When Doug Gross got back from a three-week trip abroad earlier this summer, his family took him camping. It wasn't the anatomy lecturer and medical center pediatrician's dream vacation.
After all, he had just spent three weeks in the West African bush, providing medical care to residents in the primitive, isolated villages there.
The conditions were crude, but the experience worth it, Gross said.
He returned from his third West African trip with more knowledge about treating tropical diseases, confidence in his ability to make diagnoses without sophisticated lab work, and a renewed understanding of why he's a doctor. "People are amazingly appreciative. It's medicine at its purest," Gross said. "I don't write charts. I don't deal with insurance. I treat patients."
Across campus, many faculty members spent their summer traveling, but like Gross, most weren't relaxing in luxurious accommodations. They were spending summers of research and service in venues as diverse as south central Los Angeles and southeastern China.
They added to their own expertise and brought back valuable knowledge and experiences for their students to draw on, said Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor Virginia Hinshaw.
"Our UC Davis faculty are passionate about learning and research, so summer research opportunities provide a great opportunity for them to pursue their scholarship and also engage with the broader community," she said.
Today, in the first of a two-part series, Dateline presents the summer research stories of two campus faculty members.
Doug Gross
Four years ago medical school lecturer Doug Gross talked with new medical student Jennifer Bottomly about an African missionary organization her church supported. One focus of the group - providing health care to rural villages in the western part of the continent - intrigued him, but he couldn't have predicted he'd soon end up a leader of the organization.
But in July, for the third summer in a row, the pediatric specialist spent three weeks in Africa holding clinics and offering many patients their first-ever doctor's exam. And with the help of Gross' recent fund-raising efforts, the group, Liberia-based Discipling Our Nations Effectively was able to purchase a medical clinic building in Senegal. There, Gross plans to train villagers from all over West Africa in primary care.
Before finding DONE, Gross said he'd tried to connect with other medical missionary groups visiting Africa, but their application processes seemed too bureaucratic. DONE, however, wanted to Gross to participate and quickly.
"(DONE's leader, Rev. Hananiah Zoe) wanted someone with an interest in mission work, health care work and teaching," Gross said. Within three months he was in Africa.
For the first three summers Gross volunteered for the organization, he was its only doctor or nurse. This year he was accompanied to villages in Sierra Leone, Gambia and Senegal by Cheryl Adams, a Sacramento nurse.
There was plenty of work for them in the tribal villages, which are usually at least a day's trip away from the nearest government medical centers. Gross and Adams, working out of a tennis bag of supplies, tended to men, women and children well into the evening.
"Many of the conditions we see are similar to what I see in the U.S., but they are much more serious because of the total neglect of any simple treatments," Gross said.
Despite mango groves nearby, many villagers eat little fruit - or vegetables or meat - and suffer malnutrition. Diarrhea is common, as are tropical diseases like malaria. And simple insect bites become ulcerated sores when treated with the traditional balm of goat dung.
"Their few health practices are often based on spiritual belief or the practices of maribouts (witch doctors) whose treatments…often make things worse," he said.
Increasingly Gross' work is focused on getting villagers regular health care. His visits help people who are sick at the time, he said. "But what they really need is education about prevention, nutrition and simple primary care treatments."
Gross and other DONE leaders are now working on a curriculum and hiring staff for the Senegal clinic. After training there, students would return to their villages to treat patients in their community.
Ultimately, Gross would like UC Davis medical residents and students interested in a tropical medicine elective to help out with the program.•
Diana Cassady
UC Davis public health researcher Diana Cassady and some colleagues have spent the past couple of summers analyzing menus at such tasty-sounding central Los Angeles joints as Derrick's Jamaican Cuisine, Bayou Grill and the Soulfood Kitchen.
But Cassady, an assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine and her fellow researchers weren't just looking to find a good meal. They were determining what kinds of foods were available to neighborhood restaurant customers.
The patrons there are primarly African Americans in lower-income neighborhoods such as Watts, South Central, Inglewood and Baldwin-Crenshaw, who may be risking their health with their restaurant diet.
The ethnic group, according to a recent California Dietary Practices Survey, frequently eats two or fewer servings of fruits and vegetables a day. They contract diet-related cancers at far higher rate other ethnic groups. And the survey found that when low-income residents in the state ate out they were more likely to eat high-fat or fast food meals than wealthier Californians.
Cassady and co-principal investigator Valerie Loduem of the American Heart Association took on the menu study as part of their $122,085 grant from the California Department of Health Services on cancer prevention for African Americans.
"There's all sorts of research saying low-income (persons) and ethnic minorities have higher rates of cancer," Cassady said. "Explaining that health gap has been a lot harder."
Oftentimes, Cassady believes, what's available influences food selection.
"Most people order from the menu," she said. Unless several healthy choices are available, it's unlikely that a customer would make the healthier choice."
To help gather the menu data, Cassady and Loduem trained local residents with an interest in community organization work.
The research team found that only two of the 14 restaurants used heart labels to indicate healthy foods. None offered low-fat salad dressings or low-fat milk.
But Cassady was heartened to learn that 12 of the restaurants served entrees that included three or more servings of vegetables. Twelve of the restaurants also offered salads as entrees.
Based on the team's results so far, three restaurants have agreed to serve and publicize healthy items. Their chefs will get help in designing new dishes with the aid of a dietician hired through the project.
Others involved in the study, such as research economist Karen Jetter of the UC Davis Agricultural Issues Center are trying to increase the amount of low-fat foods and high-quality fruits and vegetables available in neighborhood grocery stores in the area.
"In medicine and public health, we typically study individuals. This project is at the cutting edge of public health research," Cassady said. "We are looking at economic, physical and social influences on health. I think that's really exciting." •