By Karla Zadnik, OD, PhD
College of Optometry
Watercolor inspirations in Gondar!
Watercolored images of Four Sisters (restaurant) and the transportation van’s dashboard chickens (by Karla Zadnik)
Dr. Karla Zadnik with the ethics course attendees at the University of Gondar
By Karla Zadnik, OD, PhD
College of Optometry
The Summer Institute’s research ethics course chugged along today. I started late, mostly because I didn’t realize most of my students were in the courtyard just outside the classroom in the bright morning sunshine, waiting for me to begin speaking. I lectured on the tenets of the Declaration of Helsinki (OSU faculty—you all remember those, right?) and the ethical use of animals in research (thanks Donna McCarthy!), but the highlight turned out to be the case study discussions.
I presented a case I’d heard at the 2008 Public Responsibility in Medicine & Research meeting. It weaves the tale of an imaginary city, Blovar, which is under siege such that its children are subsisting on an inadequate 400 calories. An entrepreneurial, mythical scientist who studies nutrition and brain function in children appears on the scene to conduct a purely observational study of the children. After carefully reading the case, the course attendees “went to town.” After their small group analysis of the case, I facilitated a discussion of the case. They didn’t need me. There were marked differences of opinion in the class. One attendee drew historical correlates, while another took the role of the Principal Investigator, cautioning the audience to assume that fellow scientists generally want to do a good job. The points made were lively, vehement even, yet collegial. All this before lunch!
The afternoon’s soundtrack was a thunderstorm of biblical proportions that hammered the roof of the classroom and lit up the sky. We all raised our voices in tune with the rain and created a chorus, celebrating the hard, thoughtful work of teaching and learning research-related ethics.
By Karla Zadnik, OD, PhD; DeanVannasdale, OD, PhD; and Andrew Emch, OD, MS
College of Optometry
Dr. Dean inspiring Optometry faculty at the University of Gondar
Dr. Andrew and Dr. Dean spent their second full day at the Department of Optometry, University of Gondar. At the Gondar faculty’s request, they taught a crash course on keratoconus, irregular corneas, and specialty contact lens fitting. The faculty was clearly eager to learn and are well-educated. They asked complex questions, almost stumping Ohio State’s favorite sons with evidence-based questions that required detailed knowledge of disease epidemiology.
Glasses donated for hands-on student learning at the Department of Optometry
After a jet-lag antidote lunch that included Coke and strong coffee, they went back to tour the Department’s clinic. The facility is adequately sized to educate the enrolled students.
Unfortunately, frequent, rolling power outages regularly limit patient care, on average two days a week. Equipment is a limitation as well. The clinical equipment, shared between Optometry and Ophthalmology, is a rate-limiting step for both education and eye care delivery.
Power outage = keratoconus story time with Dr. Andrew!
In spite of these challenges, the young faculty (average age 27 years old), all products of the initial years of the program, are dedicated to building educational capacity, departmental independence, and high standards for the provision of comprehensive eye examinations.
By Karla Zadnik, OD, PhD
College of Optometry
I was hosted by Dr. Seleshe Nigatu of the University of Gondar as I opened the research ethics class in the Summer Institute with a discussion of the Tuskegee Study. The study is the U.S.’s 1978 Belmont Report with its basic principles of respect for persons, beneficence/nonmaleficence, and justice. The class of almost 60 people from the University of Gondar and Addis Ababa University, along with other Ethiopian institutions of higher learning, had expertise ranging across medicine, veterinary medicine, economics, and pharmacy. The photographs depict the engaged students. In the late afternoon, the participants tackled their first two case studies, one on 
reporting of results to an industry sponsor and the other an accurate analysis of a case of subtle plagiarism but plagiarism nonetheless. Tomorrow, the class tackles animal care and use in research and biorepositories (thanks to Donna McCarthy and Mark Merrick and their lecture materials).
The transition from Addis Ababa to Gondar was ably assisted by advice from Dr. Jodi Ford from the College of Nursing, who taught research methods at the University of Gondar earlier in July.
By Karla Zadnik, OD, PhD
College of Optometry
Office of the Director of the Department of Optometry, Destaye Shiferaw
Yesterday, Ohio State College of Optometry faculty members, Dr. Dean VanNasdale and Dr. Andrew Emch made their way to the Department of Optometry housed in the International Fistula Training Center at the University of Gondar. The Department’s mission statement reads, “The profession of optometry offers comprehensive eye care services to all mankind. The training program has the philosophy of producing skilled manpower equipped with adequate knowledge, skills and attitude to deliver such eye care services in the most ethical manner, both on the national and international level.” What institution wouldn’t aspire to that?
