NHS Students, Faculty Stay Busy This Summer

This summer, NHS students and faculty are traveling the world to participate in diverse research and teaching projects.

For example, Pablo Irusta, assistant professor of human science, is leading a six-week internship at the INFANT Foundation in Buenos Aires.

While there, the students are taking a six-credit translational science course focusing on respiratory infections in infants, children, and adolescents.

Meanwhile, across the ocean, Michael Relf, chair of the Department of Nursing, Kevin Mallinson, assistant professor of nursing, and Amanda Liddle, assistant professor of nursing, are spending several weeks in Africa.

There, the team is continuing work on a $1.5 million grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration to build nursing workforce capacity related to HIV/AIDS.

Other efforts include:

Bernard Horak, professor of health systems administration, went with several members of the Georgetown community on a two-week trip to Nairobi, Kenya as part of an annual university initiative that focuses on issues such as HIV/AIDS, poverty, and health care.

Andrea Fischlowitz (NHS’10), a nursing major, traveled to South Africa with 55 other students from around the United States to meet with nurses and physicians to learn about the country’s health care system.

NHS Dean Bette Keltner, Sharon and Craig Ramey, directors of the Center on Health and Education, and Kathryn Leonhardy, assistant professor of international health, presented at the 30th International Congress on Law and Mental Health at the University of Padua in Italy.

And closer to home, faculty and students also remain busy. Some examples are:

Allison Boyd (NHS’08), a human science major, is using her Lisa Joy Raines Endowed Undergraduate Research Fellowship to study genetic links among transmitted drug-resistant mutations in HIV-1 around the Washington, D.C. area.

Patricia Cloonan, associate professor of health systems administration, is hosting the 11th annual Health Care Leadership Institute. The program, with underwriting from Kimberly-Clark, focuses on quality of care and patient safety.

Charles Evans, chair of the Department of Human Science, is again overseeing Pathways to Success, a project supported by founding sponsor The Goldman Sachs Foundation. Nearly 40 high school students from rural areas in Colorado, Louisiana, and South Dakota have traveled to Georgetown to learn about health, science, and technology.