Global Health Fellowship Track

At Nationwide Children’s Hospital, we believe that global health is an integral function of the profession of pediatrics. In support of this, the Division of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine offers a unique opportunity for Pediatric Critical Care Fellows. The Global Health Track within the PCCM fellowship aims to help fellows develop the essential skills necessary to function as clinicians, educators, and researchers in low and middle income countries at the completion of training. Most academic years, our program has the capacity to admit one fellow into the track every other year (i.e., no more than 2 fellows in the program at a time). Global health fellows spend up to six weeks during the first year of fellowship and up to four months in both the second and third year of fellowship abroad. The fellow is encouraged to execute their primary research and quality improvement projects in resource limited settings. All international travel for Nationwide Children’s trainees is subject to Graduate Medical Education approval.  

Close mentorship from Nationwide Children’s CCM faculty Nicole O’Brien, MD and Hunter Wynkoop, MD occurs throughout the program. Drs. O’Brien and Wynkoop spend 6-7 months a year in Africa and currently have active research programs at:

  1. Kalembe Lembe Children’s Hospital in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
  2. Lodja District Referral Hospital in the DRC
  3. Centre Medicale Evangelique (CME) in Bunia/Nyankunde in the DRC
  4. University Teaching Hospital in Lusaka, Zambia
  5. Chipata Central Hospital in Chipata, Zambia
  6. Queen Elizabeth Central Hospital in Blantyre, Malawi

Trainees interested in the global health track may also utilize and further develop their own previously established global health locations for scholarly work.

Several important studies in the field have been published by fellows and faculty at Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

Publications

Lintner Rivera M, Prager R, Gushu MB, June S, Phiri T, Salameh JP, Johnson HC, Taylor T, O’Brien NF. Point-of-care ultrasound to assess for hemodynamic contributors to acute kidney injury in pediatric patients with cerebral malaria: a prospective, pilot, feasibility study Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal 2023; online ahead of print

O'Brien NF, Johnson HC, Musungufu DA., Ekandji RT, Mbaka, JP, et al. Transcranial doppler velocities in a large healthy population of African children. Heliyon. 2023; 9:e15419

Raees M, Chimalizenia Y, Liomba A, Pensulo P, Gushu M, O’Brien NF, et al. Capacity building in paediatric critical care- global health research and education: the Blantyre Experience. ASTMH 2023; online ahead of print

Moffitt, CA., Olupot-Olupot, P, Onen, JW, O’Brien NF. Adherence to severe malaria treatment guidelines in children at a Ugandan regional hospital: a baseline assessment for a malaria treatment quality improvement project. Malar J 2023; 22:67

Johnson H, Raees M, Urbina E, Muszynski J, Seydel K, Taylor T, O’Brien NF. Multiple Organ Dysfunction Syndrome and Pediatric Logistic Organ Dysfunction-2 Score in Pediatric Cerebral Malaria. Am J Trop Med Hyg 2022; online ahead of print

O’Brien N, Fonseca Y, Johnson HC, Postels D, Birbeck GL, Chimalizeni Y, Seydel KB, Gushu MB, Phiri T, June S, Chetcuti K, Vidal L, Goyal MS, Taylor TE. Mechanisms of Transcranial Doppler Ultrasound phenotypes in paediatric cerebral malaria remain elusive. Malaria Journal 2022; online ahead of print

Fonseca Y, Tshimanga T, Ray S, Malhotra H, Pongo J, Bodi Mabiala J, Gushu MB, Phiri T, Chikaonda BM, Ambitapio Musungufu D, Uchama M, O'Brien NF. Transcranial Doppler Ultrasonographic Evaluation of Cerebrovascular Abnormalities in Children with Acute Bacterial Meningitis. Frontiers Neurol 2021; 11:1944

O'Brien NF, Chetcuti K, Fonseca Y, Vidal L, Raghavan P, Postels DG, Chimalizeni Y, Ray S, Seydel KB, Taylor TE. Cerebral Metabolic Crisis in Pediatric Cerebral Malaria. Journal of Pediatric Intensive Care. 2021

Tshimangana T, Mabiala J, Lovett M, Pongo J, Musungufu D, Uchama M, O’Brien, N.  Hemoglobin values do not correlate with cerebral blood flow velocities in African children with malaria associated anemia. AJNR 2020; 30(4):463-467

O’Brien N, Tshimangani T, Moore-Clingenpeel M, Bodi J, Pongo J, Uchama M, Ambitapio D, Yotebieng M.  New Insights into Neurovascular Changes in Children with Cerebral Malaria. Pediatrics 2018; 203:116-124.