Inspiration

August Stitch spoke to our class on Friday February 1st.
A German physician who has worked with Medecins San Frontieres(MSF), he described some of his experiences since graduating from the Diploma Course in Tropical Medicine(DTM).
He combined scientific expertise about schistosomiasis(a common tropical, water-born, parasitic disease afflicting primarily the rural poor in Africa, Asia and parts of South America) with a captivating story of his venture into the Khmer Rouge dominated area of Cambodia to establish a hospital. This followed a time he had spent working with a Trypanosomiasis(tse tse fly carried parasitic disease in Africa) project in central Africa. His multi-media presentation was well organized and masterfully presented. He shared his frustrations with big pharma as some of the few drugs for trypanasomiasis were discontinued from production in the early 2000s for financial reasons until one of the drugs was included in some cosmetic creams for facial hair reduction and deals were struck with these companies, the World Health Organization(WHO) and MSF. He admitted his mistakes in attempting to tackle HIV with the same tactics used in the schistosomiasis effort.
Friday was a day that met my lofty expectations of the DTM.
In medicine and in life, we are inspired by mentors(or heroes, though these individuals might object to this descriptor). Friday I was inspired.