Projects aimed at improving health for mothers and babies in a variety of global communities took top poster honors during the 4th annual Global Health Scholars Day hosted by the Indiana University Center for Global Health (IUCGH).
Faculty members, staff and students from throughout IU joined the event on May 5th to network and recognize IU’s commitment to improving health and human flourishing globally. “This event spotlights the depth and diversity of ways that faculty, staff and learners at IU are engaged in communities around the world,” said Adrian Gardner, MD, MPH, director of the IUCGH. “Their passion and commitment to improving health and equitable access to health care for people underserved communities is inspiring.”
“In addition to contributing to improved health for people around the world, participation in global health research, training and clinical programs also benefits people in Indiana,” added Debra Litzelman, MD, MACP, director of education for IUCGH. “Through the process that we call reciprocal innovation, effective health interventions, technologies, and programs are shared and refined in collaboration with our global partners to provide benefits to both sides of the partnership.”
Top posters in faculty, trainee and student categories were selected to receive cash prizes.
In the student category, IU School of Medicine students Allison Young and Madison Dolan took top honors for their project poster entitled “Participatory design and development of a mobile app to improve Kangaroo Mother Care in Kenya using the People at the Center of Mobile Application Development (PACMAD) framework.” Working with IU School of Medicine associate professor Sherri Bucher, PhD, the students will collect feedback on the NeoRoo mobile health platform aimed at reducing neonatal hypothermia, a leading cause of infant mortality. “This is the second stage of a three-stage design process which involves testing the application’s design and integrating feedback,” said Dolan.
“Our plan is to conduct Zoom interviews with parents and health care workers who have used the application to monitor the vital signs of premature infants and incorporate that feedback into the final design in order to increase the effectiveness of the application,” added Young.
Sarah Boudova, MD, PhD, a resident in the IU School of Medicine Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology was the top poster in the resident category for her project entitled, “A proposal for Chagas Disease screening during pregnancy at Eskenazi Hospital.” Chagas disease is endemic to Latin America, but found globally due to migration, according to the information presented by Dr. Boudova. “Chagas disease is underdiagnosed in the U.S., but can lead to potentially fatal cardiac conditions,” said Dr. Boudova. “Screening pregnant women is cost-effective and would enable effective treatment of both the mother and infant,” she added.
IU Center for Global Health affiliated faculty member John Humphrey, MD, MS, presented his poster “Associations between HIV/ART exposure during pregnancy and adverse maternal and infant outcomes in the MANGO cohort in Kenya” which was selected as the top faculty poster.
“MANGO is an acronym for ‘measuring adverse pregnancy and newborn congenital outcomes,’” said Dr. Humphrey. “This research included a mixed prospective and retrospective cohort at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, IU’s partner in AMPATH Kenya and one of the sites affiliated with the International epidemiological Databases to Evaluate AIDS (IeDEA) in East Africa. The goal is to understand the epidemiology of adverse pregnancy and infant outcomes and their association with HIV and antiretroviral exposure,” he said.
Jenny Baenziger, MD, associate director of education for IUCGH, leads the annual event which is open to the university community. “One of the goals of the IUCGH and this event is to foster collaboration and idea exchange between faculty and learners from a cross-section of schools and departments,” she said. “We invite those interested in global health equity to attend our monthly research speaker series, subscribe to our newsletter and join the center as an affiliated faculty member.”
