Somehow that doesn’t sound as good as “winter of my discontent.” At least it’s a happier thing! It’s summer here in Lima, a new season in which to be living and working. One of the heads of the program I’m on this year will be in Lima next week, and we’ve all been asked to give a presentation on our experiences and work in our time on this grant. My projects have all exploded as of late, bursting in new directions, setting course for some increasingly visible destination. It’s a wonderful thing, to have convinced the powers-to-be of the value of your research to the point of not only ethics approval, but cooperation in the form of time and resources. I have projects in various stages of development at this point, from waiting for ethics approval to a just about ready for submission paper, and am happy to improving my education in study design, data analysis and writing skills through these projects. From an academic standpoint, those were really my goals for this year, in addition to developing local research connections and getting a better sense of research areas that might be worth dedicating some time to over the next few years (at the very least). Obviously, there’s a lot more to learn, consider and do over the next few months, but this is a decent trajectory. Clinically, as well, things look as if they will be improving. I’m starting at a new hospital next week. The hospital houses one of the largest pediatric wards and has a specific ward for pediatric TB. I think my improved Spanish will allow me to help out clinically rather than just observing, though I’ll be grateful to be able to interact with people regardless, to hear their stories and concerns. Also, I’ll be heading to Iquitos (in the Amazon) for a little bit at the end of February. I’ve been working a bit on a study on sexually transmitted infections in communities along the Amazon, and will be going as part of the research team to deliver the test and study results to the communities. After my team leaves, I’ll spend some time in one of the hospitals in Iquitos and possibly with an NGO involved in some of the bigger HIV clinical trials. It won’t be much in terms of exposure to the unique needs of a much more underserved/affected by infectious diseases community, but I’m hoping my experiences will contribute to improving my clinical ability to help patients in the future, in addition to possibly guiding research directions.
Not the most organized post, but a general idea of why I haven’t been posting? Hope you’re all doing well…
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