Downs fellows report on summer research

Hunger and Homelessness Auction raises $36,000 for community agencies

The 2006 Downs International Health Student Travel Fellows reported on their health research and findings in October, in posters and oral presentations. Ten of the 12 fellows, students in medicine, public health, nursing and the Physician Associate Program, presented posters on their research in Africa, South America and the Caribbean.

Jennifer Lee, a second-year medical student, explained her research on sensory phenomena in Tourette syndrome and obsessive-compulsive disorder in Brazil.

Downs fellows report on summer research

HIV/AIDS, trauma of war and genocide are among the topics of last year’s presentations.

For Christopher P. McManus, a student at the School of Public Health and the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, doing research in South Africa’s Kwazulu-Natal province meant learning anew what is meant by family. “I didn’t even know what a household was,” said McManus, noting that polygamy leads to a different definition.

McManus described his research in October at the annual fall symposium of the Committee on International Health. Every year students in nursing, medicine, public health and the Physician Associate Program report on research done the summer before. In 2006 a dozen students undertook research projects in Africa, South America and Jamaica. McManus, one of three students to make an oral presentation, studied the impact of HIV/AIDS on rural households.

“There are a whole bunch of people in these households and everyone does a whole lot of stuff,” he said. “If you remove one member of a household it is very difficult for that household to maintain security.” AIDS, he said, tends to affect the most productive family members, and their absence can lead to a food shortage. He found that 42 percent of the households surveyed made up the difference with wild food, such as birds, hare or antelope. Coping strategies included watering down porridge or using pumpkin to stretch it, borrowing food and skipping meals.

Eloise D. Austin, a second-year medical student, described the mental health effects of the Rwandan genocide of 1994 on children. She interviewed 40 orphans and found that their problems included grief, loneliness and frequent memories of traumatic events. According to past studies, “most children had seen the death of a close family member, had witnessed massacres, had been forced to hide, had seen dead bodies or body parts,” she said. Her open-ended interviews suggested that the mental health burden from these traumatic events was still considerable.

Amy L. Glick, a nursing student, examined perceptions of care by patients and providers at a new HIV/AIDS clinic in Togo, in western Africa. In that region she found stigma to be pervasive. Some patients said that people in certain villages or tribes believed that AIDS was caused by sorcery, or that discussing sex education and prevention with young adults would cause promiscuity. And in some hospitals, patients with AIDS described poor care, neglect and insults from staff. The AED-Lidaw Health Clinic, where the research was conducted, is working to combat these negative experiences and provide a positive experience for patients with HIV/AIDS.

Other research topics included sand fly-vectored diseases in Peru, attitudes toward female condom use in Botswana and the willingness of medical and nursing students to treat HIV-positive patients in Sierra Leone.

—John Curtis

Wade Brubacher, a professional auctioneer and father of first-year student Jake Brubacher, offered his services to this year’s auction.

Medical student Laura Tom enticed prospective buyers to bid on a gold and diamond necklace before the live auction.

Physician Associate students Melissa Studdard, Tamara Brining, Dan Heacock and Anthony Pazienza perused the list of available items at a reception before the live auction.

Hunger and Homelessness Auction raises $36,000 for community agencies

The student-run Hunger and Homelessness Auction raised $36,313 in November for seven community agencies in New Haven, an increase of $5,000 over the previous year.

This year’s auctioneer was Wade Brubacher, father of first-year student Jake Brubacher. State Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, J.D., made a guest appearance to auction his own donation—lunch in Hartford and a personal tour of the state capitol.

Recipients this year are the Community Health Care Van, HAVEN Free Clinic, Community Soup Kitchen, Domestic Violence Services of Greater New Haven, Immanuel Baptist Shelter, Leeway, Loaves and Fishes and the St. Thomas More Catholic Chapel and Center at Yale University, which runs a soup kitchen.

The fundraising began with a silent auction, from November 13 to 16, followed by a live auction in the Harkness Ballroom on November 16. Offerings included a dinner and wine tasting hosted by Dean Robert J. Alpern, M.D., Ensign Professor of Medicine, with samples from his private collection; lunch with University President Richard C. Levin at Mory’s; weekends in New York, New Hampshire and other choice locations; classic books; stargazing sessions; and lessons in art, athletics, cooking, dance and languages.

Student organizers offered their thanks to faculty. “We owe a lot of our success to their help and generosity,” said Joshua I. Weiner.

—J.C.