UPAC Meeting

This morning I went to a meeting in the Senate Building at the Capitol. It was a meeting for the Utah Prevention Advisory Council. There were people from all different types of groups around Utah who were working with substance abuse prevention in some way. It was really interesting to hear different things that are going on around the state.

Some highlights of the meeting include -

- sitting next to John Swallow* (and sharing my 'curiously strong' cinnamon altoids with him). Swallow is the newly appointed Chief Deputy Attorney General of Utah
- talking with George Starks after the meeting, whose brother died from alcohol poisoning while being hazed into a USU fraternity (as a result he's become very active in trying to get legislation passed in regard to hazing laws, etc)

- being introduced to this website - giving a picture of substance abuse problems throughout Utah
- seeing different house and senate bills that are related to substance abuse that have recently been passed
- hearing about different trainings and events happening locally

I really enjoyed the meeting. I filled in for my supervisor who was closing on a house today, but I hope I get to go to the next meeting too.

*I just learned from the wikipedia page that he has the same birthday as I do! (:

Hi guys

Wow, I just checked the blog today and like everyone has posted except for me! I haven't been anywhere fun like Mexico or England, but Billings has been pretty relaxing. Dan and I have actually been able to watch TV at night! . . . and yes Brad I am caught up on Lost. But I have to say I'm pretty disappointed. I don't know how they are going to wrap it all up with one more episode- it just gets weirder and weirder. And why does everyone have to be dying?! We have also been watching Glee (which I really like) and American Idol (I'm so happy that Casey got kicked off! his hair was disgusting). We have been able to spend lots of time with both our families which has been super fun. I've already done 100 hours for my fieldwork with the health department and I'm hoping to figure out what exactly I am doing for my project this next week. Also, my sister-in-law is getting married next week, so we have been helping with lots of wedding planning stuff. That's about it. If I ever take any pictures I will be sure to post them!

Who's Who

This week so far has been pretty fun. Once a year, for one week, the World Health Assembly meets at the Palais d'Nations (The Headquarters for the UN). This is a gathering of health representatives from about 190 countries/nations.

The opening day had the Director General of the WHO Dr. Margaret Chan. Here is the link to her remarks:

http://www.who.int/dg/speeches/2010/WHA_address_20100517/en/index.html

This year, for the first time, they granted interns access to the ground level where the dignitaries sit. My group ventured over to where the US representatives were and they were very friendly and excited to meet fellow Americans. I met Rebecca Patton, president of the American Nurses Association, as well as Dr. Cecil Wilson, president-elect of the American Medical Association. Both chatted with us about our stay in Geneva and also about health issues such as the recently passed health care reform.



We also got to listen to the President of Liberia speak. Check out www.who.int for a paragraph summary of her remarks as well as the UN Secretary-General Special Envoy for Malaria, Ray Chambers, remarks. Below is Director General Margaret Chan.


Day two of the WHA was spent in a meeting reviewing the progress and challenges that remain with the MDGs. This is one of the conference rooms in the UN building where the meeting took place.



Today was attending a meeting about the US Global Health Initiative which basically consists of President Obama's pledge of $63 billion over the next 6 years toward helping partner countries improve health outcomes and strengthen health systems. Here is the link to the slides from the powerpoint today.

http://globalhealth.gov/initiatives/05192010c.pdf

During the meeting I noticed that the US Surgeon General Regina Benjamin was also in the room. After the meeting I made my way over to the line of people waiting to talk with her and also met the president of the National Medical Association, Dr. Willards V. Edwards. The NMA is the medical association that represents physician of African-American descent and their patients.

During the meeting there was a question about what the US will do to help fund additional countries/organizations. Interestingly enough, the topic of "Helms Law" (I should have asked for the correct spelling) came up and how was the US going to amend this law. I didn't know this but this US law prohibits US federal funding of an international organization that allows abortion. (I tried googling this and didn't find 'Helms Law' and I'm not completely sure I understood this correctly). However, I did ask the main speaker Dr. Nils Daulaire, the newly appointed Director of the Office of Global Health Affairs at HHS, about what it was, maybe I'm not entirely correct on this.

Anyway Dr. Daulaire, the main person conducting the meeting, was very careful in his words and personally mentioned that he would love to help fund other organizations that promote the same values that he presented on. However, because he represents the US and follows US law, he expressed doubt in the Senate ever amending this. I could see many faces in the room, probably representing many countries, with a slightly disgusted look.

I also talked with the Surgeon General's assistant La Kiesha Jones, a member of the Comissioned Corps. I asked what it was like being the assistant for the Surgeon General. She responded that it was very busy but fun to travel around and attend and learn from all the different meetings.

