Unite for Sight Conference - Day 1

Today was the first day of the Unite for Sight Global Health Conference at Yale University! I meant to blog when we arrived last night, but I was pretty tired after our trip and a few rooming mishaps (the joys of traveling!). Short version: we made it safe and enjoyed driving through the motherland - good ol' Jersey, baby.

But back to the conference... I thought I'd be really lost as an engineer at a global health conference, but it was all pretty interesting! There were a ton of topics being discussed by a slew of folks with crazy resumes (I felt like I was surrounded by celebrities!), though we tried to catch the ones that would be more related to our project.

After the Keynote address, we listened in on a few lectures regarding HIV prevention and the developing vaccinations, and then caught some talks on other technology innovations in global health. After lunch, we split up to go to a few different things - I ended up going to a workshop on "Making Sure Your Solution Fits The Social Problem." The speaker was Mark Koska, the founder of SafePoint Trust, who designed a syringe that auto-disables to prevent reuse. A large problem in the developing areas that he visited was the reuse of needles, when essentially infection is spread unnecessarily to others because of poor sanitation procedures. His story was rather interesting as he described the process of research and identifying a specific, real problem (from the original broad scope of curing HIV).

On to the the main event - our FRESH presentation! Ravi did a great job speaking on our behalf. It was well done, and the audience seemed to enjoy it. More importantly, we were fortunate enough to speak with Victoria Gammino, an epidemiologist who works for the CDC and is actively involved in designing a new cold box. She gave us a TON of information which was really enlightening.

Well, the first thing she said was that UNICEF would not buy into our idea. According to the Product Quality Standards, cold boxes in developing countries typically do not use phase change materials without a unique exception. I asked her if any products had ever been approved with this exception, and she only replied that some projects were moving forward with the idea, but the topic was difficult to pitch. She was telling us about the economical and logistical difficulties that PCM would introduce into the cold chain in comparison to the currently used ice pack system. First, that there is a disconnect between the three financial parties - the vaccine manufacturer, the equipment suppliers, and the users. Each has its own agenda and perception of need versus cost. Also, she mentioned that it was difficult to quantify a justification for this need. When a vaccine is frozen, it is at risk of being impotent, but there is no way to check that it is in fact dangerous without use. Thus there are no ethical metrics for this.

Regardless, I think that our project is still very much valid. There is a lot of science we can contribute to in regards to the PCM geometry and arrangement, and in the future I still think that this could be incorporated into the cold chains. Projects are underway for these things, and one day someone has to realize and justify the potential for it. Victoria Gammino also gave us a lot of background information and alternative focuses, and we hope to continue talking with her!

All in all, a great day; nothing to get discouraged about; and we made a great contact! Keep it FRESH!