Research News
Department researcher joins medical mission to Philippines
David Ramsey, an MD / PhD student in Dr. Haohua Qian's neuroscience research group, recently returned from a one-week medical mission in the Philippines in February 2006. This was the third medical mission for Ramsey and the tenth trip made to Nueva Vizcaya by the group led by Dr. Christopher Guerrero, a Family Physician in the University of Illinois, College of Medicine Longitudinal Primary Care Program. The mission team included physicians and nurses from UIC, Cook County Hospital, St. Mary's and St. Elizabeth's Hospitals in Chicago.
The group traveled over 250 kilometers north of metro Manila to serve the native population at several of the remote outreach centers in and around Nueva Vizcaya. Free medical and dental services were provided to the local population in and around two small, rural villages, or Barangays, surrounding the provincial capital. The outreach provided by the group aided nearly 1,500 patients, many of whom had never seen a doctor in their lives.
“I saw over a hundred patients, including many with eye complaints,” said Ramsey. “On several occasions we even saw patients in our hotel rooms at night.”
Ramsey also gave a public health lecture at St Mary's University in Nueva Vizcaya. The lecture was on “Common Occupational Eye Injuries and their Management.” Following Ramsey's 35-minute presentation, the audience, largely comprised of nursing students, asked questions for another hour. The entire medical mission team was warmly welcomed by the students and faculty at St Mary's with bouquets on their arrival and treated to a local culture and arts display.
Ramsey also visited a community near metro-Manila served by the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth. Many poor families have settled around their convent. Most have come to the city from rural areas looking for better livelihood, but have found instead severe hardship. Ramsey reports that “The service to the community provided on a daily basis by the sisters and novices is truly remarkable.”
Ramsey completed the first two years of his medical training, and then began the PhD program. His research is focuses on diabetic eye disease. Currently, he is also pursuing a Master's degree at UIC School of Public Health, in health care policy and administration. Ramsey will be graduating and completing his MD, PhD and MPH in May 2008. He has an undergraduate degree from Harvard University, where he was involved in research on neuroprogenitor cells involved in pain reception.
by Poornima Krishnan
For more information regarding the medical mission, please David Ramsey at dramse1@uic.edu or Christopher Guerrero, MD at cguerrer@uic.edu
