George Hafzalla
George is a second-year medical student who is currently attending Wake Forest School of Medicine in North Carolina. He graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) with a Bachelor of Science degree in Neuroscience, and a Master of Science degree in Physiological Science. As an undergraduate student, he worked at the Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, a world-class brain research group, and as a graduate student worked in Dr. Stephanie White’s lab, where his work culminated in a lead author publication that was the first to describe Parkinson’s disease using a zebra finch animal model. At UCLA, George was a standout teacher and mentor. He worked as a teaching assistant in various science departments, teaching courses in biochemistry, physiology and neuroscience, and was named a winner of the Distinguished TA Teaching Award by the Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology. Also during his time at UCLA, he was the founder of Mental Health Initiative, a student outreach group that addresses the stigma surrounding mental health in underserved communities in Los Angeles. George also was a member of the Business of Science Center (BSC), which introduced him to medical entrepreneurship. Through the BSC, he completed UCLA’s MedTech Innovation Program and was the lead inventor for a newly patented technology aimed to improve patient outcomes and reduce revision surgeries in hip replacements. Prior to attending medical school, he worked at the University of Southern California’s Imaging Genetics Center, studying the link between genetics and neuroimaging. His time spent there led to multiple publications and conference papers, including an oral presentation at SPIE (the international society for optics and photonics).
Project: "Validating a Tool to Measure the Clinical Impact of Mercury Toxicity among Indigenous People of the Peruvian Amazon"
6/01/2018 - 7/08/2018
Peru
What does the Kean Fellowship mean to you?
It is such an incredible honor to be selected as a Kean Fellow! I have such profound respect for all my peers at Wake Forest School of Medicine as well as other medical institutions, and I feel truly humbled and grateful to receive this support. For me, the Kean Fellowship represents an induction into the field of tropical medicine and I am looking forward to growing my professional network within this community. I know I have a lot more to learn and am very excited about finding new avenues to make an impact. Furthermore, being selected for the Kean Fellowship carries with it additional responsibilities. I feel very fortunate to have had the opportunity to discuss and ask questions to two former Kean Fellows who currently attend Wake Forest School of Medicine. I, too, will serve as an ambassador for the Kean Fellowship at my school and hope to continue as an advocate for tropical medicine and diseases in the future. With all that said, I would like to take a moment to thank the Ben Kean Fellowship Committee for providing me with this opportunity, and I cannot wait to gain more exposure to this fascinating field when I attend the 2018 ASTMH Annual Meeting.
What do you anticipate learning?
My research project this summer will be my first experience doing field work. Due to the nature of this type of work, there will be many logistical and operational challenges that will require delicate thought and careful consideration. I have been told that performing research in the field requires adaptability and creative problem-solving, and so I am most excited about working through those issues in the moment. Nonetheless, I do not expect everything to run smoothly or to perfection and, thus, I anticipate learning how to make complex decisions as they relate to research in the field. Finding the right balance of utilizing the resources available to me while simultaneously minimizing any compromising research variables will perhaps be the most valuable lesson I learn in this expedition. Another aspect of this project that excites me is working in tandem with an environmental team. I am very fond of multi-disciplinary studies and it will be interesting to learn how the dynamic between the health and environmental teams will help better inform the study.
There is no doubt in my mind that this experience will help shape my future as I hope to incorporate global health work into my career. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and I expect it will serve as a launching pad that catapults me into further pursuits in tropical medicine. One facet of this work that especially intrigues me is working with the indigenous Machiguenga population, who follow a completely distinct set of cultural norms. I plan to immerse myself in their culture, which will provide me with a unique and ample opportunity to build upon values of cultural awareness and competence. Practicing evidence-based and culturally competent medicine are two main cornerstones for being an effective physician, and this experience is certainly a step in that direction.
What interests you about tropical medicine and what problems are you interested in solving?
Global medicine has been a longstanding interest of mine and, recently, I developed a fascination with tropical medicine. As someone who has an extensive background in basic and clinical science research I have an appreciation for the value of studying unique diseases. One of my recent publications investigated a small group of Ecuadorians who have a rare, growth-stunting gene that has protective effects against age-related cognitive decline. Importantly, this finding can be extrapolated to our understanding of dementia, a disease that affects millions worldwide. Likewise, tropical diseases in Africa, Asia, South America, etc., have widespread implications for undeveloped and developed countries. Moreover, from a clinical standpoint, my interest in tropical medicine originates from my desire to advocate for poor and neglected populations. Tropical diseases have devastating consequences, especially for those who have limited access to healthcare, and through research I hope to provide a voice for the voiceless.
Specifically, my work this summer will focus on understanding the association of mercury levels with central and peripheral nervous system dysfunction in the Machiguenga population, an indigenous group of people located in a very remote region in the Madre de Dios Department of Peru. In 2016, Madre de Dios made headlines after the government issued a 60-day declaration of emergency, stating that people in this region had “higher than maximum recommended limits.” However, overt signs of mercury toxicity have not been described among members of the Machiguenga ethnic group who reside within Manu National Park, which, according to a leaked map, is the second-worst-hit area of mercury contamination. The exact cause for this contamination is unknown; however, one of the leading hypotheses is gold mining, which is one of the biggest causes of deforestation in the Peru’s Amazon. According to the World Health Organization, mercury is “one of the top 10 chemicals or groups of chemicals of major public health concern.” Therefore, the problem I am most interested in solving is determining the route of mercury exposure and measuring the clinical effects, if any, of this toxicity.