CU Alternative Spring Break Trip to Costa Rica with the not-for-profit organization VIDA!

Are you a pre-medical, pre-veterinary, pre-dental, pre-nursing, medical, dental or nursing student at Columbia University? Do you want to spend 9 days in Costa Rica over Spring break learning more about the profession you are interested in and getting lots of hands-on experience while helping communities in need and exploring Costa Rica? If your answer is yes, then look no further. This is the program for you!

Welcome to VIDA, an exciting not-for-profit humanitarian volunteer program that offers hands–on, eye-opening and mind-enriching international volunteer experiences to students of medicine, dentistry and veterinary medicine. We offer unparalleled volunteer experiences for those who want to learn about medicine, discover new cultures and share with those less fortunate while providing free health services to improve the quality of life of impoverished people and of animals in Central America.

Join us for an alternative spring break trip you will never forget! We will be visiting Cartago and Turrialba, where we will set up clinics in various establishments such as schools and churches. The trip will take place from March 13th to March 21st, 2010. The cost of the trip, excluding airfare and the application fee of $100, is $1,395. This price includes ground transportation, airport pick up/drop off, lodging, bilingual health professionals, guides, interpreters, supplies/materials for clinics, most meals and tours.

This trip is also open to students who are still undecided but are leaning toward a certain medical profession or to anyone who just wants to help make a difference. You are not expected to have had any medical experience or to have taken any science classes prior to the trip. NOTE: Students on the veterinary team who wish to participate in surgery at the spay/neuter clinics will need to have observed 25 hours of small-animal surgery at a local animal clinic prior to the trip.

IMPORTANT DEADLINE: The deadline to submit an application for this trip is December 14, 2009. Please go to https://secure.puertoviejosatellite.com/vida/application.php

and select "CR031310: Columbia University Mar 13/10 - Mar 21/10". The application fee of $100.00 is due along with your application. Please go to http://vidavolunteertravel.org/payment.php#paynow

to submit the payment online.

Questions or concerns? Please do not hesitate to contact Rachelle at rdm2110@columbia.edu or rachelle@vidavolunteertravel.org.

For more information:

Please look at the Facebook event page

for this trip to learn more. If you log into your facebook account and view the page you will be to see pictures from a previous VIDA trip to Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
Please also visit VIDA's website

and VIDA's YouTube Channel which has videos about the VIDA trip to Costa Rica

, the dental clinic

, the medical clinic

and a sloth sanctuary

that we will most likely visit.

HIV and Global Health: A Reception to Celebrate an ICAP-Supported JAIDS Supplement

Monday, November 16
2-3:30pm
Hess Commons
Mailman School of Public Health,
Ground Floor

Join ICAP at a reception to celebrate the publication of the November supplement of the Journal of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (JAIDS). Entitled "HIV Scale-Up and Global Health Systems," the supplement was guest-edited by ICAP Director Wafaa El-Sadr and features articles by 18 ICAP and Mailman School of Public Health faculty authors.

The event will include an informal panel discussion with Wafaa El-Sadr, Richard Parker, Miriam Rabkin, David Hoos, Marita Murrman and Jessica Justman.

Reception to follow
Open to all faculty, students, and staff

FORUM EVENT: DOCUMENTARY SCREENING AND DINNER!!!

The Forum for Global Health and Human Rights is hosting a documentary screening this Thursday, November 5th at 6:00PM in Hammer 401, followed by a non-pizza dinner. The documentary concerns the work of the Foundation for Post Conflict Development in East Timor. Information about internships and other opportunities will be provided at the event. Please RSVP to pl2148@columbia.edu so we know how much food to order. See below for more information:

The Foundation for Post Conflict Development is an NYC-based NGO that conducts field work in countries emerging from conflict situations. They take a multi-faceted approach by coordinating health, educational, artistic/cultural, and economic development projects that are complemented by academic/historical research in East Timor, Madagascar, the Caucusus region, Jordan, Morocco, and other countries.

For our kickoff event, come watch a 20-minute documentary on nation-building in East Timor following civil war. Afterwards, Executive Director of FPCD, Ms. Claudia Abate, will speak about the exciting work that FPCD is doing to directly address issues that have arisen in this setting, with a focus on health. Ms. Abate worked at the United Nations for 13 years before coming to FPCD and has extensive experience in foreign policy.

Also come hear about opportunities to be involved in these efforts! More information about FPCD is available at http://www.postconflictdev.org/

Newsletter, October 2009

Please read on to find out some of what's been happening with SJM over the last month!


Physicians for Human Rights & Forum on Global Health and Human Rights News:

Physicians for Human Rights started the year off teaming up with Columbia University Harm Reduction Outreach Network (CUHRON) with a postcard-signing campaign advocating to lift the needle-exchange ban. Then on October 1, Dr. Joanne Csete came to speak to us about her work on HIV/AIDS in Africa and how illicit drug use is an often neglected mode of transmission that needs to be further addressed in public health. This was the first event in a monthly series known as the Forum on Global Health and Human Rights (FGHHR). Following our introductory meeting, FGHHR has set its schedule for the year which includes topics such as overpopulation and post-conflict development. In addition, PHR is in the process of setting up events on lethal injection with Dr. Mark Heath, an informal discussion with Dr. Robert Deckelbaum on his work in areas of conflict, and finally a conference on reproductive rights with Mailman's Sexual Health Advocacy Group (SHAG). If you are interested in getting involved with any of these upcoming activities, please let Sara (srv2109) or Floria (fwc2109) know.



HIV Rotation News:

The Center for Comprehensive Care at St. Luke's Hospital welcomed three new postbaccs this month, who are gearing up to begin work on two research projects as well as begin shadowing physicians in the clinic. For more information about the clinic, please visit the website: http://www.centerforcare.org/


Doc to Dock News:

Thanks to Erin, Rachel, and Will for volunteering their help over the last several weeks at the Doc to Dock warehouse! Earlier in the month, Doc to Dock founder Dr. Bruce Charash was interviewed for the nationally-syndicated show WorldFocus. The segment aired on October 15 on national television. Additionally, Doc to Dock has just recently begun a collection relationship with the Comprehensive Cancer Center at Columbia Presbyterian.

Saving Mothers

Hey everyone,

If you were at the kick off meeting for SJM about a month ago, you'll remember me mentioning Saving Mothers, an initiative that was organized by Nichole Young-Lin, a postbac who just graduated last year. Nichole left an undergraduate body at Columbia to work with Saving Mothers when she finished the postbac, however the postbacs she left in charge unfortunately fell through due to other commitments.

Keely, a first year postbac, has recently been coordinating with Nichole to resume participation by postbac students at Columbia. If this is a project that sounds interesting to you that you'd like to participate in, please email Keely at kcb2126@columbia.edu.

You can read about Saving Mothers at their website here or at the link at right:
http://savingmothers.org/mission.html