School of Nursing & Health Studies Puts Research into Action
(This is part 2 of 6 of a series of articles excerpted from "A Medical Mission" in the Spring/Summer 2009 issue of Georgetown Magazine)
A number of School of Nursing & Health Studies (NHS) faculty conduct a small but specialized portion of the more than $132 million in sponsored research at the Medical Center.
NHS researchers bring their expertise into the classroom, especially in areas that have an impact on international health. For example, Pablo Irusta, assistant professor of human science at NHS, runs a translational health science internship for undergraduates in Argentina. Students focus on respiratory diseases, caused by specific pathogens – typically Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV), a common cause of bronchiolitis and pneumonia among infants and children under the age of 1. Students in the program learn firsthand how basic scientists work in the lab and physicians in the clinical setting.
“We live in a world that has become increasingly interconnected,” Irusta says. “People, trade and infectious agents move rapidly across borders. We have learned that the solutions to many scientific problems, especially those that are global in nature, will only emerge from international research collaborations.”
“My research experiences studying RSV with Dr. Irusta have been both eye-opening and rewarding,” says Bridget Dowd (NHS’09). She traveled to Buenos Aires with Irusta and five other students in the summer of 2007, assisting in research at the Infant Foundation and observing in five pediatric hospitals. “The gratifying opportunity to learn in a classroom, observe patients with RSV, and then research RSV in the lab led me to continue researching RSV here in (NHS’) Discovery Center with Dr. Irusta,” she says.
As an increasingly global Georgetown looks to meet the needs of the world, more centers and institutes are being created to support such work. In 2007, Georgetown officially launched the Institute for National and Global Health Law, which is tackling important current issues such as food safety and emergency preparedness.
The venture – a partnership between the Law Center and the School of Nursing & Health Studies – was made possible through a $10 million gift from Linda O’Neill (N’77), chair of the NHS board of visitors, and Timothy O’Neill (L’77), a member of the university’s board of directors.
The institute is directed by Larry Gostin, the Linda D. and Timothy J. O’Neill Professor of Global Health Law. Since its inception, the institute has convened discussions on wide-ranging topics. These include health care cost containment, personalized medicine, economic disparities in health care access, and World Malaria Day, which it sponsored along with the Brookings Institution; Georgetown’s Mortara Center for International Studies; Woodstock Theological Center; and Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs.
NHS is also home to the Center for Disease Prevention and Health Outcomes, which is part of the O’Neill Institute.
“The purpose of the institute is to bring science – both natural science and social science – into the production and assessment of health law,” says Jeff Collmann, director of the center.
The Center for Disease Prevention and Health Outcomes is focusing on five key issues: the ethics surrounding the recruitment of foreign-trained nurses, food safety, personalized medicine, emergency preparedness and global health governance.
“The goal at NHS is to take scientific evidence to the front lines of health care,” says NHS Dean Bette Jacobs. “NHS faculty and graduates live the mission of the school -to improve the health and well-being of all people.”
“GUMC has put forward a powerful scientific agenda. At NHS, we will harmonize these advances for the public through discovery and learning and by shaping health sciences, health professionals and health systems,” Jacobs says.
By Frank Reider, excerpted from the Spring/Summer 2009 issue of Georgetown Magazine