Optics lesson/ray tracing white board
Hosted by Department Director, Destaya Shiferaw, and several of the faculty, Dr. Andrew and Dr. Dean were struck by many things that surprised them. Dr. Dean found that the optometry bond ran deep, declaring the faculty at UoG “more similar than different to us,” and he was struck by the faculty’s honesty and candor and that they truly held nothing back. Dr. Andrew declared the faculty, “Enthusiastic and proud, yet self-aware.” Unusual characteristics for faculty members, don’t you think?
UoG and OSU optometry academicians
Destaya and colleagues are clearly altruistic, focused on the larger community and the optometric profession. They had a clear “vision” of the future of optometry in the country and all of Africa, and envision themselves as leaders in public health as it relates to eye care in east Africa. The two teams spent several hours in completely open, engaged communication. They return tomorrow to tour the clinical facilities and discuss strategies for advanced contact lens fitting instruction and practice in the UoG clinic. Stay tuned.
A soccer match is played adjacent to a neighborhood near Addis Ababa University’s Akaki campus.
Friends walk hand-in-hand on the Addis Ababa University Akaki campus.
A young boy rides a horse-drawn cart in the city of Woreta, South Gondar.
Photos by Rick Harrison, Ohio State University Communications
By Ally Sterman
Student, Ohio State College of Veterinary Medicine
After a week of traveling around the Gondar region, our travels brought us to a city named Bahar Dar. Here is where the Nile River begins, Lake Tana (the largest lake in Ethiopia) is located, and the Blue Nile Falls are located. Our partners wanted to show us what a traditional Ethiopian dance club looked like, so after dinner we headed out on what would be one of the most memorable nights of my life.
We arrived at the club and there was a small stage with four musicians. They were playing a few traditional Ethiopian instruments and a few modern ones like the electric keyboard. The more traditional instruments included a kraar, which is five- or six-stringed bowl-shaped lyre. There was also a masenqo which is a one-stringed lyre. The instruments supported the vocalists who came out and sang a variety of songs.
However, the highlight of the evening was the dancing. One set of dancers were two brothers who we had seen dance before in Gondar. During one of their songs they grabbed Laura (another student working on the rabies project) and took her up on stage to dance. After another few songs, a different dancer came out. We had the chance to watch him for a short period of time before he danced over to where we sitting. He again grabbed Laura and tied her to him, and then grabbed my hand. The two of us were pulled on stage to dance in front of everyone. Another gentlemen from Israel was also grabbed and brought 
on stage. Laura and I soon found ourselves being tied together to have a dance-off (pictured left). This style of dancing is not quite what my years of dance had prepared me for but I tried anyways. After a few minutes it was over and we headed back to join the rest of the group. Our partners were proud of us going up there, though it was clear our dancing skills left something to be desired and more practice is definitely necessary. This was one of my most embarrassing experiences yet here in Ethiopia, but also my most memorable.
By Timothy Landers, RN, PhD
Ohio State College of Nursing
I was on Skype with my Mom during our last week in Gondar. Back in Columbus, she was telling me about the new washer and dryer that arrived while I was in Ethiopia. The two were installed six inches apart. They are finding that this is just enough space for things to fall down and get lodged perfectly. It sounds like a hassle.
Then, they asked me what I thought it would feel like to go back home to Columbus.
I said I didn’t think I could go completely back home.
Of course, I have missed my wife and my sons Joey and Brian. I am looking forward to seeing my friends and sleeping in my own bed. I have missed our cat and dog.
But there are plenty of other things I have not missed. I have not missed how I let my day get off to a bad start because it took three extra minutes to park. I am not looking forward to returning home and obsessing about the invasive thistle plant messing up our lawn. I have not missed the conversations about washers and dryers in our air-conditioned homes that are six inches too far apart.
These things seem important to us – but I can see now, they are not.
I have no right to complain about a three minute parking spot hunt to the woman I saw in the asthma clinic who had wheezed and walked for three hours to get to her 9 a.m. appointment.
I promise not to complain about the thistle growing in my back yard. I’ve learned that because it grows so well in almost any condition, it is an ideal forage food for work animals in the Ethiopian mountains.
Finally, I pledge to think of my new friend and colleague, Charles Turner, who told me about mango fly larvae burrowing under the skin when clothes are hung out to dry. I will think about his stories from his adventures teaching nurses all over Africa the next time I agonize over whether to pick “Whites – hot” or “permanent press – cold” on the washing machine.
And if that fails, I’ve asked my friends to give me a good smack upside the head.
Or, I’ll think of my friends in Ethiopia.
By Timothy Landers, RN, PhD
Ohio State College of Nursing
One of the things that has been most impressive in my visit to Gondar is the respect for people and for relationships that is present in every interaction. Every conversation begins with a greeting, ሰላም, “Selam!” Followed by some greeting such as “how are you”, “how is your day going”, or “how are you feeling?” Or more often, all three.
