Author: rjj597

Our last day at FHI 360 was a little nerve wracking. Krishan, Salma, Chiara, and I all got to sit in on the FHI 360 senior staff meeting, in which we heard presentations from a lot of people regarding future strategy, media approaches, and recent progress. The nerve-wracking part wasn’t the listening though. It was when we had to present in front of the senior staff, our final projects regarding youth, technology, and health. We were responsible for promoting global health in some way through social media. We employed Instagram to educate and gain feedback regarding water accessibility and conservation. In our presentation we talked about generational appeal and why Instagram is a lasting platform, we talked about the various components of Instagram that enable its users to tell a story, and we highlighted the unlimited connect ability of a platform like Instagram. Dr. Dorflinger and Dr. Nanda liked our presentation so much, they even want to move forward with it.

Yesterday, we got to meet with a completely different side of public health. Behind-the-scenes departments like procurement and regulation came to talk to us about how they help FHI 360 achieve its goals and run smoothly. Since, I’m interested in health policy, I was very interested in what the regulators had to say about the balance between under-regulated markets and dangerous drugs, and over-regulated markets and expensive drugs. The general consensus was that it was a hard balance and that there were instances of both, the health policy specialists will be changing in the coming years.

We also got to meet a leader in qualitative research, who talked to us about the interpersonal relationships that are critical to gaining the trust of research subjects. We also learned about the ethical challenges that face research with the advent of technology including things like “whether or not a digital signature can provide consent.”

On day 6, we focused a lot on our mini projects. One of those projects is a literature sorting assignment, in which we look at a long list of papers for researchers, and suggest which papers seem relevant to the research, and which papers don’t. The database of papers is huge, and as a result, the sorting process can take hours. Salma and I worked for probably 2-3 hours, just sorting through articles, and we still have probably hundreds to go.

We also got to meet with more researchers and people on the tech side of things. One of the employees we met is responsible for creating and managing drug databases for the company. The goal, is to inform consumers on the side-effects of taking two drugs at once, or the risks that certain drugs put them at. By increasing awareness, the databases alleviate concerns and stress.

Finally, we also got an introduction to some of the groundbreaking technologies that FHI 360 is experimenting with. Some include microchips that can remotely release drugs into the body every month. Others are subcutaneous and intradermal injections that manipulate the pharmacokinetics of the drug allowing it to last in the body longer.

Yesterday at FHI 360, I met with some of the leaders in contraceptive technology innovation. First we met with Dr. Kopf, who is the director of research and development at the Contraceptive Technology Innovation Department. He talked a lot about his circuitous journey to FHI 360. He went from the lab to teaching to the pharmaceutical industry to FHI 360. “Very often, I am told by students that they want to do ‘A’, which will lead to ‘B’, which will lead to ‘C’, and ‘D’. How often does that happen?” he questioned. He told us that as life throws us different curveballs, we shouldn’t be scared. It’s all part of the process.

On a sidenote, I may have taken Dr. Kopf’s advice too seriously yesterday, and explored a little bit too far. The sushi restaurant we ate at offered their plain wasabi as almost all sushi places do, but they also offered a “Real Wasabi” option. I left the restaurant with teary eyes and a stinging nose.

Friday, was primarily a work day for the FHI 360 team – a needed one at that. With three projects to complete, Friday was spent knocking out component after component of various projects.

The first project that we’ve been working on is putting together literature regarding a correlation between adherence to medication and the financial support of savings groups. The idea behind this paper, is that financially supported community members are more able to focus on their health. On Friday, we used Mendeley, a reference gathering source like NoodleTools to help compile a list of relevant resources for the project.

The second project we’re working on is more on the technical side of things; with Dr. Callahan, research utilization specialist, from the contraceptive technologies innovation department, Chiara, Krishan, Salma, and I are working to design a presentation that both highlights the information of a past research study, but also engages the audience. One of the issues with traditional research papers is that for financiers, the information may come across as too technical, complicated, or boring. By engaging the audience, FHI 360 is more capable of garnering support and grants.

The final project that we worked on was the YTH or Youth, Tech, Health project. In this assignment we’re tasked with using social media to promote global health – a task which we’ve begun to accomplish using Instagram. With our Water.Wellness account we hope to promote global access through education, feedback, and partnerships with larger organizations like Swell. Our promotion plan is a line of Swells called the Swellness Collection, where pieces from the collection utilize artwork from developing nations. Part of the proceeds also goes to funding the construction of wells where water access is low. For the communities this aims to help, the project both provides financial support to artisans in the region, and also enables the community to get water. One of the primary challenges for at-risk water scarce populations is that low access to water impedes other aspects of life. How can a community be economically productive if they’re primary concern is dehydration?

If you were to ask me a week ago about my experience in the lab, I would reference advanced chemistry with Mr. Rushin, and tell you about all of the cool experiments that we did. After yesterday, that experience has grown. With Dr. Kavita Nanda, Dr. Jill Ferguson, Sara, and David, we travelled to PQC: Product Quality and Compliance. We met researchers who showed us various contraceptive methods, and then elaborated on their goal at FHI 360. Our researcher explained that when sending aid to developing nations, it’s imperative that the aid we send is of good quality; we don’t want to be responsible for an HIV outbreak, because of broken condoms. At PQC, scientists use a variety of tests (and cool technology) to examine the strength, durability, and efficacy of contraceptives.

PG warning ahead:

At PQC, the first lab we were in was the condom-torture lab. We got to see condoms rapidly filled with large quantities of water, to check them for holes; condoms blown up in vacuum chambers, to check for strength; and condoms stretched and heated, to check for elasticity and durability. The slow-motion video of a condom exploding may be one of my favorite souvenirs so far. Afterwards, I got to apply some chemistry, in the drug potency lab. Here, scientists introduced us to their usage of spectroscopy, High Pressure Liquid chromatography, titration, and dimensional analysis. The Mr. Rushin student in me geeked out. Perhaps the best part of the day was getting to see lab concepts I had worked with applied in real life settings. Here, the science wasn’t for a lab grade. It was to promote global health by providing critical tools for sexual empowerment within the region.