, we’ve also been able to see some amazing places in Botswana. Nikki and Gill at Penn have been great to us. Like I mentioned in my first blog entry, they took us on a game drive and dinner at Mokolodi Game Reserve on our first day here. Last Friday, they took us to a picnic at the Gaborone Game Reserve, were we ate surrounded by monkeys! My roommates and I have also been to a nearby town, Gabane, where we visited a pottery workshop. We got a tour of the shop and even watched our tour guide make a vase! I bought a beautiful mug as a souvenir and I’m really tempted to go back to get more!
Another highlight is our second visit to Mokolodi, where we got to visit the two cheetahs there and pet them! While we were a little nervous at first, it was super exciting to pet the cheetahs and get photos taken with them! I think the park ranger got a little too excited with my SLR camera (he took so many pictures of the cheetahs!). On the same day, we also went to a soccer (football) game where the Bostwana national team was playing against Malawi. We even got to meet the players afterwards! Well, until next time!