International medical scholarly concentration students (imSC), partnered with Upgrade For Africa to assist with COVID-relief resources at Entebbe Regional Referral Hospital (EGH), in Entebbe, Uganda. EGH is currently facing heartbreaking shortages in medicines, oxygen, medical equipment and supplies, PPE, human resources, and vaccines. imSC students were able to create a fundraising campaign, as well as organize a 5K run to benefit EGH.

Learn more here: https://charity.gofundme.com/o/en/campaign/covid-19reliefforuganda

Several imSC students had the opportunity to participate in one of USF Health International’s Student Global Health Conversation Series, a conversation series between USF Health students and students from international partner institutions, with medical students from Gifu University, Japan. The topic of conversation was “The Impact of Telehealth on Healthcare in Japan and the U.S. and Its Future Post COVID-19”

We would like to thank the students and faculty from College of Medicine, Gifu University, Japan for joining us in a thoughtful discussion.

Watch the full recording HERE

Congratulations to the imSC Class of 2021!

List of graduates:

Christian Borton, MD
Madeline Carney, MD
Elizabeth Cook, MD
Cody Davis, MD
Adam Elkhayat, MD
Jennifer Griffith, MD
Catherine Hanna, MD
Benjamin Icard, MD
Elizabeth Lafranchise, MD
Joshua Mizels, MD
Ross Quarles, MD
Myra Quiroga, MD
Emily Shipley, MD
Alana Snyder, MD
Austin Van Vliet, MD
Kritos Vasiloudes, MD
Celia Vitale Kucera, MD

Professor Suttipong Wacharasindhu gave a presentation on “COVID-19 and the Healthcare System in Thailand: Perspective from a Medical School Hospital” at the Global Health Conversation Series, which is hosted by USF Health International and the Global Virus Network.

Professor Suttipong Wacharasindhu is the Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Chulalongkorn University and Director of the King Chulalongkorn Memorial Hospital in Bangkok, Thailand. Professor Suttipong is a pediatric endocrinologist. He is a member of the Royal College of Physicians as well as a fellow of the Royal College of Pediatrics and Child Health. His research focuses on growth disorders, specifically insulin-like growth factors and their binding proteins. During the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, he has led the response effort for both the medical school and the hospital. He is currently a member of a national committee to develop strategies to combat COVID-19, prevent community outbreaks, and design best clinical practices to manage COVID-19.

We were honored to have Professor Suttipong Wacharasindhu at the Global Health Conversation Series.

Watch the full recording here: https://youtu.be/MqdNTewUAmc

Several imSC students had the opportunity to participate in one of USF Health International’s Student Global Health Conversation Series, a conversation series between USF Health students and students from international partner institutions, with medical students from Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand. The topic of conversation was “How Does Covid-19 Vaccine Hesitancy Influence the Pandemic Response In the United States And Thailand?”

We would like to thank the students and faculty from Chulalongkorn University Faculty of Medicine for participating in this conversation with us.

Watch the full recording HERE

Dr. Shashikiran Umakanth gave a presentation on “Public-Private Partnership During a Pandemic — Experience in Udupi District of India” at the Global Health Conversation Series, which is hosted by USF Health International and the Global Virus Network.

Dr. Shashikiran Umakanth is Professor and Head of the Department of Medicine at Dr. TMA Pai Hospital Udupi, which is the dedicated COVID-19 hospital of Udupi District, India. Dr. Umakanth has served in many academic roles on both the national and international campuses of Manipal Academy of Higher Education, a university recognized as an Institution of Eminence by the Government of India. Dr. Umakanth has been at the helm of the COVID-19 response for Udupi District. In addition to being a frontline clinician managing COVID-19 patients, Dr. Umakanth conducted several training sessions on the management of COVID-19 and infection control practices for healthcare workers in various hospitals of the district. His areas of interest include infectious diseases, medical disorders in pregnancy, diabetes mellitus and medical education.

We were honored to have Dr. Shashikiran Umakanth at the Global Health Conversation Series.

Watch the full recording here: https://youtu.be/MqdNTewUAmc

At USF Health Research Day 2021, over 300 students submitted research posters. Christian Borton, MSIV, presented his project "Exploring the natural route of Aedes flavivirus infection in Aedes albopictus mosquitoes”. Christian’s faculty mentor on this project was Maria-Carla Saleh, PhD, Pasteur Institute, France.

Christian was chosen as the winner of the Medical Student Research Award, Year 3 & 4. 

Dr. Minal Ahson, Assistant Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics, gave a lecture titled “The Merging of Two Crises: The Impact of Covid 19 on the Global Refugee Crisis” at the Global Health Conversation Series, which is presented by USF Health International and the Global Virus Network.

Dr. Ahson is a Med-Peds Hospitalist on the COVID-19 response team at the Global Emerging Disease Institute at Tampa General Hospital. She has extensive experience working on humanitarian medical response around the world, with a particular focus on refugee communities in Jordan and Bangladesh.

Watch the full recording here: https://youtu.be/qwrxnWy_mCQ

Dr. Christian Bréchot, the Senior Associate Dean for Research in Global Affairs, AVP forInternational Partnerships and Innovation, and Professor in the Division of Infectious Disease at USFMorsani College of Medicine, presented “COVID-19: Lessons to be Learned and the Role of theGlobal Virus Network” at the Global Health Conversation Series, which is hosted by USF HealthInternational.

Dr. Brechot heads the USF Microbiome Initiative, and is the co-founder of the Microbiome,Immunology and Infection Mitigation (MIIM) hub in the Pandemic Response Research Network(PRRN) as well as the president of the Global Virus Network. Dr. Brechot has served as thepresident of the Pasteur Institute, and vice president of medical and scientific affairs at Institut-Merieux, and as general director of Inserm, the French national agency for biomedical research.

Watch the full recording here:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dybbf5mp0_U&list=PLXPOJANLDW7zFCU30EZUhGxAOmrFo1Xf&index=6