SHARE fair discusses global health issues

The Hopkins chapter of Supporting Hospitals Abroad with Resources and Equipment (SHARE) hosted the SHARE fair in Charles Commons Ballroom on Saturday afternoon.

“We brought together our Medical School SHARE Leadership team with the undergraduate SHARE Leadership team to host a time for students to come experience demonstrations done by the med students…[and] to ask questions regarding medical school,” senior Suzy Cho, co-president of SHARE, wrote in an email to The News-Letter.

The keynote speaker at the fair was Dr. Fizan Abdullah, a pediatric plastic surgeon at the Hopkins Hospital and an advocate of the SHARE program. Abdullah discussed his experiences in international medical service and was well received by his audience.

SHARE was founded at Hopkins in 1991 by Dr. Richard J. Redett, who is still the organization’s advisor today. Redett is also the director of the Pediatric Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery Johns Hopkins Cleft Lip and Palate Center, associate professor at the Johns Hopkins Hospital and co-director of the Brachial Plexus Clinic at Kennedy Krieger Institute.

“SHARE is a student-run volunteer organization where undergraduates, medical students, nurses and doctors work together to recover, sort and repackage thousands of pounds of medical supplies, which would otherwise be discarded from operating rooms at the Johns Hopkins Hospital each year,” Cho wrote. “These supplies are distributed to developing countries through our partner organization, Humanity First, and individual physicians on medical missions.”

Since its establishment, SHARE has garnered ample student involvement within the Hopkins community.

“SHARE has one of the largest active memberships on the Homewood campus with 80 to 140 active students contributing approximately 1000 volunteer hours per semester,” Cho wrote. “This year SHARE has contributed to making a further local impact by reaching out to non-profit local clinics, health centers and animal shelters in Baltimore to donate the medical supplies, currently having established successful partnerships with several clinics, such as the Baltimore Rescue Mission Clinic and the Maryland SPCA.”

The chapter of SHARE at Hopkins has been working to establish SHARE at other universities in the area and to teach health professionals and the general educational community.

“[We have] also contributed critical data to a collaborative research project involving undergraduate, medical fellows and professionals that gave rise to the paper ‘Global Public Health Impact of Recovered Supplies from Operating Rooms: A Critical Analysis with National Implications,’” Cho wrote. “The research was presented at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine Annual Department of Surgery Research Poster Session, where the team was awarded Best Presentation in the Clinical Research, Students division. Notably, the team was the only undergraduate team present at the Poster Session.”