Hi Everyone!

School has started for the children in our lives! Fall is in the air! 

For immigrant children, the joy of school may be tempered with fear of deportation or the reality of detention even here in Minnesota.  On the evening of September 11th, Drs. Calla Brown and Hannah Lichtsinn will lead us in a discussion of immigrant communities in Minnesota with a focus on coalition building and advocacy for immigrant children and their families.

Please make every effort to come - we'll have dinner and learn more about how we can advocate for our patients, who are new to the United States.

Hope to see you soon,

Cindy

Monthly Pediatric Global Health Track Dinner Meeting

Date & Time: Wednesday, September 11 — 6:30 p.m.—8:30 p.m.

Location: Dr. Slusher's house

Topic: Informal Coalition Building as an Advocacy Strategy with a Focus on Immigrant Cultures in Minnesota

Click here to RSVP

Research Lunch Meeting

Date & Time: Tuesday, September 17 — 12:00 p.m.—1:00 p.m.

Location: Wilf 3

Topic: Research Specific Aims Part 1: Identifying, developing  and writing your specific aims for grant application. This is the most important page in your entire grant application.

Click here to RSVP

Social Public Health & Ghana's National Response to HIV

Date & Time: Tuesday, September 17 - 12:15-1:30 p.m.

Location: 2-690 Moos Tower

Speaker: Amos Laar, PhD 

No RSVP required , free

Click here for more information

Click here to view our events for the year.

Sharmila Raghunandan and Nathan Wegmann – Kampala, Uganda 1/14/19 – 3/8/19

After a busy month at Saint Paul Children’s, Nathan and I set out to explore Kampala, the capital and largest city in Uganda. We arrived at Entebbe, a city 27 miles south of Kampala that was lush, green, hot and humid. We made our way on a busy highway to Kampala and were greeted by Stewart, a warm, kind and humble local who took care of the University of Minnesota house that brought together medical students, graduate students, residents and attendings from the Twin Cities and many other countries. Stewart introduced us to Mulago hospital (the largest pediatric referral hospital in East Africa with over 1500 beds and several sub-specialties) as well as many local treasures including Mama Box (one of the hospital cafeterias that served the best local food), Rolex (a popular street food that was an omelet wrapped in a chapati), Matoke (mashed plantains) and the Muzungu Market (market for foreigners). We were excited to experience a new country, culture, cuisine and a very different health care system. 

My first day on the hematology ward at Mulago hospital was exciting yet overwhelming. I cared for over 20 children, nearly all of whom had sickle cell disease (SCD). I was alarmed that most of the children presented with debilitating sequelae of SCD including acute chest syndrome, stroke, seizures, dactylitis, priapism, osteomyelitis, leg ulcers and avascular necrosis. A large part of their treatment depended on whether the family could afford intravenous fluids, antibiotics, labs, imaging, surgery and follow up. The age at diagnosis, prophylactic treatment, complications and ability to access care were vastly different from those of children in the U.S. This motivated me to learn more about SCD and the causes of inequity in healthcare between low and high-income countries. I also began seeking out projects related to hematology and oncology and was able collaborate with Ugandan medical officers and attendings to complete a project related to SCD that aimed at assessing the validity of peripheral smears as a diagnostic tool for SCD. 

I spent my mornings and afternoons on the hematology and oncology wards caring for patients and evenings working on the SCD research project. Over the next several weeks, I grew close to many children and their families, some of whom had very dismal diagnosis. A few memorable patients I took care of included: a 3 year old girl with relapsed Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia (ALL) who had hyperleukocytosis (white cell count of 941 103/µL), anemia (hemoglobin of 4.9) and thrombocytopenia (platelets of 53); a 15 year old male with ALL and sever tumor lysis with hyperkalemia (potassium of 6.7) who unfortunately couldn’t afford any treatments; a 1 year old boy with metastatic anaplastic wilm’s tumor and severe malnutrition who had spillage of her tumor when he underwent surgery to resect his abdominal mass and subsequently passed away one night in the absence of attendings, fellows or residents; an 8 year old female with Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome who was diagnosed with Kaposi sarcoma who slowly improved over the course of a month; and a 4 year old male with relapsed AML who needed BMT, but had to find a way to South Africa or India for treatment. I can continue to list the innumerable encounters with patients and their families, but what was most remarkable was their sense of optimism, gratitude, courage and resilience.

To sum it up, the last 8 weeks have been a melting pot of joy, tears, successes, losses, excitement, fear and frustration. It has been an incredible experience and I feel fortunate to have played a role in the lives of the most irrepressible children, to have made long lasting relationships with medical officers, attendings and friends and to have had the chance to explore other neighboring countries including Rwanda, Kenya and Egypt. I also had the opportunity to present at the Society of International Pediatric Oncology Africa meeting in Cairo, that brought together health care professionals from all over the world with a common goal of advocating globally for children with cancer and promoting equity of care to every child.