Author: maddiem785

I am so sad that my work experience with FHI360 has ended. Today was a very memorable day. We started off by attending the monthly meeting of the CTID department. It was very inspirational and empowering to listen to so many women share their news and challenges with all their different projects. My experience at FHI360 showed me that I should not be embarrassed by being female and by what is going  inside my body. I hope to continue de-stigmatizing the field of reproductive health. I learned so much from the women and men I worked with, and I loved seeing how passionate each and everyone of them are. I would like to give a huge thank you to everyone!

 

Side note… quote of the day: “I have a tattoo of a big eagle on my leg that’s devouring a house and holding a candle that is burning on both sides because I’m deep” – one of the fabulous FHI360 employees

 

Today was another wonderful day at FHI360. We had two really cool meetings today’s today. One with Marga Eichleay, and one with Heather Vahdat. Marga works to with drones and tries to see how they could be incorporated into the public health field. She showed us a few videos on experiments with drones and drone “swarming”-  where the drones signal to each other and fly in a group. She even told us they are training eagles go take down drones if there is a problem. Our second meeting Heather was about the Kenya Ideation that occurred in April. Out meeting with her was very informative and funny. The photos above are some quotes from women that were asked what they want in a contraceptive device. She also told us once that when she was traveling that someone put their cat through the X-ray machine.

Being my 6th day at FHI360, I have really gotten into the groove of things. We have 3 or for 4 meetings per day and work on our multiple projects during our free time. Today we learned about a new contraceptive method called micro-needle patches. These patches would release birth control, similar to an injection, but less painful and without hazardous waste. Also, the patches would be easily inserted, and could even be put on by women themselves. This would be a huge leep in contraceptive technology, for the patch would be as small as a coin and as easy as putting on a bandaid! We were shown three different designs on how the micro-needle would work, ranging from an arrowhead to bubbles.

During our free time, we worked on more visuals for our video. This involved drawing a map of the world with “FHI workers” in partnered countries (see image).

Today was a really cool day at FHI 360. We were very fortunate to listen in to a meeting with Nimmi Ramanujam, a professor of Biomedical Engineering at Duke. She presented her extraordinarily work on making a colposcope smaller and more affordable. Prof. Ramanujam and her team a Duke created, what they call, a POCkeT colposcope. Their device is very small and extremely less expensive than a normal colposcope, so it can be more accessible to those around the world. I was very amazed by their innovative approach and look forward to seeing the future of the POCkeT colposcope.

Another exciting (and a bit scary) part of the day was presenting our ideas to the FHI360 staff on a video they can use for promotion. Our concept was doing white board drawing but incorporating real life objects. The meeting went well, and I am excited to move forward with the project!

 

 

 

Today was anything but ordinary . I arrived at FHI at about 8:43 and got my cool bag. We had a quick meeting, and then we headed off to our first field trip! After around 15 minutes, we arrived at modern-looking building, but we didn’t know what the building was for. Once we entered, we were greeted by a few of the employees that were going to give us a tour. We went back to the lab, and there stood numerous boxes of condoms. Yes, we had traveled to a condom lab. The scientists and researchers at this lab tested the durability of condoms by pouring water in them and… blowing them up. We were guided to a room dedicated to blowing up condoms, where we viewed 5 explosions. It was a very interesting day to say the least!

My favorite part of today was working on our video project assignment. We all gathered around a small table (centered with delicious peanut m&ms) and brainstormed ideas. There was a lot of positive energy in the room, and we were all excited about our ideas. After viewing numerous YouTubes, we created our concept. We decided on combining recordings of drawings on whiteboards, real objects, and interviews. The video will promote the new development in contraceptive methods and is based on Dr. Dorflinger speech “I’ve Got You Under My Skin.” Additionally, FHI360 is working on creating a biodegradable implants and trying to make injectable contraceptives last a longer duration of time. It has been very interesting to learn about all the different parts of contraception, and hear from numerous different employees on their personal projects. I am very excited to continue story-boarding the transitions between animation and interviewing, and drawing up visuals that will be drawn on the whiteboard. I also managed to eat half of the bowl of peanut m&ms!

Though most tell of the horrific first day travel dilemmas, I experienced mine today. I found out the hard way that when you type in a Durham address, you might not get to the correct place… or even an actual place. My address took me to a lovely stop sign. Don’t get me wrong there were numerous work experience opportunities to be held at this stop sign! I struggled to find an actual address to type in but could not manage to find the FHI360 address through the maps app. However, I somehow managed to find my way via landmarks.

Today was a nice and busy day. We were given several tasks. Our jobs include creating a game for girls to use that helps them select the contraception method best suited for them, sorting through 100 names each and labeling their association with FHI360, helping script and design a new video for FHI360, and creating new and updated presentations.

I can’t wait to work for FHI 360 next week!