Our Fellows will Define the Future
The Centre for Global Child Health uses unrestricted funds – money you donate – to award fellowships to health professionals working on global child health projects. Two were selected this year: Dr. Ashley Vandermorriss and Dr. Hasan Merali.Equally committed to furthering their knowledge (one of the requirements of the fellowship is pursuing a Master's degree), they differ in their research emphases. Dr. Vandermorris' focus is policy, while Dr. Merali tends to solutions-focussed clinical practice.
"Integrated strategies to support youth health in resource-poor areas – that's my interest."
Dr. Hasan Merali, a recipient of the prestigious Sommer Scholarship at Johns Hopkins University, is completing his Masters of Public Health there. When he's not in Baltimore, he's floating in Cambodia. For five years he's worked with an NGO called the Lake Clinic, which delivers medical services, by boat, to permanently floating fishing villages. He's part of the Helping Babies Breathe Program, which delivers training so that babies born in resource-limited circumstances will have the support to breathe and survive in the 'golden minute' after birth.
He will be back at SickKids in July, 2016.
20% of his time will be spent deploying his skills in pædiatric emergency medicine in the ER. 80% will be devoted to teaching and further research in his primary area of interest – neonatal resuscitation. Says Dr. Merali, "We will be developing a course to teach nurses in developing countries about the critical first few days of a neonate's life. Interventions in this period make an enormous difference in improving infant mortality."
