An Ecuadoran doctor performs a physical exam on a toddler.
It’s not often an opportunity arises to visit an Amazon rain forest, travel through the Andes Mountains and view the Pacific Coast from the shoreline of a South American country. Even more rare is a chance to witness the daily routines of people who live in a developing nation amid diseases and other health problems that make nearly every day a struggle to survive.

This is how a group of 14 Ohio University faculty, staff, students and others spent a good portion of their winter break, traveling through the Latin American country of Ecuador. The trip — a research, education and service field workshop — was sponsored by the Tropical Disease Institute in Ohio University’s College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Insects collected for further research.
During their stay, workshop participants visited dozens of communities, some inaccessible by road. Their agenda was full: they conducted surveys of public health conditions i n the country and collected information on Chagas’ disease. Faculty and staff on the trip laid the groundwork for a partnership that would allow Ohio University medical students to do clinical and public health rotations in Ecuador. They also took the first steps in a new collaboration with the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases at Fort Dietrich, Md., to survey mosquitoes found in the Amazon Basin and track the viruses they carry.

“Our interest and activity in Ecuador is lo ng-standing and we have developed a very effective collaborative network there,” says William Romoser, professor of medical entomology and co-director of the Tropical Disease Institute. Romoser, who led the workshop, also is director of the International Development Studies program in the Center for International Studies, another workshop supporter.

“There is great potential for expanded opportunities for Ohio University students through involvement in the research in Ecuador,” Romoser says. “It’s go od for faculty scholarship and it’s beneficial to Ecuador. We’ve actually done some good down there.”

Ohio University To day Spring 99Ohio University Front DoorOhio University Today Front Door