Guest Blogger: Khalidah, 2nd year, GHP (and opportunity to support HSPH alum)

Hi all! So it's been a bit of time, but we have another student post! This is from a fellow GHP SM2 candidate, Khalidah Bello, who is interested in...oh, I'm getting ahead of myself; she'll tell you about herself! She's also included some information and an awesome chance to support a recent HSPH alum in his recent initiative! It really shows the great things that HSPH students go on to do! Check it out below:


My name is Khalidah Bello, and I am a graduate Student at the Harvard School of Public Health's (HSPH) Global Health program. My research interests are broad and include infectious disease, mental health, reproductive health, along with nutrition as it relates to obesity. I am particularly interested in helping to alleviate health disparities in underrepresented groups.

My colleague and friend, physician,  Michael Schwandt shares a similar passion. Michael Schwandt is a physician that received his MPH degree at HSPH, last year, 2010. We met while taking a course on HIV epidemiology with a phenomenal lecturer at HSPH,  Dr. Daniel Halperin. Since then, Michael and I have been involved in academic work and social groups at HSPH. I have found him to be an intelligent individual who is passionate about infectious disease, and alleviating the health burden in disadvantaged communities both in North America, as well as internationally.

Michael has since returned to Toronto to complete residency and medical training at University of Toronto (affectionately known as the Harvard of the North).  I fully endorse Michael on his latest project to secure government funding so that he can tackle the global health problem of malaria in a creative fashion. 

See the details below for more information. But above all, please show your support for Michael's project, by clicking the thumbs up sign in the following link:  http://gcc.eyeptv.net/blog/2011/03/14/the-mouse-vs-malaria-crowdsourcing-for-disease-surveillance-in-low-income-countries/

The deadline for support is  April 29th

1 min, 50 seconds. Google. Research Funding. Your Thumbs Up of Approval.  Battling Malaria. 
And Assisting an HSPH alum. April 29 deadline
Caption: Michael, HSPH alum,  was active when in Boston and  finished first in a marathon called Halloween Superheroes 5-K Road Race 2010 to Benefit Cambridge Women’s Crisis Organization  (Michael is in the middle)
Credits -Cambridge TV- (http://www.cctvcambridge.org/_Superheroes_Race_in_Cambridge)

With five minutes of your time. Let's Show him the Longwood Medical community Supports its Grads!!!!!

A thumbs up from you, can help a Havard Alum tackle Malaria using Google!   It takes just five minutes.

Michael, Harvard grad, and resident doctor , now in Canada,  performed as "Jay Z" in the song  "Empire State of Mind" at Harvard's International Night 2010 last year, and now he is aiming to perform on Canada's Global Health stage.

Rally behind Michael Schwandt online, HSPH Alum 2010, and help him get selected as a Canadian Rising Star in Global Health! It is as easy as clicking the the thumbs up button on his video submission for global health funding by the Canadian government.

Michael Schwandt is an African Canadian, and aims to secure funding as Harvard's Canadian Rising star in Global Health, with an innovative idea to track infectious disease such as malaria using internet search engines such as google.

He simply needs support of individuals worldwide to hit the "thumbs up" button on his video submission to show support for his idea, if they agree of course. Video link:1 min 50 seconds.

•  http://gcc.eyeptv.net/blog/2011/03/14/the-mouse-vs-malaria-crowdsourcing-for-disease-surveillance-in-low-income-countries/

Support  him online! Have your friends do so too!  Click the thumbs up button. Share this email with friends to Support him too.

Public voting Makes a Large difference for the online video in grant application!!  Support him with the click of one button. It takes 5 minutes. Even less!

He was a good friend of mine, and is a great person,

Khalidah
SM2 candidate
2011
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Optional Additional Reading (More background info)Details on the Grant Below:
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 Short Proposal Description:

Michael's proposal is titled: "The Mouse vs Malaria," and in short he suggests that we can find clues about infectious diseases around the world by looking at what people are doing online -- much the same way researchers have already been able to predict flu trends with information from Google searches (http://www.google.org/flutrends/ca/#CA)

CANADIAN RISING STARS IN GLOBAL HEALTH
	This program aims to tap into the creativity, knowledge and skills of emerging Canadian innovators to solve some of the most persistent health challenges in the developing world through scientific, business, and social innovation. We call this approach Integrated Innovation.

They are looking for inovative ideas to address complex real-world challenges that invovle a scientific or technological solution (new or existing) alone or in combination with social and/or business innovations. 

http://www.grandchallenges.ca/funding/

Why Public Health series

Hi all,

Good news! A draft of my thesis has been submitted to the department! I can't completely breathe yet (especially since we receive a grade that accounts for five of our credits!), but I do know that high GPA or not, I will graduate! Unfortunately it doesn't look like I can convince students to write about their experiences at this time of the year. However, Ned, a videographer at HSPH, shared the links to a new video series that you might enjoy. It's called "Why Public Health?" and features students sharing what got them interested in public health (and a little plug for HSPH of course). I had conceived a similar idea at the beginning of the year, but Ned's version is much more professional. He also features an array of students (although they may all be MPH-ers and thus already doctors) but regardless, take a look and enjoy!!

Nayana Vootakuru, MPH candidate
Serufusa Sekkide, MD, MPH candidate

An Unexpected Revelation at Crunch Time!

Hi all! Hope you've enjoyed the guest blogs! It seems that it's crunch time for everyone now so it might be a while before there's another post! In fact, my thesis is due in just a few short weeks (yikes!) so I probably should be doing what the rest of my classmates are doing and not blogging! Haha.

Any of you who have touched based with me (or read parts of the blog) know that the last several weeks have been particularly stressful for me. I've also tried to preface anything I say by sharing that the current stress I'm under doesn't allow me to paint an "objective" or "fair" view of HSPH. But, the most wonderful thing happened today (and brought a tear to my eye, I'll admit) that reminded me why this experience is worth it.

My mom asked me to call her this evening and said she wanted to share something that one of my younger brothers (who recently entered the teenage years) wrote. For an English assignment, he wrote about his New Year's Experience at the Kalahari Resort (which I blogged and included fun pictures of early this year). But, what really touched me was that his essay wasn't about how amazingly awesome the resort was (and indeed it was); it was about how special the experience was because his sister was there. It was the fact that even though this environment and the pressures of Hah-vahd often make you (i.e., me, students...) feel insignificant and like you don't matter, you and your presence here has an impact on someone.

I don't know if I can, in words, share how touching his words were, but it reminded me that I am a role model. I don't come from a family legacy of Harvard graduates (although I am a third-generation higher education student with extremely intelligent parents and grandparents), and I don't come from a wealthy family where this is considered "the norm." I am proudly a racial/ethnic minority and an individual from a small Midwestern community where so many people never choose or have the opportunity to leave, and I am so fortunate to have made it to where I am. I sometimes feel that systems like here at Harvard that were designed on the "Old Boys Club" mentality aren't designed for me to succeed and that they don't want me to succeed. (Ah-ha! moment: these are my perceptions of the roots of my challenges here). But the words of my brother reminded me that I have to - and I will - succeed and thrive because my success not only impacts me; it impacts so many others who look up to me.

I guess that sometimes you just need a miracle to jolt you, and I think I just got mine. I promise (Girl Scout's honor) to make an effort to be more positive over the next 6 weeks of school, and to do everything in my power to succeed. And I hope that the lessons I've learned from my time here, and hopefully the lives I've impacted, will all feed into making me a better role model and future leader of tomorrow!

Stay tuned for more posts in a couple of weeks...