Our Senior Training Fellows 2015-2016
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e congratulate the 2015-16 Senior Training Fellows sponsored by the Foundation. Most have completed their work in the US and have returned to Vellore to complete Phase II of their projects, implementing trainings, systems and procedures, and new areas of competency, modeled after those they studied in their respective host hospitals. In each case the fellows were selected because their projects offered professional growth that could be shared with fellow CMC faculty members and fill a need at CMC. The Fellows design plans to share their expanded experience with colleagues, students and patients once they return to Vellore. Here are summaries of a few selected projects: Dr. Anna Pulimood (Batch of ’82), Professor of Pathology in Gastrointestinal Science Dr Pulimood spent six weeks at the Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston where she observed gastro-intestinal conditions and tumors that have been considered rare, but which are becoming more common in India. She also met with faculty at Tufts University Medical Center who shared recent changes in the medical curriculum. One Tufts faculty member has since visited CMC and conducted workshops on these changes. Dr. Pulimood then spent six weeks at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia in Pediatric Pathology, where again she was able to observe diagnostic techniques for conditions becoming more common in India that are complex and difficult to identify. Dr. Binu Susan Mathew, Department of Clinical Pharmacology Dr. Binu spent the first part of her fellowship working with Dr. Michael Neely at the USC Laboratory of Applied Pharmacokinetics (LAPK) of the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California. Quoting from their web site, the Lab is “a pharmacometric resource for optimal study and control of pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic systems and for individualized drug therapy and personalized medicine.” Dr. Binu worked closely with Dr. Neely to learn Pmetrics, a library package that he developed, for simulation and parameter estimation in linear and non-linear pharmacokinetic/pharmacodynamic systems. She also worked with the BestDose application that predicts dosage levels based on variables. In the final two weeks of her fellowship Dr. Binu travelled to the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital where she was able to work with an effective but less expensive method of estimating acylcarnitines in newborns; she also visited the Clinical Pharmacology team to see the value of pharmacometrics in a clinical setting. Dr. Vinod Joseph Abraham (Batch of ’89), Associate Professor, Community Health Dr. Vinod spent his full Fellowship at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. As a Community Health practitioner he is focused on the range of services that bring stability to the family and in turn to the community. Access to primary care is one of CMC’s primary outreach goals. In Dr. Vinod’s work he studied tools and environments that promote health and safety, while sustaining independence and improving quality-of-life among the aged. Specifically he examined means of planning and providing support to prepare for the major transition that comes with aging – including social, physical and emotional changes. He brought strategies back to CMC for caregivers to offer targeted services and support that are better integrated into the current care delivery system. Care for the disabled and dying was a critical aspect of Dr. Vinod’s work. He also made an effort to develop networks for further collaboration in research and service in these fields.
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