Dr. Edwards, President of National Medical Association

Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin
(the girl on the right is En Qi, the other intern, from Singapore)

Another highlight of the day was attending the Briefing on the World Conference of Social Determinants of Health organized by the delegation from Brazil. Sir Michel Marmott was there as well as the US Surgeon General and the Canadian Chief Public Health Officer (kind of like the Canadain Surgeon General), Dr. David Butler-Jones.

Canadian Chief Public Health Officer, Dr. David Butler-Jones

Dr. Marmot didn't have a power point presentation and spoke without a script. (I was sitting close enough to see that he wasn't reading something). He talked about how since the Commission of Social Determinants of Health published their report he has had three new health problems. The first, was that he is constantly in a state of excitement from all the news and people he interacts with that are joining the social movement of addressing social determinants to better health. The second, he has suffered from selective hearing loss, that he no longer hears the voices of critics that doubted the importance of addressing and focusing on social determinants. Lastly, he mentioned that his eyes water easily. He told a story of how when he heard that the representative from Spain in the European Union was to make social determinants of health the focus of their countries health policy his eyes watered. He also mentioned that when he heard how he witnessed empowered women in poverty ridden Bangladesh communities improve their health conditions because of community action, his eyes watered. He also told of when he was in Thailand and listened to the children sing about how we are each waves of the ocean and stars in the sky united in creation and purpose, he completely lost it. Dr. Marmot expressed his enthusiasm and said similar words when he came to BYU, about fair society and equal health.

It was a very memorable presentation. So in a year the World Conference of Social Determinants of Health will be held in Rio de Janiero, Brazil.

Before the meeting I had a minute to talk with Dr. Marmot. I said, "Dr. Marmot, you probably don't remember me but I am Alex Wu from Brigham Young University, where you presented about two months ago. I asked you the question after your presentation about green space." Dr. Marmot looked at me and said, "Ah, yes! (Pause) What are you doing here?!" I almost laughed. I told him about the internship opportunity at the WHO and then our conversation was cut since he had to sit down up front and the meeting was beginning. Really nice guy.

The picture is after the meeting.

"Aerosmith"
(girl on right is another intern, different department)

Here are some other pictures from today.

View from my office. Summer is here!

It's Us!

The Preston Temple Story

Hey guys,

MaryAnne and I are slowly blogging about our trip to England. I posted last night and am too lazy to post it again here. You can read the post about my uncomfortable experience in the temple by clicking on this link: http://bradandmaryanne.blogspot.com If you have a blog, feel free to link to us. We'd love you add you guys as well.

A couple of announcements. I am an official P90X grad. Take that Tony Horton! I hadn't done any P90X for a couple of weeks and then did the push-up and pull-up workout (the one I threw up on) this morning. I tried to go as hard as I did a month ago and made it halfway before the sick started coming. Darn you Tony Horton.


Also, I am stoked that Glee is back on TV again. The first few episodes were a disappointment for me, but the last two, "Bad Reputation" and "Laryngitis," have been awesome. I highly recommend at least the songs. I would also talk about Lost, but no one is following this season (Katie K., have you caught up yet?). Hope everyone is having fun at their fieldworks.

Hiking Outing #1

Katie and I decided we'd like to go on multiple hikes this summer. Today with the beautiful weather we're having, we finally made it out. The mountains behind my house have multiple trails. I had heard that there was a waterfall up there and we decided to try to find it.

Katie and Dingo

this picture was taken after Katie jumped about two feet in the air when she saw she was about to step on a stink bug. in her defense, it was definitely one of the largest nasty stink bugs I've ever seen.


some of the fire-ravaged trees from two years ago
with a nice view in the back

a close-up of fire-ravaged trees

sorry it's fuzzy, it was hard to take a good picture because the sun was glaring on it

I like the trees against the sky

a close-up

the Draper temple

for some of the hike, we were where we could see all three temples in the area - Draper, Jordan River, and Oquirrh Mountain


this was the only waterfall we ended up seeing
we think the falls may have been where no dogs were allowed
(different trails that branched off didn't allow dogs or horses)
this waterfall was in the landscaping of a home right by the trailhead

Wedding Anniversary

Hello everyone, this is the first time I have ever posted on a blog - wish me luck! Brady and I are celebrating our 2nd wedding anniversary today, crazy. Anywho, our summer has been going quite grand thus far. We spent the first week of May in Mexico on vacation - words cannot describe how wonderful it was to not think about school or work for an entire week. Other than that I will be interning for the Utah Cancer Control Program (UCCP) at the UDOH for my field experience this summer, and I am in the process of adding questions to the Utah BRFSS for my project.

