About Chinacal Internship

For those of you who are unfamiliar with exactly what we're doing, let me give you a quick overview. Dr. Detrano is the president of an organization that he started called the China-California Heart Watch. He's currently conducting research in the Yunnan Province (poorest province in China) to study the effects of High Blood Pressure in rural villages and townships. Because of the lack of knowledge about hypertension and subsequently the inaccessibility of proper care, Dr. Detrano believes that incidences of cardiovascular disease (CVD) will increase tremendously over the course of the next 30 to 40 years. Currently 70% of the Chinese population live in rural farming communities, however, by 2040 it has been estimated that this number will decrease to about 30% as the population becomes more urbanized due to job opportunities that become available only by living in the city. The unhealthy lifestyle that is naturally adopted through city living will only add to the already frighteningly high predicted rates of heart disease. Through research and education, Dr. Detrano helps to raise awareness and potentially prevent what could possibly become an epidemic of CVD in China.

Hypertension Conference in Kunming

After our wonderful experience in "Go Back Home" we traveled back to Kunming where we've been ever since. We haven't had much down time though because Bob, almost immediatley upon arriving home, had to start preparing for a conference that he originally planned and hosted on the 26th and 27th of April. The purpose of the conference was to invite village doctors from around Yunnan and surrounding provinces to participate in a two day educational experience focusing on diagnosing and treating hypertension. Some of Bob's colleagues and friends from the United States even showed up like Dr. Nathan Wong, Dr. Jen Chen Yang, and the always effervescent Joy Beckmann. All three, including Bob, gave presentations. There were also many other doctors, some educated in the U.S. and now working in China and others from China, that participated in the hypertension conference. Bob even had a special guest Dr. Hu Da Yi, give a speech. Dr. Hu is apparently the number one cardiologist in all of China. This was the first time that a conference had been organized to specifically educate the village doctors and as Bob puts its, "It was a historical moment" made even more special by the fact that such a prominent figure such as Dr. Hu Da Yi was there to show his support. It was a great success, made so by a combined effort from all those who taught and attended....especially me. I had the demanding responsibility of notifying those who were speaking to how much time they had left. Actually, this responsibility was shared between myself, Shao Li, and Shao Kong. Nevertheless, the success of the conference balanced directly on our ability to visibly display how much time each speaker had remaining. Had the speakers exceeded their time limit, could have been a total disaster.

I hope everyone is picking up on my sarcasm.