Malcolm Velasco

Malcolm graduated with a degree in history from Emory University. He later found an interest in medicine while working as a paramedic for Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta. He brought this medical experience to The Gambia, West Africa, where he served as a health volunteer in the Peace Corps for two years, concentrating his work in the area of nutrition and working with mothers and community health nurses to monitor the nutritional status of children. Upon his return to the U.S., Malcolm decided to pursue a medical degree at Mercer University in Savannah, GA. He will now return to The Gambia to work with the Medical Research Council in their nutrition theme.
 

Project: "Inter-generational risk factors for obesity: a path to prevention in low and middle-income countries based on a modifiable epigenetic signature in the POMC gene"
6/11/2018 - 8/07/2018
The Gambia

What does the Kean Fellowship mean to you?
To me, the Kean Fellowship gives medical students the ability to have an extraordinary experience learning internationally what may not otherwise be possible. I will be able to learn from leaders in the field of global health. I am incredibly grateful for this experience, as it would not have been possible otherwise. As a Peace Corps volunteer I saw the grassroots end of healthcare development as it filtered down to the village level. The Kean Fellowship will give me the opportunity to see the other side of healthcare as research and clinical medicine discover new and exciting methods to combat disease.

What do you anticipate learning?
I anticipate learning about conducting research in locations where the resources of a complete research university are not available. I hope to learn what it takes to coordinate research that takes field teams to difficult-to-reach rural areas. I expect to work with both researchers and clinicians, which will help me decide which area I wish to concentrate my career. Also, learning from other professionals in global health, I hope to learn different avenues I can take toward a career in tropical medicine.

What interests you about tropical medicine and what problems are you interested in solving?
I am most interested in how culture impacts the treatment of disease. When implementing different programs that combat disease, communicable and non-communicable, I want to help develop the best methods of treatment that keep culture in mind so it does not become a barrier. In the Peace Corps, I found that so many of the variety of illness that occur in rural Gambia can be traced back to nutrition. I hope to learn about and discover new and novel methods to approach nutrition that will help limit a variety of diseases.