Aaron Case – 2018 Recipient Resident/Fellow
Tell me about yourself and your current experience at the UIC College of Medicine
My name is Aaron Case and I am a third year resident in the University of Illinois Combined Internal Medicine/Emergency Medicine program. I completed my medical school training at UIC from 2012-2016. I was also fortunate enough to be a part of the inaugural Global Health Program, a competitively selective four year comprehensive four year tract program that focused on specialized training of global health education and care.
How did you decide to go into the field of Medicine?
Medicine was a significant part of my life from an early age; I had a severe asthma exacerbation upon arriving to the United States and required regular healthcare visits to control my symptoms. I hated having to go the doctor’s office so frequently, but as I aged and my health improved, the visits became less and less. I began to miss the interactions and relationships I had with my healthcare providers. They were a large part of my life growing up and they always aided me in my time of need. I knew from early on that I wanted to be there as a provider for other patients during their time of need. In high school, I started volunteering in the economically depressed area of East St Louis, Illinois and I enjoyed being able to provide to others in this role. From there, I continued to chase my dream of having a career in medicine.
What inspired you to help others Globally?
I was introduced to global health early during high school. My mother was born and raised in El Salvador and when earthquakes or other disasters hit the country, she would team up with local physicians and mail medical supplies to struggling regions. I would volunteer to collect and package medications, surgical supplies, and other medical donations. We would travel with the supplies and provide them to the regions in the highest need. From those trips, I was able to witness firsthand the challenges and barriers to providing adequate health care in regions of high need and felt a strong need to address these disparities.
Why did you select this destination?
I chose to travel to Santo Domingo, the capital city of the Dominican Republic. During my fourth year of medical school, I was able to travel with the internal medicine residency group to the Dominican Republic. The trip was lead by the Infectious Disease department and the purpose of the trip was to gain exposure in global health and tropical medicine. We visited Salvador Bienvenido Gautier Hospital, a teaching hospital in the capital city as well as the Malaria Institute, the Robert Reed Pediatric Hospital, and traveled to a small regional hospital on the west side of the country. I truly enjoyed learning about the country, the various aspects of infectious disease, and the barriers faced to reach adequate healthcare. I was curious to learn more about the emergency department in the Gautier hospital in terms of the patient presentations, resources, and challenges faced by the health care staff and patients.
How did this experience from the Erickson Explorers Award impact your life/influence you?
This trip gave me a great deal of experience and knowledge in working in a global health setting. One of the most importance lessons I learned was the the importance of developing strong relationships with the healthcare providers at the site of investigation. These individuals are key in global health projects, as they understand the healthcare system, patient population, and challenges in providing care. By establishing strong relationships with these providers, we are able to identify and hone in on problems that can be intervened upon. As an outsider, it is easy to come into a healthcare system, observe a clinical problem in attempt to fix it in ways of which one is familiar. However this can worsen situation, strain the relationships with the healthcare providers, and utilize resources in incorrect ways. I also learned the importance of being flexible and approaching problems in multiple ways. Planning in advance is instrumental for these types of projects, but it is also important to tackle problems as they occur and not to be deterred when they arise.
Overall, this experience was monumental in providing knowledge in global health projects and I look forward to future endeavors. I can’t thank Dr Erickson enough for this opportunity.
Chase Westra – 2018 Recipient Medical Student
Tell me about yourself and your current experience at the UIC College of Medicine:
I came to UIC because of the opportunity to participate in the Global Medicine (GMED) program. I was excited about the unique experience and support that GMED offered to continue my education and experience in global health while in medical school. I grew up and attended college in St. Louis, and it was during my time studying Anthropology and Global Health at Washington University in St. Louis that I realized I wanted to be a physician.
Outside of medicine and global health, my interests include travel, hiking and camping, snowboarding and SCUBA. I played football in college and have many great friends and life lessons to show for my time as an athlete, as well as a knee that has been surgically reconstructed twice 
How did you decide to go into the field of Medicine?
For me, a desire to do global health is what led me to medicine. Obviously, there are many ways to engage and have impact in important global health work, and I initially considered pursuing an MPH or DrPH after college. These degrees provide you with phenomenal expertise and ability to create large-scale impact in global issues and policies, but I ultimately decided that I would be discontent talking about issues without having the one-on-one, therapeutic relationship that doctors have with their patients. In what is necessarily a multi-disciplinary field, I felt as though, given my individual skills and desires, I would be able to contribute best as a physician.
What inspired you to help others Globally?
This is a loaded question that I continually struggle to answer. I’m sure that part of the answer lies, admittedly, in a sense of white guilt and self-serving desire to share my privilege as a means of feeling better about myself and about the exploitation that people like me have historically and ongoingly imposed on LMICs and minorities. More hopefully, I think that my inspiration comes from a strong belief in “meliorism” – that the world can be made better by human effort. I don’t think we exist in a zero-sum system, and I truly believe that through ingenuity and innovation, as well as generosity and selflessness, we can create, or at least take steps toward, global equity. This is a lofty goal, and I recognize the myriad of sociopolitical barriers hindering development, but I want my career to have been devoted toward this end.
Why did you select this destination?
I grew up in a service-focused family with older brothers who had both spent significant time learning Spanish and participating in short- and long-term service trips in Central America. My admiration for them and their efforts piqued a personal interest to learn about the disparities that existed in Central and South America. Pursuing this interest, I started taking Spanish in 7th grade, and with the help of incredible high school and college professors (shout out to my high school Spanish teacher, Sra. Harris, especially), I began to appreciate and enjoy Latin culture and history. The education of any white American on Latin culture is incomplete, however, without an equally voluminous education in the history of colonialism and imperialism (and neocolonialism) that these countries have faced (and continue to face) at the hands of Americans and Europeans. It was through both my love of the culture and understanding of the reparations owed to these countries that I became particularly interested in Latin America. Hoping to work in these countries, I was fortunate to meet and work with Dr. Maximo Brito of the UIC Dept of Infectious Disease who has had a longtime relationship with and significant impact at the Hospital Salvador B. Gautier in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. Through his connections, I was able to conduct my project in the emergency department at the Hospital.
How did this experience from the Erickson Explorers Award impact your life/influence you?
Drs. Erickson and Dobiesz were my first mentors in the pursuit of medical global health impact, and it was because of them that 1) GMED was created and 2) I chose to attend UIC. Through the Erickson Explorer Award, their influence at UIC continued to facilitate my development as a global health professional even after their departure. The Award helped fund my trip and work in the emergency department at the largest public teaching hospital in Santo Domingo, the capitol of the Dominican Republic. I have always been interested in health infrastructure development in Latin America, but through this experience, I developed an interest in residency education in emergency medicine in LMICs. With emergency medicine being a relatively new specialty, and with the significant burden of disease in LMICs related to emergent pathologies or acute decompensations of chronic diseases, I am excited about the impact that emergency medical capacity development will have on decreasing death and morbidity in LMICs.