Some pictures from our vacation are above, more are available on facebook if you are interested.

Happy Friday

Ok, well to be honest I haven't done much as pertaining to my fieldwork, but I've been having some fun! Last week Chance and I went to my home in Lodi, California and we had a great time. We left snow for sunshine and it felt great. We were also able to spend a day in San Fran with my sister and niece Lily.

Also Chance started physical therapy school this past Monday, I don't think I told everyone but he was accepted to Rocky Mountain University here in Provo. This school was truly a blessing for us! Anyways I will be heading up to the health department on Tuesday and I am excited to get started. Isn't it amazing not having class though?? Seriously sooo great!

Bonjour!

It has been quite a crazy ride since Eliza, Lisa, and I arrived in Geneva, Switzerland, almost three weeks ago. I'll try to be brief. Lisa did great on the flights and managed to sleep most of all three flights and we arrived to be welcomed by our wonderfully kind landlord, Lilian. She managed to stuff four suitcases, our stroller (for those who have seen it it is not a small one), a car seat with Lisa, Eliza, and myself into her Toyota Corolla wagon/hatchback looking car. I still get a kick out of seeing the European model Honda's and Pugeot's and Fiat's.

Our place is kind of far from the World Health Organization. It is actually in France and is in a small town called Sergy. It is very green and so far very rainy. People say that this spring has been abnormally long and cold. It takes me about an hour and ten minutes depending on if I catch my second bus in time to get from our barn-converted-to-modern-home to my office.

My internship is finally picking up since my WHO intranet account is activated. There are two others that I work with. One is a med student from Singapore named En Qi (pronounced "N" "Chi"). Apparently if accepted, you can start medical school in Singapore after high school and it is a 5 year program. So I think En Qi is 21 and next year is her final year in med school. Pretty crazy... 21 and a doctor. However, they still need to take the US medical board exams to practice in the States, if they ever decide to.

The other intern Nadeeka works for the Australian government. Her family is from Sri Lanka but she was born and raised in Melborne. It still takes me a moment to get over how she speaks with a heavy Aussie accent.

Anyway En Qi and I work on validating data that has been entered into the on-line WHO Global InfoBase databases... pretty much a database that users can find info about prevalence of non-communicable diseases from most countries. However, last week, before our WHO accounts were activated, my supervisor had us edit and offer suggestions for the new version of Global InfoBase that is to roll out in a few weeks and create a FAQs page... needless to say... the things I learned from creating a good survey layout helped me offer some good suggestions to the website and they are actually in the new version. (He showed me yesterday).

I've also been validating (checking reported numbers) from publications by other WHO departments on school health surveys and today started working on another survey report for Gabon and another west African Country.

Anyway, enough of work, so I don't Lisa is ever going to sleep by herself in a crib after this trip. Here she is in the middle of our bed. She has been sleeping much better through the night since she has Eliza and myself to put her foot on or to sleep on top of... I love it.


We live on the top floor of this converted barn and it is big. We have our own room and own bathroom. We share the kitchen with Lilian and her husband. Here is what it looks like by our place in the French country-side.





Here is the road we walk down to the nearest bus stop (about 10-15 minute walk from the house). This is "downtown" Sergy. There is really old church and a water fountain as well as some nice homes.




Well... since we are outside of the main bus routes the buses come every half hour or every hour on the weekends. Here is how I feel sometimes waiting for them.

Eliza and Lisa are keeping themselves busy. Actually, if you want an interesting/more up-to-date log of what goes on outside the internship, you can checkout the main blog that Eliza writes:

alexandelizawu.blogspot.com

I can add you guys.

Here are some pictures of our adventures exploring "Old Town" Geneva. Some of these were built in the 1400's




Here is the famous Jet d'Eau. It shoots water 148 meters (485 feet) high. I took Lisa and walked out to as close as we could without getting wet. You can't actually get to the fountain, it's fenced off and plus that would really hurt.

Yes We Can, Cohort 8!

Hello sports fans. No one has posted here yet and so I thought I would be the first. Some quick news. I have decided on a medical school. We will be going to the University of Rochester. I just got confirmation that we got the townhouse that we wanted and we will be moving at the end of August. More on that decision to come. Tomorrow I'm going to give a presentation on social capital at UPHA. It will be nice to be done with this and focus more on the research associated with my fieldwork. MaryAnne and I really need to blog about our trip to England (which was incredible!), and we will soon. I will need to tell you guys the stories about the Preston temple and my civies, as well as punting in the Indians. While in England, one of my favorite things to see as we were driving on country roads were the political signs. As many of you know, the UK had its elections last week. Here was a sign which made me realize that I was not in the United States.

Love it.