Tag: University of Pennsylvania

by Danielle Tsougarakis, Bioengineering ’20; and Kate Panzer, Bioengineering ’18

David Issadore, a faculty member in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania teaches an engineering course ENGR566 – Appropriate Point of Care Diagnostics. As part of this course, he and Miriam Wattenberger from CBE, have taken nine Penn students, most of them majoring in Bioengineering, to Kumasi, Ghana, to study the diagnosis of pediatric tuberculosis. While in Ghana, these students are blogging daily on their experiences.

Without any planned activities for the day, the entire group decided to attend church to gain a better understanding of a Ghanaian Christian service. We ended up going with Uncle Ebo (the driver for KNUST’s School of Public Health, loved by all) to the Church of Christ–Oforikrom. Through joyous singing and colorful garb, we were all able to appreciate the experience regardless of individual religious beliefs.

Once we returned back to KCCR, we cooked breakfast for ourselves, making “toad in a hole” (an egg cooked in the center of a piece of bread) and raving about the delicious local sugar bread, peanut butter, bananas, and pineapple. What a satisfying meal!

After a few hours of enjoying our relaxing Sunday morning, we headed via taxis to the Kumasi City Mall! Here we people-watched and enjoyed the modern ambiance of the bustling stores around us. We even got ice cream from a popular ice cream shop — “Yah!” We made a much-needed run to the grocery store to stock up on our new Ghanaian favorite, Golden Tree chocolate. Afterward, a few students tried a Virtual Reality stand and enjoyed the thrill of a roller coaster from the comfort of their seats in the mall. Later in the evening, the group spent some time working on their academic journals among other projects. After a full day, we finished up the night with a tasty dinner of a popular local noodle dish called indomie.

by Kaila Helm, Biological Basis of Behavior ’20;  Kathleen Givan, Bioengineering and Political Science ’20; Katharine Cocherl, Bioengineering ’20; Hope McMahon, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering ’18; and Dave Pontoriero, Biotechnology MS ’18

David Issadore, a faculty member in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania teaches an engineering course ENGR566 – Appropriate Point of Care Diagnostics. As part of this course, he and Miriam Wattenberger from CBE, have taken nine Penn students, most of them majoring in Bioengineering, to Kumasi, Ghana, to study the diagnosis of pediatric tuberculosis. While in Ghana, these students are blogging daily on their experiences.

Our day started out early with a trip back to the fetish priestess’s house. Just as we were arriving at her compound, the rainy-season storm drops began to fall. Over breakfast (and for a few more hours after that), we chatted and watched both the rain and a group of small children running in, out, and around the area we were sitting.

After exhausting our entire repertoire of team-bonding games and revisiting the implementation of our medical diagnostic tools with the Ghanaian program coordinator Nana Yaa, we began the serious portion of the day with a jungle tour that focused on the plants used by the priestess. She eased us in, warming us up to her knowledge by taking a strange fruit, banging it authoritatively on the wall, and offering the white flesh inside to us. Suck on the beans, she instructed. Don’t chew them. Later we learned that it was in fact the fruit of the cacao plant — yum. We give it an APOC 2017 official 5-star recommendation.

The rest of the plant tour led us into her enchanted forest of sorts. We loved hearing about how one plant could be used in so many ways. The uses ranged from curing an upset stomach to helping witches fly. She explained to us how she acquired her spiritual powers from a local river deity and how her spiritual “sight” helped her treat her patients. She even elaborated on which leaves to look for if you have a low red blood cell count. After we worked up an appetite hiking through her garden, we took a break for lunch, which consisted of yams and garden egg (eggplant) stew that the priestess herself made. She cooked all of the meals for us, and she was very welcoming to our group, greeting us hospitably.

When we arrived back at KCCR, we spent some time chatting in groups and meeting the newest resident of the guest house, a rising second-year Pitt medical school student. Others tested out the handmade slingshots gifted to them in the village we visited. After visiting one of the Ghanaian students’ dorm room, in what they call their hostels, we arrived back at KCCR to watch an episode of Black Mirror and to make some homemade chocolate-chip cookies — a perfect way to end our most jam-packed day of the trip.

by Ethan Zhao, Bioengineering ’19; and Jason Grosz, Bioengineering ’19

David Issadore, a faculty member in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania teaches an engineering course ENGR566 – Appropriate Point of Care Diagnostics. As part of this course, he and Miriam Wattenberger from CBE, have taken nine Penn students, most of them majoring in Bioengineering, to Kumasi, Ghana, to study the diagnosis of pediatric tuberculosis. While in Ghana, these students are blogging daily on their experiences.

One of the main objectives of this trip has been to observe the impact of limited resources on the ability of hospitals to treat diseases.  However, today, we left the Western perspective on medicine to take a look at alternative methods of treating disease, visiting an herbalist and a fetish priestess.  Upon entering the herbalist’s compound, we were struck by the size and upkeep of his residence, giving off the impression of wealth.  Interestingly, he claimed that he does not charge for treatment but instead only asks that people pay if the treatment works.

