Fellow Bio:
Todd worked as a therapist for the WI Early Autism Project during the 4 years between college and starting medical school. This past March through August, he was a research specialist at the UW Comprehensive Cancer Center, working with Dr. Pat Remington on an epidemiology project related to smoking cessation.

One focus of my work with student organizations has been to push for a health care delivery system in America that would provide more equitable services. This work stems from my impression that health disparities between rich and poor and between whites and minorities are the major problems of the American health care delivery system. As a tangent to this work, I am planning to explore underserved communities in Brazil, a country with an even more startling split between rich and poor. Specifically, I will be exploring Rocinha, a shantytown with 150,000 inhabitants, resting in the hills overlooking Rio de Janeiro.

The project will start with network-building, including speaking with Two Brothers Organization (www.2bros.org) director Paul ... and favela tour director Marcelo ... I do not have their last names yet.

The first step of the project will be to do a brief community needs/assets assessment of Rocinha. From there, I will determine what sort of services could be provided by a medical student or a group of medical students.

My project is to find a way to improve health services available in the shantytowns of Rio de Janeiro (and possibly Sao Paolo). The project will start with network-building, including speaking with Two Brothers Organization (www.2bros.org) director Paul ... and favela tour director Marcelo ...

The first step of the project will be to do a brief community needs/assets assessment. From there, I will determine what sort of services could be provided by a medical student or a group of medical students.

As of this moment, to develop a system of health care, possibly along the lines of a MEDIC clinic, for the inhabitants of the Rocinha community. A more realistic short-term goal may be to develop an official or unofficial exchange program between UW School of Medicine and Public Health and a medical training center in Rio or Sao Paolo.

Overall Goals:
To be involved in the development of a worldwide health care delivery system that provides for the basic (or eventually, the comprehensive) health needs of the Earth's inhabitants.

Personal Goals:
To develop a network of contacts in a new location. To make a difference in a community whose appearance disturbed and affected me as a high school student.

The initial challenge was to find a way to make connections in this area of the world. This challenge, however, was more easily overcome than anticipated. I received the name of a medical school professor in Sao Paolo whom I will be contacting in the next week. Another LOCUS fellow, Steve Dahmer, will be . A favela tour director listed in a Brazil tourbook (Marcelo) has been very welcoming, and I will be meeting with him when I arrive in Rio. Finally, I have heard of a graduate student, Paul, at Madison who has been working on a leadership development program and exchange between Rio's Rocinha favela and Madison. The major challenge up to this point has been finding time to work on this project. To address this challenge, I have set several key deadlines: first, I will complete this project update by June 1. Second, I make contact with Steve Dahmer, Paul, Marcelo, and the University director by June 5. And, finally, I will finalize my schedule in Brazil as of June 11.

I anticipate that I will have limited time to spend in Brazil. It will be a challenge to figure out a way to make the biggest difference for the community in the limited amount of time that I will have. One strategy to address this challenge will be to team up with other people who are working on similar goals. Because I have little information about the health care provisions for favela-dwellers at this point, it is difficult to say exactly how to address this. The initial thought I have is to stimulate the development of MEDIC-like clinics in the favela communities.

I need to talk to people connected with the favelas, connected with health professional education in Brazil (first step: contacting the doctor Cindy Haq knows). I also need certain financial resources to communicate with people in Brazil and to travel to Brazil.

More detailed update will be submitted on June 11. At this point, I have been focused on studying for Boards examination. Presentation will depend on outcome of project. Photographic presentation planned for website and possibly for a 2003-2004 LOCUS meeting).

Last Update:
June 2, 2003

Graduation Requirements Progress Chart
If you complete the requirements outlined below, you will graduate as a LOCUS fellow.

A indicates the item has been completed.

Completed	When	What	On-line
	Year 1: Beginning of Semester 2	New Project Report	Submit Report
	Year 2: Beginning of Semester 1	Project Update	Submit Update
	Year 2: Beginning of Semester 2	Project Update	Submit Update
	Year 3: Beginning of third year	Project Update	Submit Update
	Year 4: August of fourth year	2-3 page final summary of project that includes a reflective evaluation of the project process	N/A
	Ongoing	Participate in program evaluation (written and/or focus group)	View Options
	By the end of fourth year	Select poster, presentation, paper, creative option or your own idea	View Options

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