The College of Veterinary Medicine was represented at this year’s Innovate Conference held on May 16, in a session entitled “Lightning Ideas: Impact Beyond the Classroom.”
In this session, 4th year DVM-MPH student, Sarah Waibel, co-presented on the Global One Health program; the program is led by Dr. Wondwossen Gebreyes, and it aims to “connect Ohio State to Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Brazil, Thailand, China, India and beyond in a coordinated, multidisciplinary approach to improve health, build capacity, and provide learning opportunities for students across the globe.”
Sarah shared her experience with the Global One Health program:
I love Global One Health work because I feel that it embodies a quote by John Lubbock that I try to live by, “to do something, however small, to make others happier and better, is the highest ambition, the most elevating hope which can inspire a human being.” Throughout our projects in Ethiopia, we were teaching our partners how to utilize Magpi’s data collection capabilities, capture audio and images, and teach the teachers how to teach the next generation all through iPads. Like the quote, some of these things may seem small but their impact is dramatic once unleashed. Five eCourses became 15 and now even more. One research project has now become dozens that span multiple disciplines and East African countries including Kenya and Tanzania.
I believe that my time in Ethiopia has made me a better person and helped me discover the positive impact on person can have on a community. It allowed me to apply my public health veterinary skills that often get ignored or are underutilized. It also taught me that it’s not about how much you know or how advanced your technology is, but how you use both to communicate with others. Effective communication and compassion by far were the most important skills that made my work successful. Being able to teach and help the community while gather important research data was one of the best experiences of my life. I have made lifelong friends from the experience and would not trade it for anything.
The theme of this year’s Innovate Conference was Impact. “With Impact as our theme for 2017, we’re sharing innovations that let educators re-imagine their instruction without sacrificing pedagogical quality and rigor,” organizers said. “It’s fun to experiment and enjoy the novelty of cutting edge technologies, but we’re always looking at the way that technology has a positive impact on our students, instructor best practices, the educational community and beyond.”
(Find out more about the Global One Health Program and the annual Innovate Conference)