Second-year MSUCOM student Elise Craig placed first in the American Osteopathic Association’s Bureau of International Osteopathic Medicine student research poster competition.
The poster focuses on research she conducted as part of MSUCOM’s international elective to Peru. Craig presented the poster titled “Carcinogenic Risk for Carancas Children Exposed to Arsenic through Drinking Water” during the national osteopathic medical education conference in October.
During her Peru experience, Craig examined arsenic levels among children in the Peruvian village of Carancas who had been exposed through their town’s only well, which was located next to their school.
Craig took urine samples from the children and found arsenic levels 10 times over the limit, according to the World Health Organization and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. As a result, these children’s expected rates of cancer were three times higher than normal.
With these findings, Craig reached out to the University of California-Berkeley’s Engineers without Borders Program. This group has developed a water purification system for developing nations. Engineers from Universidad Cesar Vallejo in Peru installed a water filtration system at this first well, and this year, with EWB help, they plan to install more.
Craig hopes to return to Carancas in spring 2015 to take more urine samples and evaluate whether the children’s arsenic levels have dropped as a result of the new system.
In addition to taking part in the Peru elective, Craig is active at MSUCOM as president of the Student Osteopathic Medical Association, is on the Michigan Osteopathic College Foundation board of directors and is a clinical coordinator for the Sports osteopathic manipulative therapy elective.
The entire experience has made an impact on Craig’s future plans. Craig entered MSUCOM with designs on a career in sports medicine. The work in Peru, along with interactions with pediatricians who took part in the elective, has made her think about the possibility of working with children.