Farewell!

My final day in Manila!  2 months ago I was enjoying my honeymoon on the white sands of Boracay and it’s hard to believe that I’ll be hopping on a flight back home tonight.  Yesterday, I presented in front of my colleagues here at the Western Pacific Regional Office about my research this past summer, and it went very well!  The director of the Health Sector Development group and head of the Essential Medicines & Technology team attended, and there was a very lively discussion afterwards regarding the WHO and its future direction regarding R&D priority-setting (my team also surprised me with a birthday / farewell cake!  There appears to be a lot of celebrations that involve cake in this office…ironic for the World HEALTH Organization, eh?).  I will be presenting again this afternoon to my team in Geneva via videoconference and am excited to share the work that I’ve done this summer.

As I reflect on my experience this past summer, I feel very lucky to have had the opportunity to work with my team both in Manila and Geneva.  I hope that the work that I’ve completed is a step in the direction towards a healthier world, where diseases that affect some of the most vulnerable populations will someday soon have affordable solutions.  This experience was very valuable for my future career aspirations as well, and I am excited to see where my wife and I will end up next year after graduation.  Whether I end up in Manila, Geneva, the States, or who knows where, I am sure that the growth and experience from this past summer will help me along the way.

To the good people from the Women and Public Policy Program and the Cultural Bridge Fellowship, I would like to thank you again for your support and generosity.  My experience and the work I completed with the WHO would not have been possible without your help, and I am truly grateful.  I hope to meet some of you in the near future and share my research with you when I return to Boston. 

Signing off from Manila!

Sam