The Mary Heersink Institute for Global Health (MHIGH) is excited to announce the first recipient of its telehealth pilot grant, Noha Sharafeldin, MBBCh, MSc, Ph.D.
Sharafeldin is an assistant professor in the Division of Hematology and Oncology in the Department of Medicine. She will lead a study titled, "Telehealth Platform to Reduce Time to Diagnosis and Timely Referral of Childhood Cancer in Egypt."
"The project addresses the lag time from first symptoms to diagnosis and timely referrals for children with cancer in Egypt," said Sharafeldin. "The goal is to provide access to oncology subspecialty care through the development of the technological infrastructure for an inter-professional e-consult platform."
The MHIGH telehealth pilot grant will facilitate the global transfer of knowledge and experience in telehealth implementation through collaboration between UAB telehealth and clinical experts and health care providers in the 57357 Children’s Cancer Hospital in Egypt.
"We are very excited about the awarding of the telehealth pilot grant to Dr. Sharafeldin," said the institute’s associate director for Telehealth Initiatives and medical director for Telehealth at UAB Medicine, Eric Wallace, M.D. "Dr. Sharafeldin's application, which focuses on the development of a platform for interprofessional eConsultations for delivery of oncology services within Egypt, will provide the start of a scalable framework to deliver international interprofessional consults across the spectrum of healthcare subspecialties and be expandable to other countries."
The goal of the MHIGH Telehealth Pilot Project is to improve health outcomes through global telehealth services facilitated by UAB. This pilot award will help improve health, save lives, and offer access to advanced medical information, expertise, and services routinely available in the U.S., but not in many of our partner countries.
“This award is the first step in our proposed MHIGH global telehealth strategy which aims to leverage our partnerships, advanced technology such as AI, and connections to country-specific global resources to promote health and healing," said the institute’s director and associate dean for Global and Women’s Health, Alan T. N. Tita, M.D., Ph.D.