He often quoted the Bible and claimed that he got the gift of “sight” from God— sight that allows him to see the diseases that different plants could be capable of healing.  For example, he explained that, even though grapes are not indigenous to the region, he could see that they would be good for healing cardiac problems, from hypertension to cardiac disease to even cardiac arrest.  Coconuts represented the human head; therefore, the skin of the coconut could heal problems associated with the skin, the shell could heal problems associated with bone, the coconut meat could help to heal the brain, and the water inside could heal problems associated with the blood.  He also claimed that he can cure HIV/AIDS and cancer regardless of how serious the patient’s condition is.

After visiting the herbalist, we visited a fetish priestess. Similar to the herbalist, she had appeared to be extremely wealthy. She had a large house on a large plot of land next to a river and was in the process of developing a hotel/resort for her patients across the road. The priestess treated us extremely nicely, fed us lunch, and let us relax at her resort. We didn’t have time, however, to speak to her about her spiritual beliefs and practices, so we returned to KNUST. We planned to visit her again the next day to discuss her beliefs.

by Kaila Helm, Biological Basis of Behavior ’20; Kathleen Givan, Bioengineering and Political Science ’20; Katharine Cocherl, Bioengineering ’20; Hope McMahon, Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering ’18; and Dave Pontoriero, Biotechnology MS ’18

David Issadore, a faculty member in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania teaches an engineering course ENGR566 – Appropriate Point of Care Diagnostics. As part of this course, he and Miriam Wattenberger from CBE, have taken nine Penn students, most of them majoring in Bioengineering, to Kumasi, Ghana, to study the diagnosis of pediatric tuberculosis. While in Ghana, these students are blogging daily on their experiences.

Today was a day of reflection. To our great sadness, two of our fabulous leaders, Dr. Issadore and Dr. Ocek, left early this morning. We then split into teams to work on our projects for the remainder of the early afternoon. Given our newfound knowledge of the Ghanaian healthcare infrastructure and the standards of care for tuberculosis-related symptoms, our designs were altered to optimize their value. It was interesting to pull up our old classwork from Philly and realize how much it needed to be edited.

Following our intense project meetings, the group shared a lunch of ground nut soup and rice balls, one of our favorites. The advantage of cooking food ourselves is that we can tolerate the spice level and learn how to cook another delicious meal ourselves. We then left to do our community service at the rural high school we visited last week, Achinakrom Senior High School (ACHISS). Each APOC student led a class on a topic of interest to both him- or herself and the class. The focus of these classes spanned mathematics, science, and English. It’s a great opportunity to learn more about the Ghanaian education system and talk to more of the students about their day-to-day lives, while exposing us to the problems faced with both cross-cultural communication and teaching.

After returning home, we enjoyed a relaxing evening. One highlight was trying a traditional Ghanaian snack, mashed fante kenkey, which was prepared by our trip leader, Nana. (We love you Nana!) We ended the night with a group ab workout, a roundtable discussion, and yet another fun-filled team-bonding activity. It was a good day!

by Danielle Tsougarakis, Bioengineering ’20; and Kate Panzer, Bioengineering ’18

David Issadore, a faculty member in the Department of Bioengineering at the University of Pennsylvania teaches an engineering course ENGR566 – Appropriate Point of Care Diagnostics. As part of this course, he and Miriam Wattenberger from CBE, have taken nine Penn students, most of them majoring in Bioengineering, to Kumasi, Ghana, to study the diagnosis of pediatric tuberculosis. While in Ghana, these students are blogging daily on their experiences.

Today we had the honor of meeting Otumfuo Nana Osei Tutu II, the current Asante (also spelled Ashanti) king. The Ashanti Region is one of Ghana’s 10 administrative regions and expands across the southern part of the country. Once a large empire, the Ashanti kingdom now serves as a state union. After getting off the bus, we walked through the scenic palm tree-lined palace grounds, observing beautiful peacocks roaming the gardens. We entered the historic Asante museum and toured through generations of leaders, seeing sculptures of past kings, ancient artifacts, sacred Kente cloths, and more. Afterwards, we gathered outside the king’s palace, awaiting his presence. Many guests were dressed in their finest traditional African garb. We donned our vibrantly colored dashikis and other newly acquired traditional clothing. Groups of guests went up to the king and presented him with various gifts. Our group brought some high-quality Coca-Cola and Malta beverages, while other groups garnished him with bottles of wine, spirits, and even a large majestic ram. We all had the opportunity to individually bow to the king and shake his hand.

Following our royal visit to meet the king, we returned to KCCR and attended to our laundry and assignments. Some of us went for a run before dinner and got caught in a torrential downpour. We have come to know that such rapid onset of rain is quite common in Ghana, particularly during the rainy season. Despite the quick change in weather, the rain was cool and refreshing as we ran throughout the expansive campus.

In the evening, we had our own feast fit for royalty at a fancy hotel called the Golden Tulip (shout-out to Dr. Eke for the special connection). The restaurant in the hotel reminded us more of a Western-style arrangement, with a wide variety of international food, including salad, noodles, squid, and fruit, along with American pop music playing lightly in the background. Even dessert was served, including caramel flan, red velvet cake, and cheesecake, which is a rare sight in Ghana.