Summer offers faculty special opportunities

Doug Gross listens to the heartbeat of a young patient from the Ivory Coast’s Fulu Tribe, Many in the tribe had never seen metal before, much less a stethoscope. Courtesy photo

When Doug Gross got back from a three-week trip abroad earlier this summer, his family took him camping. It wasn’t the anatomy lecturer and medical center pediatrician’s dream vacation.

After all, he had just spent three weeks in the West African bush, providing medical care to residents in the primitive, isolated villages there.

The conditions were crude, but the experience worth it, Gross said.

He returned from his third West African trip with more knowledge about treating tropical diseases, confidence in his ability to make diagnoses without sophisticated lab work, and a renewed understanding of why he’s a doctor. “People are amazingly appreciative. It’s medicine at its purest,” Gross said. “I don’t write charts. I don’t deal with insurance. I treat patients.”

Across campus, many faculty members spent their summer traveling, but like Gross, most weren’t relaxing in luxurious accommodations. They were spending summers of research and service in venues as diverse as south central Los Angeles and southeastern China.

They added to their own expertise and brought back valuable knowledge and experiences for their students to draw on, said Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Virginia Hinshaw.

“Our UC Davis faculty are passionate about learning and research, so summer research opportunities provide a great opportunity for them to pursue their scholarship and also engage with the broader community,” she said.

Today, in the first of a two-part series, Dateline presents the summer research stories of two campus faculty members.

Doug Gross

Four years ago medical school lecturer Doug Gross talked with new medical student Jennifer Bottomly about an African missionary organization her church supported. One focus of the group – providing health care to rural villages in the western part of the continent – intrigued him, but he couldn’t have predicted he’d soon end up a leader of the organization.

But in July, for the third summer in a row, the pediatric specialist spent three weeks in Africa holding clinics and offering many patients their first-ever doctor’s exam. And with the help of Gross’ recent fund-raising efforts, the group, Liberia-based Discipling Our Nations Effectively was able to purchase a medical clinic building in Senegal. There, Gross plans to train villagers from all over West Africa in primary care.

Before finding DONE, Gross said he’d tried to connect with other medical missionary groups visiting Africa, but their application processes seemed too bureaucratic. DONE, however, wanted to Gross to participate and quickly.

“DONE wanted someone with an interest in mission work, health care work and teaching,” Gross said. Within three months he was in Africa.

For the first three summers Gross volunteered for the organization, he was its only doctor or nurse. This year he was accompanied to villages in Sierra Leone, Gambia and Senegal by Cheryl Adams, a Sacramento nurse.

There was plenty of work for them in the tribal villages, which are usually at least a day’s trip away from the nearest government medical centers. Gross and Adams, working out of a tennis bag of supplies, tended to men, women and children well into the evening.

“Many of the conditions we see are similar to what I see in the U.S., but they are much more serious because of the total neglect of any simple treatments,” Gross said.

Despite mango groves nearby, many villagers eat little fruit – or vegetables or meat – and suffer malnutrition. Diarrhea is common, as are tropical diseases like malaria. And simple insect bites become ulcerated sores when treated with the traditional balm of goat dung.

“Their few health practices are often based on spiritual belief or the practices of maribouts (witch doctors) whose treatments…often make things worse,” he said.

Increasingly Gross’ work is focused on getting villagers regular health care. His visits help people who are sick at the time, he said. “But what they really need is education about prevention, nutrition and simple primary care treatments.”

Gross and other DONE leaders are now working on a curriculum and hiring staff for the Senegal clinic. After training there, students would return to their villages to treat patients in their community.

Ultimately, Gross would like UC Davis medical residents and students interested in a tropical medicine elective to help out with the program.

Dateline UC Davis is the faculty and staff newspaper for the University of California, Davis.

http://www.dateline.ucdavis.edu/092002/dl_summer.html

Learn more about Discipling Our Nations Effectively at doneinc.org