In a typical conversation, each person in the group is acknowledged and receives a handshake. The president of the university greets the department chair, the student, and the housekeeper.
There is a nonverbal conversation among Ethiopian men – what we’ve come to call the “ah-ha.” It is a brief gasp taken with force which is usually uttered when another is speaking. It says, “I am listening, I am interested, I am here.”
When I arrive at my office in the morning, I make it a point to say hello to the co-workers I meet – something I picked up from an airline pilot who told me he ALWAYS greets his flight attendants and co-pilot first thing.
However, it’s not the same kind of recognition and appreciation for the other person that I have seen in our visit to Ethiopia.
In the past two weeks in Ethiopia with each “Selam,” “good morning,” “how are you feeling?” and “how was your day?,” I’ve learned more about my co-workers than I could have in six months in Columbus.
But, I’d like to change.
When I leave Gondar, I am going to be more aware of how I greet those around me – everyone. It’s worth the time to let them know that I am interested in how they are doing. I am hoping to let them know that I value them and am interested in them.
How are you doing today? How are you feeling? Did you have a good night?
After that, I will unlock my door and get to work.
And there is lots of work to do.
By Timothy Landers, RN, PhD
Ohio State College of Nursing
I have never been prouder to be a Buckeye. Over the past two weeks, I’ve dealt with internet issues, minor illnesses, unusual foods, a language I didn’t understand, and complex, challenging research problems.
But, I didn’t do it alone. These glitches have shown me the strength of Ohio State.
It’s very clear that Ohio State has great standing and respect in Gondar. I can not count the number of times that people referred to “Dr. Wondwossen” or “The Famous Thomas Wittum.” These are colleagues whom I have also known and respected for years.
Internet issues have given me challenges getting some articles I needed for my work here. An email to the College of Nursing education guru Linda Daley, and to our amazing student worker Gabby, and I had a nice starting bibliography.
Some minor health issues were easy to address thanks to good planning and lessons from Diane Orlov at the College of Medicine’s Travel/ID clinic.
Our cultural ambassador, professional colleague, translator, psychotherapist, and friend this week has been Baye Molla from the College of Veterinary Medicine. There are so many examples of him making sure we were comfortable and had what we needed – offering soup to one of my colleagues when she was sick, going out to find the “Scotch tape” (pronounced the same in Amharic!) at 11:00 p.m., negotiating a non-tourist taxi rate, or helping me order dinner for the tenth time. In the end, I settled on ordering last and saying, “the same as Baye.”
I know Baye misses his family and he is looking forward to having his daughter pick him up at the airport with her new driver’s license. Even still, he spent hours and hours with us demonstrating the Ethiopian friendship hug, explaining that “it’s possible” means “maybe,” taking troublesome faculty to a tej (mead) bar, or guiding us through cultural nuances.
In our research methods course, I needed clinical examples that were relevant for the optometrists in the class. A couple of hours after an email to members of the Ohio State-Ethiopia team, Andrew Emch and Dean VanNasdale from the College of Optometry, I had a nice list of references to nominal, ordinal, and continuous variables to use during lecture. The optometrists in class were impressed that I knew so much about eyes. I don’t, but I got friends.
Another student from our One Health Institute is developing a research project on causes of coma in patients who present to the University of Gondar hospital. He said it would be nice to have a neurosurgeon review the protocol with him, but there is only one neurosurgeon in Ethiopia and he is 4 hours away. It just so happens that the Ohio State-Ethiopia team has our own neurosurgeon, Eric Sauvageau, and we arranged a consultation on this project when he is in Gondar next week.
I know that the efforts we make on behalf of team Ohio State aren’t always recognized immediately.
No one knew that one of the students on the Ohio State-Gondar rabies project is the daughter of a former professor of mine, Phil Binkley, who was very influential in shaping me as a researcher. When she arrived, my very small form of repayment to him was to tell his daughter to sit down with my laptop and email her father that she had arrived safely.
Throngs of eager students here in Gondar are awaiting lectures from The Famous Thomas Wittum – just as much as I looked forward to his lectures on “necessary” and “sufficient” causes when I was a doctoral student.
The research collaborations we’ve built the past few weeks were possible because of all the ground work and trust that has been built between these two Universities over the past several years.
Years of work by Gebreyes, his team, and support from the deans of the health sciences colleges have made this possible.
With the strength of the Ohio State-University of Gondar partnership, there are years of a fruitful and productive relationship to come!
I hope that some of the networking the College of Nursing team has been doing will be useful for researchers from Ohio State still to visit Gondar.
And for men like Baye Molla – who are compassionate and kind while they are challenging, effective teachers, there must be some special award.
I think Woody Hayes called, “Paying it Forward.” Thank you, team Buckeyes, for having paid it forward!
Photo by Steve Grant