My name is Simisola Kuye, and I am a third-year internal medicine resident at the University of Texas at Austin Dell Internal Medicine Residency. I am a board-certified pediatrician and completed my pediatrics residency in 2020 at University of Alabama in Birmingham. I decided to pursue further training in internal medicine for several reasons, but amongst them is my strong desire to work in global health after completion of my training.
I will be traveling with a few co-residents and faculty from my institution to Eldoret, Kenya to work with AMPATH Kenya in March-April 2023. The AMPATH model is one of partnership and reciprocity of knowledge and skills. Matched with a trainee of similar education level, I plan to share my knowledge in pediatrics – specifically management of complex disorders of childhood as they present in adulthood, utilization of point of care ultrasound (POCUS) in clinical decision making, and how primary care/preventive medicine can be addressed in hospitalized patients. Concurrently, I hope to gain significant insights as to how their healthcare system works and their ability to provide comprehensive care to such a large population with the limited resources available to them.
My personal interest in medicine is in the field of primary care, specifically the impact of evidence-based prevention strategies to combat chronic diseases of adulthood and how we can do this well in low-resource setting both in the United States and developing countries. I am a Nigerian immigrant, and my family founded a growing health care center in Ibadan, Nigeria to serve the local community. I am hoping to learn from the Moi teaching hospital how to build sustainable, long term health systems in developing countries.
AMPTH Kenya has serviced over 8,000,000 Kenyans and trained over 2600 health professionals and community healthcare workers. Those that may benefit from my participation in the AMPATH Kenya program include (1) patients that are hospitalized at Moi teaching hospital that I will be directly caring for and (2) medical students and residents at Moi teaching hospital.
AMPATH Kenya maintains a positive impact in Eldoret and other communities in Kenya by providing broad access to care. My participation in the program will directly impact the patients I care for and working with and teaching medical students and residents will have a long-lasting impact to the community. I am personally excited to gain significant insights on the inner workings of academic medical programs and tertiary health care centers in Africa and I am also hoping to learn how to provide care for large communities in low-resourced settings - all of which I know I will use in my future career practicing global health in Nigeria. I believe there is so much I can gain from participating in the AMPATH Kenya program, and I am looking forward to the opportunity.
While at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Kenya I was lucky to care for patients on the internal medicine wards. I also had the privilege of working alongside and sharing knowledge with my Kenyan counterpart residents and medical students.
