Long Live The Sar

I've been trying to write a post on "The State of Medicine in Ethiopia" since my last blog post. A small topic. Needless to say I have failed to conjure any new ideas, synthesize my own feelings, or fully encapsulate my experience thus far (a full 11 days). Add to the mix the fact that I am currently sitting on the balcony of an apartment I rented in Dar Es Salaam for the weekend. Muhimbili Hospital in Dar Es Salaam started an ED Department and residency program 1-2 years before the Addis program started. Famous for building one of the continent's best ED departments and setting the standard for emergency medical care in East Africa, not to mention frequently training visiting residents from nearby countries such as Ethiopia and Mozambique, this program is amazing and further deepens/conflicts my feelings about Addis. But that's going to be its own post. Rather than delivering a treatise on healthcare in Addis today, I thought I'd simply share some of my re...

Tenastellegn Addis! Has it really been 6.5 years since I was last here? It must be because while so much of the city is comfortably recognizable, the daily reality of 2018 Addis is full of new surprises, challenges, and landscapes. In the summer of 2011 I had just finished my first year of medical school, was excited to show off my knowledge to my mentor, Rick Hodes, still couldn't tell the difference between a systolic or diastolic murmur (I think I finally can now?) and had only the slightest inkling of how much medicine I didn't know. Now, 78 months, 2 degrees, 83% of a residency, a marriage, and a dog later, I'm back. I will be in Addis from January 1-28, 2018 as part of Emory's Global Health Residency Scholars Program working with and learning from the Emergency Medicine residents at Addis Ababa University and Black Lion Hospital . For those worried that I am cockier than before, don't worry, I am now acutely aware of just how much medicine I still don...