{"id":42667,"date":"2016-10-10T10:47:31","date_gmt":"2016-10-10T14:47:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=42667"},"modified":"2016-10-10T10:47:32","modified_gmt":"2016-10-10T14:47:32","slug":"following-the-call-to-a-future-medical-career-with-the-world-health-organization","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2016\/10\/10\/following-the-call-to-a-future-medical-career-with-the-world-health-organization\/","title":{"rendered":"Following the call to a future medical career with the World Health Organization"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Vishal<\/a>

Vishal Dasari, a medical student at the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine, interned with the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland.<\/p><\/div>\n

While most first-year medical students at the Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine<\/a> were cramming and studying for their final exams this past June, Vishal Dasari learned that his internship with the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland, had been confirmed.<\/p>\n

The internship was scheduled to begin in a little more than a week. But he couldn\u2019t go unless he had a visa from the Swiss embassy. So he immediately booked a flight to New York City, took a cab to the Swiss embassy and submitted his passport. He hailed another cab, flew back to Dayton and took his final medical exams. Then, he flew back to New York City, picked up his passport and flew to India to see his parents for a few days before flying to his internship in Geneva.<\/p>\n

After racking up lots of frequent flyer miles, Dasari was thrilled to hit the ground running in Geneva. For years, Dasari had dreamed of working for the World Health Organization. He had mapped out a plan \u2014 apply for an internship with the World Health Organization, earn his Master of Public Health degree, finish medical school by 2020, complete a residency in internal medicine by 2023, practice internal medicine for four years and then apply for a job with the WHO in 2027.<\/p>\n

Now, he would learn if it was truly his calling.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have always wanted to have a career in public health,\u201d Dasari said. \u201cThere is no other organization like the World Health Organization that has a mandate of improving the health of the world\u2019s population.\u201d<\/p>\n

During his internship, Dasari worked in the planning resource coordination and performance department in the general management cluster of the WHO.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe best part of working at the Word Health Organization is that you are working with people who are the best in their fields,\u201d he said. \u201cThey have an infectious passion for what they do.\u201d<\/p>\n

While interning with the WHO, Dasari gained a better understanding of international health. He contributed to finishing the Compendium of Resolutions, a library of resolutions passed by the WHO during the past 15 years. He attended the Global Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Workshop. He worked with his supervisor on creating the program budget for 2018-2019 to be approved by the World Health Assembly.<\/p>\n

He also worked on his own paper for the World Health Organization. The paper, \u201cThe Coordination of Cross-Cutting Issues: Antimicrobial Resistance Monitoring,\u201d looked at how to coordinate monitoring and prevention efforts across all 194-member states of the World Health Organization. The paper will be included in a yearly book of recommendations, which will be given to the World Health Assembly.<\/p>\n

During his internship, he met several people who recommended that he practice medicine first for several years and then apply to the WHO at country and regional offices. Eventually, he could apply for a job at headquarters in Geneva.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe work with the World Health Organization has a global impact, and that\u2019s what I want to do with my life,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s a feeling of belonging. This is what I\u2019m meant to do. This is a calling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dasari\u2019s interest in public health can be traced back to his childhood spent in both the United States and India. While he was born in Chicago, his parents were originally from India. By age 1, Dasari and his parents moved to Canton, Ohio, where his mother, who is a nephrologist, completed her residency at a local hospital and a fellowship with the Cleveland Clinic. His father was working for a global manufacturer. By age 4, his father\u2019s job took them to Jamshedpur, India, near Kolkata, India. Then, in 2004, his father took another job with a truck and bus manufacturing company in Chennai, a city in the southern part of India. His mother started a dialysis clinic in Chennai for people with kidney disease.<\/p>\n

Dasari attended Indian schools but went to the American International School of Chennai in 11th and 12th grades. A lot of his classmates were children of diplomats, ambassadors and manufacturers.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy friends from high school were from the United Kingdom, the Philippines, Japan, Zimbabwe, Denmark and Korea,\u201d Dasari said. \u201cBeing with people from different countries was not only eye opening, but it also made me feel part of a larger community.\u201d<\/p>\n

After graduating from high school, Dasari continued his education at the University of Pennsylvania, where he majored in biology with a focus in evolutionary biology and ecology. He graduated in 2013 and took a job as a health care consultant for TriHealth, a health system based in Cincinnati. He applied to medical school and decided to attend the Boonshoft School of Medicine.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe people were friendly,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Boonshoft School of Medicine seemed like it offered a very supportive environment, where I could pursue the type of career that I wanted in the World Health Organization while becoming a physician.\u201d<\/p>\n

After his second year of medical school, he plans to take a leave of absence to complete a one-year online Master of Public Health program with George Washington University in Washington, D.C., while he spends the year in India doing field clinical work. He needs the experience of working in the field in a developing nation for his future career with the WHO.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne policy change from the World Health Organization will affect millions of people,\u201d he said. \u201cIf I can have that scope of change on people\u2019s lives, I can make a difference in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An internship with the World Health Organization helped Vishal Dasari, a medical student at the Boonshoft School of Medicine, get one step closer to his goal of a career in public health. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":50,"featured_media":42672,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,725,2149,2016,715],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-home-news-sidebar","category-medical-students","category-medicine","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/50"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42667"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42667\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":42674,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42667\/revisions\/42674"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42672"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}