ETD Acceptance Otremba
Channel: John Hagen
Date: 2012-09-11

Innovative Learning through ETDs Award acceptance video by Michael Otremba.

In his thesis "When Doctors Become Creditors: The Detainment of Impoverished Patients in Uganda", [available online http://ymtdl.med.yale.edu/] Michael Otremba's research path and development as a physician for human rights was defined and refined though the development of a visual thesis that documents the ethical and societal conflicts at the intersection of inadequate national health infrastructure, extraordinary poverty, and chronic shortages of skilled physicians in the world's poorest nations. This thesis portfolio also includes a documentary film entitled, "Twero: The Road to Health," made over the course of 2 years, including 6 months of filming on location in Uganda, and is presently under consideration for international media distribution. the documentary follows a journalist who uses his radio station as a means to expose what is happening to patients, like Esther Ayugi, who find themselves unable to pay their medical bills. Otremba's work will continue to be an agent for social change as the thesis and documentary are disseminated in wider international circles, giving power to the people whose lives are impacted by socio-economic and political challenges in advocating for proper health care as a basic human right.

Michael has an M.D. and is presently a Postdoctoral Associate in the Section of Otolaryngology in the Department of Surgery at Yale. His continued advocacy efforts, film documentary commentaries and other research interests are reported in his Blog [available online http://backinuganda.blogspot.com/].