Me

I’m a 2011 GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) PULSE participant. The GSK PULSE Partnership program, launched in April 2009, is an initiative that gives employees an opportunity to use their professional skills and knowledge during a three or six month immersion experience within a non-profit or non-governmental organization (PULSE Partner) to make a sustainable difference for communities and patients in need. For more about the PULSE program: http://www.gsk.com/community/pulse

For the next 6 months, I’ll be working with Direct Relief International (DRI), a non-sectarian, non-profit, disaster relief and health assistance organization located in Santa Barbara, California, USA. DRI provides medical goods to institutions and organizations serving those affected by poverty, natural disasters, and civil unrest throughout the world. DRI currently works in partnership with hospitals, clinics, and non-profit organizations throughout the United States as well as Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe. My time with DRI will be focused on exploring the feasibility of establishing a National Charitable Medicine Foundation in India to increase access to medical products for people in India. For more about DRI: www.directrelief.org

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Making In Roads

Countdown to India has started..and I can hardly breathe!
Got to make initial contact with key players for the assignment including GSK-India folks and key DRI corporate sponsors who are active in India. The rest of the week was spent tooling up for the trip, learning bread and butter processes (ex. Product Offer Processes through DRI’s very impressive SAP portal that is very similar to amazon.com, where partners “order” donated medicines for their clinics), reviewing existing SOPs  and further refining the strategy for the assignment.
Moved from the East Beach location I was at, and moved closer to the DRI office near Goleta..its amazing how much I’d gotten attached to the routine I’d established oh not more than 3 weeks ago! No worries though, all set with a whole new routine that now includes a 5 minute drive to the Goleta beach and a very, very scenic running stretch bordering the University of California – Santa Barbara campus. The whole time I’m running, I thank myself for not coming here for Graduate school (no offense, UCSB, but his would’ve definitely been on the 8yr PhD plan)..probably would still be sitting somewhere on the beach, literally their back yard. 
UCSB Campus from Goleta Beach..probably the second most beautiful campus on earth.

The highlight of the week, however, was meeting Eric and Lisa Neff for Dinner (at the Opel on State Street..awesome food and ambience!). Eric’s PULSE assignment (’09 class) that started in Sri Lanka and the ensuring blog was what peaked my interest on the PULSE program. Two years later..here we are! 

 Eric's Blog: 
http://www.photoblog.com/volunteering/2009/11/19/orange-day-volunteering-at-an-orphanage-with-gsk-sri-lanka.html
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