Grants We Funded

Abstract
Mobile and wireless technology has emerged in recent years as an effective delivery method for exchanging information, which has great implications in transforming global health service delivery. Vietnam is a developing country that has a GDP of 1.8% of the U.S. yet has one of the highest per capita numbers of cell phone subscriptions in the world (128/100 people vs. 102/100 worldwide). Craniofacial and cleft conditions have a striking preponderance in Southeast Asia. Environmental factors such as the herbicide “Agent Orange” may contribute to a greater number of birth defects. Access to specialized surgery, particularly of rural areas, is suboptimal with humanitarian missions providing a substantial role in addressing this issue. Of the 313 million surgical procedures performed each year, only 6% occur in the poorest countries where over a third of the world's population lives. The goal of this project is to establish a sustainable method of identifying and cataloguing cleft and craniofacial congenital disease in Vietnam using text messaging on cell phones to a central data repository. By having more accurate and inclusive data, the surgical burden of disease may be more accurately addressed by reconstructive mission efforts and shared expertise with local surgeons. The Non-profit Reconstructive International Cooperation Exchange (R.I.C.E.) group has been active in annual missions to northern Vietnam since 2005 and has developed lasting partnerships with local hospitals and surgeons. A separate arm of this initiative, “Remote Interaction Consultation Epidemiology” has implemented a SMS text based system to record demographic and disease prevalence data. We plan to perform a pilot study implementing this SMS-based system for recording of cleft and craniofacial anomalies at our partner hospitals the National Hospital of Pediatrics, Viet Duc Hospital, and Vinmec Hospital, during the next scheduled collaborative mission in the Spring 2018. Local medical personnel will be trained to use existing cell phones to enter demographic and disease data for identified cleft and craniofacial patients into a central electronic repository. After establishing familiarity with the system, local clinicians will be able to continue using this system to catalog patient status and severity for future surgical planning. Geographic data can identify specific populations with high risk factors. This system allows long standing international information exchange.

Biography
Dr. Nguyen is an Assistant Professor of Surgery in the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and Director of Adult Craniofacial Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania and Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He completed his graduate studies at the University of Minnesota School of Medicine, followed by full general surgery training at the New York University Medical Center and Bellevue Hospital in New York City where he was elected as the Academic Chief Resident. Following this, he completed a plastic surgery residency at the University of California Los Angeles Medical Center working with famed craniofacial surgeon Dr. Henry Kawamoto, and subsequently trained at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada in pediatric craniofacial surgery. He is active in basic science and clinical research. He is board certified in both general surgery and plastic surgery and is a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons. Dr. Nguyen is 1st generation Vietnamese, born in an Indonesian refugee camp following the Vietnam War. His family immigrated to the U.S. on a church sponsorship, which allowed him access to higher education. He is highly active in international mission work, focusing on cleft and craniofacial reconstruction. He frequently volunteers with many humanitarian organizations and recently served as the Operation Smile International Scholar. He has volunteered in Vietnam, Nepal, India, Peru, Guatemala, and the Philippines amongst others.