Tiffany Borbon

Tiffany is an MD/PhD student at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine Medical Scientist Training Program. Her dissertation focused on bacterial co-infections during cutaneous leishmaniasis under the mentorship of Mary E. Wilson, MD. She will be learning about clinical manifestations and management of cutaneous and visceral leishmaniasis as well as other tropical diseases with Shyam Sundar, MD, and his research group at Baharas Hindu University in Varanasi, India, in January 2020. In the future, Tiffany plans to become a pediatrician, with particular interests in tropical medicine and global health. She hopes to integrate medical service and education with infectious disease research to improve the lives of people in developing countries.

What does the Kean Fellowship mean to you?
I am honored to receive the Kean Fellowship because it recognizes my commitment to serve as a physician scientist overseas while providing me with resources to work toward such a career. This award assures me that there is and will continue to be support for doctors and researchers who dedicate their careers to serving people in developing countries in the field of tropical medicine.

What do you anticipate learning?
I am excited to learn about how healthcare and research systems work in a foreign country from the patients, doctors and researchers I will be working with. In particular, I look forward to learning how to make clinical diagnoses of diseases that I have only read about in textbooks from the physicians in India. I hope to gain a better grasp on how a physician scientist from the United States can work with international collaborators to study and work toward the eradication of endemic diseases.

What interests you about tropical medicine and what problems are you interested in solving?
I am drawn to tropical medicine because it has the potential to drastically change many people’s lives for the better. The prevention and treatment of diseases that plague underserved populations can lift entire communities out of poverty and lead to healthier lives and a brighter future for the younger generations. I would like to help bridge the resources and education available in developed countries to provide better healthcare training, research and patient clinical outcomes in underserved and resource-limited communities. I am particularly interested in studying tropical infectious diseases and developing strategies to lessen their physical, emotional and socioeconomic impact on people’s lives in high disease burden areas.