Fogarty Course in Washington D.C. (July 5-22)

The fellows have all gathered at the NIH for an ‘intense’ orientation before we head off to our respective sites. There are 27 US fellows (mostly medical students and several PhD students) and 27 very accomplished foreign fellows (mostly physicians). The course so far has included some big name speakers, which is exciting, but lacks a focus and is not necessarily structured as a preparatory course. It seems that the lecturers are directing their talks so that everyone can understand a little bit, which unfortunately leaves everyone feeling like they’ve only learned that little bit. However, it is a fantastic time to meet other people interested in international health and to find out how they’ve become involved. I’ve even met two other people who want to work internationally in surgery, which is thrilling as I didn’t think such people existed!

D.C. itself is vibrant with all the Mall museums, restaurants (I highly recommend fufu at the Ghana restaurant at Adam’s Morgan), clubs, and of course shopping (Filene’s Basement!). We even went kayaking on the Potomac River on Sunday- check out the picture of Gina and me cruising ahead and leaving everyone behind!

Good luck to all the fellows at their respective sites! Hopefully we will all come back having learned a little about clinical trials, science, a new culture, and a lot about ourselves. I don’t usually use quotes, but these are kind of fun:

A person is a success if they get up in the morning and gets to bed at night and in between does what he wants to do. ~Bob Dylan

Even if you are on the right track, you will get run over if you just sit there. ~Will Rogers

To think is easy. To act is hard. But the hardest thing in the world is to act in accordance with your thinking. ~Goethe

Namibia links:

For those of you who just can’t get enough of Namibia, or who are bored at work, please take a look at Chris’ superb website:

www.bochris.com

NYC 4th of July: Pam's bridal shower and bachelorette party!

Pamela the gorgeous bride dancing the night away at culture club. Leah: the best toilet paper bride ever.
Arlene and I at the karaoke bar.Manisha looking cute as always.

Etosha National Park

For Etosha National Park pictures, check out Chris’ website: www.bochris.com/Etocha.html

More Namibia pictures...

Shadows of Chris and I projected onto rock art in Darmaland. Both of us, as always, with our cameras. Termite mounds (often incorrectly referred to as 'ant hills') at sunset near the Waterberg plateau. Sand dunes in Sossuvlei with a lone tree. Marlboro man.
Abandonned and stripped minibus in the middle of a desert somewhere.

Our broken plane in northern Namibia

Our pilot unsuccessfully starting the propeller plane as curious kids wonder what these crazy people are doing. We ended up spending the night here.

The Ovahimba

The Ovahimba people in northern Namibia.

The Ovahimba

Update!

Since my last posting, I’ve been to Cape Town, Namibia, back to California and am now in Washington D.C. In brief, I was at Jooste Hospital in Cape Town for a 4-week internal medicine clerkship. Unfortunately, I didn’t take pictures, but did learn lots about TB, HIV and, believe it or not, leptospirosis. Jooste Hospital is a secondary township hospital struggling with limited resources but with an amazing, dedicated staff and a very strict (but nonetheless amazing) director. Chris (my mother) and I made a last minute decision to take a 10 day self-drive trip through Namibia before returning to sunny Cali and packing up for a 3-week Fogarty course at the NIH in Bethesda. On the way, I stopped by NYC to see some wonderful college friends at Pam’s fabulous bridal shower and bachelorette party! I will then be heading to Gaborone, Botswana, for 10 months in August to work with the Botswana-Harvard Partnership (BHP) on a clinical trial looking at acute/primary HIV infection, and hope to keep everyone posted with the blog!