IRES: A US-Cameroon Collaboration for Information Technology in Healthcare (E-Medicine) Research in Resource-Poor Contexts

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This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Professor Victor Mbarika of Southern University, Baton Rouge will direct this research and educational program. During the summer and winter breaks of its three year duration; the Dr. Mbarika and Co-PI, Dr. Carlos Thomas, will establish an educational partnership between Southern University, two Universities in Cameroon--The University of Buea and The University of Yaounde Medical School (a teaching hospital). Two undergraduate and two graduate students will be selected from Southern University1 and the same number will be selected from two institutions in Cameroon. These students will collaborate in developing and publishing e-medicine case studies that will be packaged with multimedia features and delivered through the Internet and CDs for teaching Global E-Health issues in US and African classes.Intellectual Merit: In recent years, students have been involved in international research that has led to multiple conference and journal publications based on data collected, but students have never involved in developing case studies on these projects. Based on research and proof of concept from previously funded research, rigorous theory-driven case studies on emedicine implementation in Cameroon will be developed. The proposed project will develop information technology students with a global perspective on how such technologies are implemented in resourcepoor settings of developing nations. These experiences will be used on ongoing projects on emedicine implementation in rural parts of the US, creating a reverse (South to North) knowledge transfer. Further, this will move the researchers from current knowledge on e-medicine transfer in developing nations whereby previously the PI had largely focused on surveying multiple projects from afar. He will now be able to study specific e-medicine projects to gain a more intimate knowledge of the subject domain.Broader Impacts: The proposed project will provide a deeper understanding of e-medicine in resource-poor communities in developing and developed nations. The case studies developed through this collaboration will be packaged in multimedia CDs as well as on the Internet for use in classes anywhere in the world. Publications resulting from this project, including a book on global e-health issues in resourcepoor settings could be used in information technology courses. Local professionals and paraprofessionals will be trained using the teaching materials and tools generated by the case studies to better equip them to maximize their use of technology in e-Medicine. Professionals and para-professionals can will information from the case studies to not only address fears and concerns affecting their support and participation in e-medicine service delivery, but also to refine and improve their approaches to emedicine. Facilitating collaborative cross cultural research to generate solutions to global problems will help create productive world citizens and contributors to a sustainable future. Current multimedia case study collaborations will allow for broader dissemination of these IRES cases at 20 different institutions in the US. Furthermore, the PI?s strong affiliation with Multimedia Educational Resources for Learning and Online Teaching, (MERLOT) an NSF funded project, will provide a platform for even more dissemination opportunities across multiple discipline communities of the organization.