Research In Practice

RIPP

Student Impacts

• 66 students have participated in RIPP sponsored courses• 20 students have received RIPP sponsored funding for

travel and/or course related activities• 3 students have received multiple semesters of support

for ongoing projects.• Approximately 80 students total have been supported in

some way with RIPP funds. The total is not a straight sum because some students did a course or got funding support for activities that fell under the RIPP domain but that evolved from a previous course.

Partners on Campus

• Baldwin scholar program• CASE• Center for Documentary Studies• Duke Micro Finance Leadership Initiative• Duke Engage• Duke Center for Civic Engagement• Engineering World Health• Enterprising Leadership Initiative• Fuqua• The Global Health Institute• Nicholas School of Environment• Office of the Provost• Pratt College of Engineering • Sanford School of Public Policy• Trinity College• Office of Vice Provost for the Arts

Community Partners• Accion Emprendedora• Bull City Forward• The Beautiful. Project• The Center for Disease Control• Durham Housing Authority• Duke/Durham Regional Affairs Office• El Centro• Foster Care of Durham• Hau Dan Group, China• The Mission Continues, St. Louis, Mo.• MTV’s VH1.com, New York, NY• Nkokonjeru Saving and Credit Cooperative, Uganda• Self Help Credit Union• Spring Creek Literacy Project, Spring Creek, N.C.

Countries Impacted by Student Projects

• Bangladesh• Brazil• Cambodia (Fall 2011)• China• Ethiopia• India• Kenya• Nicaragua• Rwanda• Tanzania• Uganda• United States

Funds Leveraged• $2mil+ and counting from the private sector for the Chordoma Foundation• $250,000 from GE for the technical repair manual roll out in Rwanda and

Cambodia (Fall 2011)• Approximately $60,000 from the Center for Disease Control for the repair

manual roll out in Ethiopia• $200,000 Ronald McDonald grant for the rain water harvesting system in

Uganda• Center for Documentary Studies, cameras and requirement for student projects• Provost Office, purchase of equipment (Approx. value $15,000)• DCCE Fellowships, $10,000 for 4 students• ELI, $5,000• $115,000 from private source for funding 2 film projects• Approximately $10,000 from Engineering World Health

Projects with Wide ReachThe Problem:Funding research for orphan diseases and coordinating research efforts.Solution:Establishment of the Chordoma Foundation- this organization continues to successfully raise funds and

organize a variety of medical conferences dealing with orphan disease. In addition, the head of the organization is working with the NIH to craft the first policy regarding open source tissue testing (which is a means of leveraging up diverse research efforts for a variety of orphan diseases). He is also establishing a tissue bank for chordoma tissue at Ohio State.

The Problem:Eighty per cent of the medical equipment in less developed countries (LDC) is donated and 80% of that does

not work properlySolution:Development of a technical repair manual for medical equipment in LDCs. Research indicates that the

majority of LDC equipment malfunction is due to simple problems such as differing currents, broken switches, spent fuses, etc. The repair manual addresses such issues and is used to train technicians to provide ongoing support for the medical equipment. This program has been piloted in Rwanda and will be piloted and tested in Cambodia in the fall. In addition, Duke is currently in talks with Ghana, Honduras, Belize and Kenya for future adoption. Although the study was small, early results indicate that the hospitals employing the tech training manual are experiencing a 40% improvement in out-of-service equipment.

Projects with Wide Reach Cont.The Problem:Gender issues on campus and the lack of women mentors.The Solution:Establishment of a women’s mentoring program for Duke undergraduate women. The

first year of this program was piloted in the Women’s Center at Duke. It has now moved to the Baldwin Scholars Program where it will have an institutional home and funding support.

The Problem:Censorship of the internet.The Solution:Capturechange.org, a web site developed through RIPP which deals with issues of

censorship in the media. This web site provides a map of global censorship efforts, outlines the actions various governments are taking with respect to censorship and offers work around solutions to a variety of the obstacles that governments have put in place.

Projects with Wide Reach Cont.The Problem:Maternal health.The Solution: Rainwater harvesting in Uganda. Initial survey results indicated that one of the

most significant obstacles to good maternal health in Uganda was the lack of clean drinking water. Hence, harvesting of rain water from roof runoff combined with training regarding water filtering and storage addresses the problem. This project is a joint effort of RIPP and the Global Health Institute. At present half of the town has had harvesting systems installed. The Duke undergraduate behind this effort has received a Full bright Scholarship and will be returning to Uganda for the next year. He will oversee the assessment of the impact and, depending on results, installing the remaining systems.

The Problem:Access to credit/ gender inequality.The Solution:Production of a documentary on micro-finance and the impact it is having on women’s lives on

four continents (Asia, Africa ,North America, and South America). The expectation is that this film will be ready by Dec 2011 and will enter the documentary film circuit in the spring of 2012.

Projects with Wide Reach Cont.The Problem:The lack of awareness of and support for community members with mental health issues

throughout Africa.The Solution: Mental Health training to community leaders in Tanzania. Approximately

fifteen community leaders in Moshi where trained to offer counseling and support for mental health issues in the local community.

In addition, one of the team leaders on this project has just published a chapter in a text book on mental health based on the Tanzania project. She incorporated a section on global mental health and highlighted studies on the importance of spirituality and coping with severe mental illness in more traditional and less wealthy countries. She has a longer manuscript that is being shopped to publishers to see if they will publish it as a small book. If published, it would be the first book on the topic! The goal is that it would inform clinicians of the role that spiritual and religious beliefs play in coping with the illness for patients with schizophrenia, so that the clinician can incorporate it into therapy if they find it of personal importance to the patient.

Projects with Wide Reach Cont.The Problem:Minority entrepreneurs confront limitations to growth due to the lack of financial resources and /or training.

(see “Planting the Seeds for Micro-businesses,” The Herald Sun, 5/16/2011).The Solution:Establishment of Accion Emprendedora. This organization aims to establish its first American branch in

Durham. Essentially the organization will serve as a small business development agency for the Latino community.

The Problem:HIV packaging for single does delivery is simply too expensive to be widely available or used in Africa.The Solution: Development of HIV packaging that minimizes drug loss and heat exposure as single doses are drawn

from the bulk container. Such packaging will make it much easier to distribute anti-virals to new mothers, the majority of which are not delivering their children in conventional medical centers.

The Problem:Risky behavior and poor diet of minority teens.The Solution:Development of a teen health program for the members of El Centro, Durham.

The FutureStarting in Fall 2011 RIPP will be institutionally housed in the Office of the Dean for

Undergraduate Education. Dr. Leachman will continue to administer the program with a title of Special Assistant to the Dean for the Undergraduate Education. The longer term goal will be to reorganize the Office for Undergraduate Research and fold the RIPP program into that entity to foster better coordination of undergraduate research opportunities.

In addition, RIPP will partner with Engineering for summer fellowships for masters

in engineering students. These students find that internship opportunities are rather limited, especially in the area of world health. Hence, in the fall of 2011, the Masters in Engineering Program will designate two RIPP Fellows in Global Health. These fellows will take an array of courses over the academic year which will position them to work in the World Healthcare Technology Lab ( DHTLab) the following summer. The Fellowship supports their summer lab work.