Diagnosing global health
April 7 is World Health Day, which marks the anniversary of the founding of WHO in 1948. To observe the day, we're posting three stories about amazing international students at the University of Washington who are working and studying (and making a difference) in health care around the world. Links to the other two World Health Day stories are at the end of this post.
Koji Abe, a UW PhD student in bioengineering from Tokyo, Japan, is so passionate about his work that when asked what he likes best about Seattle, his first response was "Other than research?"
"I'm working on development of low-cost, easy to use, and also accurate diagnostic tools for developing countries and home health care settings,” Koji says. "I'm interested in public health because it's significant for all people."
Koji on campus at UW
Given the diversity of health care systems and varying degrees of health care access around the world, there's a real need for methods of diagnosing diseases that can be used in many different settings. One exciting initiative in this area is the development of paper substrate as a low-cost diagnostic tool, which Koji is working on right now at the UW. With this method, people in rural communities with no lab nearby could simply provide samples on small pieces of paper that can quickly and efficiently diagnose diseases from the flu to malaria to dengue. (Read more about paper-based diagnostics here and here).
Koji's journey to the University of Washington began in August 2010. At the time, he was working for a medical device company in Japan, and had recently completed a Master's degree in analytical chemistry. Hoping to learn more about different laboratory environments around the world, Koji traveled to Switzerland with his former supervisor and colleagues from the lab where he'd worked in graduate school.
There he met with a senior colleague who had done his post-doctoral work in Switzerland and advised Koji to pursue his PhD abroad. Over the next year, Koji started studying for the GRE and TOEFL and researching universities in Australia, Europe, and the United States. He arrived at the University of Washington in Fall 2012, and now works with the same professor, Dr. Paul Yager, who was the first author on a paper in Nature he read years ago on developing diagnostic devices for global health.
When he's not studying or working, Koji loves to explore the natural wonders of the Pacific Northwest. “I like to travel around natural green places. I was traveling to World Heritage sites in Japan before coming here, and Olympic National Park is also a World Heritage Site. It was an opportunity to compare World Heritage sites in different countries.”
Historic Villages of Shirakawa-go, one of the UNESCO World Heritage Sites in Japan. Photo by Koji Abe.
Of course, adapting to the cultural differences between Seattle and Japan (not to mention using English all the time) has been a challenging transition. However, because Japanese food, books, and other comforts of home are easily available in the International District, he also says that “living here in Seattle is more convenient and comfortable than I expected. That was a surprise.”
As for the future, Koji is making plans to do some volunteer work this summer, since he's interested in working in the type of low-resource setting where the diagnostic tools he's developing are very much needed. Eventually, he'd like to work for an organization that is making a difference in the world. “So far I have several dreams. For example, WHO, UNICEF, or PATH are great organizations that I would like to contribute to...I'm interested in working for an organization that can contribute to international public health.”
Koji at Mt. Rainier this past summer
And there's more travel on the horizon as well, of course. “In the future, I want to go back to Japan,” he says, “but I don't know when.”
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