Abstract

"Virtual Community in Health Care: Prospects in Peru" is a capstone project undertaken by a team of Masters of Public Policy and Management students at Carnegie Mellon's Heinz School. TechBridgeWorld is launching a new public health initiative, learning what technologies could best assist with global public health challenges and exploring the creation of a virtual community for health care practitioners. To assist with the initial stages of this new project, TechBridgeWorld has benefited from the policy expertise of this team of Master of Science in Public Policy and Management (MSPPM) students at Carnegie Mellon’s Heinz School. This group project was conducted as a collaboration between TechBridgeWorld and the Heinz School in fulfillment of the MSPPM Systems Synthesis Project requirement.

A virtual community would provide unique opportunities to share best practices among peers in the public health field. This group project aims to design a template to determine the feasibility of a virtual community for health care practitioners in developing communities. The planned feasibility template will be composed of two parts: the social network among potential participants and the IT-readiness of the community.

As a case study, the students are exploring the feasibility of a virtual community composed of health professionals in Peru. Their study focuses on reproductive health professionals including doctors, nurses and midwives as potential participants in this virtual community. This project is being conducted with the assistance of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and Peru’s Department of Health.

Speaker Bios

Ma. Esmeralda Silva, the team’s Project Manager, is a graduate student at the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management, conducting a Master of Science in Public Policy and Management. She is also a research associate at the Carnegie Mellon University Center for Economic Development. Prior to pursuing her master’s degree at CMU, she was an adjunct professor at the Ateneo de Davao University in the Philippines where she taught Public Policy: Theory and Practice and Managerial Communication to graduate students at the School of Business and Governance. Prior to that, she worked for a watershed management project in the Philippines as an Information, Education and Communication Manager. Ms. Silva has a baccalaureate degree in Development Communication, major in Education Communication and a master’s degree in Public Affairs, major in Strategic Planning and Policy Studies.

Christina Dinwoodie is a graduate student in the Master of Science in Public Policy and Management program at the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management. She recently completed her undergraduate degree in Computer Science at Carnegie Mellon. Christina spent the summer of 2005 in the Federated States of Micronesia, working with the hospital system through the Technology Consulting in the Global Community program led by Joe Mertz, Associate Director of TechBridgeWorld. She had a great time working on the islands of Yap and Pohnpei and also enjoyed the warm weather and the gorgeous snorkeling. She hopes to be able to continue doing work to assist health systems in developing countries.

Mustafa Khan came to Carnegie Mellon from Chicago, Illinois. He is pursuing a Master of Science in Public Policy and Management at the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management and he has an interest in technology policy. His professional experience includes stints in the banking, health care, and telecommunications industries. He worked in Corporate Finance for Citibank in New York. Prior to coming to Pittsburgh he was based in the Chicago area, working in Business Planning for WorldCom's local fiber optic network. Mr. Khan earned his bachelor's degree in Political Science from the University of Western Ontario.

Ruth C. Salcedo is a graduate student of the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon University where she is pursuing a Master of Science in Public Policy and Management. She was born in Lima, Peru and studied at University of Lima, where she earned her degree in Economics. Ms. Salcedo has 12 years of work experience in the governmental institutions of Peru. Before coming to Carnegie Mellon University, she served in the Tax Administration and Customs of Peru (SUNAT) and the Health Care Social Security (ESSALUD). In each of these institutions, she has worked as a manager in several Policy Analysis areas as well as in Business Intelligence. Her work ranged from analyzing indicators, designing new processes, proposing law changes, to leading teams to build new systems for Policy Analysis. She has participated in the Peruvian Tax Reform implementation of the 1990's as well as the Social Security Reform implementation which allowed both institutions to improve their collection and services to their constituencies.