Well, the past few days we've been adapting, experimenting, learning, and buying piles of Indian scarves.
We haven't had too many site visits, mostly classes, introductions to India, Indian culture, and Indian Health Care. (Honestly, I had to look back at the schedule to remember what we were doing yesterday).
A small group of us got to make a visit to the Tuberculosis Research Center (TRC) and the ICMR Research Center (the Indian version of the NIH). The TRC is considered the epicenter of TB research in India and is one of the largest TB research centers in the country. Many of the early studies on the efficacy of sanitarium quarantine came from the TRC, and it turns out that DOTS also started in Chennai!
We met with a number of their researchers, both practitioners, social scientists, and lab researchers, and took a tour of their facilities. Although the buildings were extremely depressing -- they were the former sanitarium buildings -- it was really amazing the quality and volume of research they are carrying out.
We also got to see a lab funded by the NIH, and the contrast in the facilities, lab equipment, computers, instruments, and even the clothing the researchers were wearing, was stark.
Hmm, I guess nothing much exciting has happened in the past few days, just some work, but we're meeting our host families tonight, yay! :)
Also, I just realized I haven't taken any pictures of the city, so I promise I will have more photos of Chennai in my next post!
Pictures- The Tuberculosis Research Center
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry
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