Olympus 2010 - Humbled, Asante, Challenge, and Magic

2010 Olympus Innovation Award
Blander Acceptance
National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA) Conference
Friday March 26th, 2010
http://tinyurl.com/olympus2010

Dear distinguished colleagues and friends,

I have just a few minutes to make some remarks before they kick me off the stage. So I have tried to reduce these remarks to focus on 4 key words: Humbled, Asante, Challenge, and Magic.

The first word: humbled

• I am very humbled when I look around this room and see the remarkable group of professionals who all are deserving of awards.
• I am very Humbled when I think of the amazing heroes such as the patients and doctors I work with in field such as Tanzania would put their lives and talents on the line every day.
• I am very Humbled with the extraordinary privilege of working with the brilliant and passionate students, mentors, and administrators who by their actions can turn a white board into a transformative universe of hope and statement of “yes we can” despite the obstacles in front of us.
• So when I think of all of you and those mentioned, one must accept such an award with great humility and acknowledge all my colleagues dedication, hard work, courage and brilliance that have made my own accomplishments possible.

The second word: Asante (Thank you)

Accepting this award is an acknowledgment of all the amazing people in my life who have made me look much better than I am. While the list is too long, a few specific people & organizations need mentioning.

• NCIIA. Olympus. Lemelson. Golinharris. Fogarty. Phil, Rachel, Tim, and Jennifer. Without your support. None of this would be possible.
• Dr.’s Hashim, Ogillo, Kaushik, and Mugusi my super hero colleagues in Tanzania. I will walk through fire for you.
• Patty, Linda, Steven Locke, Bryan Bergeron Danny Sands and Utkan Demirci, Jock Herron and rest of the HST939 crew from Harvard and MIT. Amy Smith who has led the way for so many.
• Philip Kong and Vikram Kumar, my fellow Directors of the Bienmoyo Foundation
• The amazing and endless list of graduate and undergraduate students from Harvard, MIT, UPENN.
• The single most important person in my life, my amazing and talented wife Michelle. I wonder each day, hour, and minute how she puts up with me.
• My family and my grandparents Rose and Fred. Thank you for encouraging me to pursue my dreams no matter what the odds.

The third word: Challenge

Despite the amazing efforts of the people in this community, the fact remains that Billions of citizens in the global community live in poverty without access to clean water, basic sanitation, or health care services. As shown during the first day group exercise, everyone in this room is capable of great accomplishments individually, but when we work together we have the power to transform the world with smarter technology and systems to break the unforgiving cycles of poverty and disease to create opportunities and empower all the worlds citizens.

The fourth word: Magic

Ms. J.K. Rowling of Harry Potter Fame said at a recent Harvard Commencement address “We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.”

My colleagues and friends, I look forward to working with you in this wonderful NCIIA global community to imagine better and to make our own brand of magic, through hard work, perseverance, and resolve knowing that the best is yet to come.

Thank you all so much.

Photo Credit: Michelle Levine

Happy Valentine’s Day: Healthy Hearts for all - A reflection on 5 years of public service in Tanzania

In the Fall of 2005, while attending ward rounds one day at the National Hospital in Tanzania I met a 9 year old girl named 'Rosie' being treated for rheumatic heart disease (RHD). Some of you reading this might be wondering how a 9 year old girl acquires heart disease. Rosie is one of millions of children living in low income countries with RHD, a condition that was mostly eradicated in the US in the 1950s and 1960s through the widespread availability and use of antibiotics to treat streptococcal infections (more commonly known as strep throat). RHD follows a neglected strep infection which can cause severe damage to the heart. Once severely damaged, the only course of treatment is expensive valve-replacement surgery, something Rosie is not even a candidate for, as her condition is too severe.

Inspired by Rosie, I joined my colleagues in Tanzania and at Harvard/MIT to launch a US 501 c(3) foundation called Bienmoyo. Bienmoyo in French and Swahili translates to ‘Good Heart’ or ‘Good Soul’. Through the generous support of colleagues, friends, and acquaintances almost five years later we have managed pilot programs to find ways to help prevent rheumatic heart disease in children living in Tanzania and accomplished so much more. During this time we have had over 50 volunteers join us in the field working closely with our dedicated colleagues from the public and private health sectors to support programs ranging from developing a business plan to expand cardiac care services at the national hospital, strategic planning workshops to help provide micro financing to over 600 physician practices, and most recently ways to use emerging mobile health (mHealth) technologies to improve maternal and child health by reducing infant death from obstructed airways after birth.

Ms. J.K. Rowling of Harry Potter fame stated at the 2008 Harvard Commencement Address, “We do not need magic to change the world, we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better.” The Bienmoyo philosophy stresses how by working together and using our collective imaginations as a global community we can create new approaches and innovations to improve quality of life for the world’s most vulnerable populations.

The journey for my colleagues and me began anew in 2005, with the knowledge that through hard work and great perseverance a difference can be made to help those most in need. We have learned so much over the past five years through our successes and the challenges we have overcome. We now more than ever sincerely believe that answers to global health delivery problems are best found locally to provide high quality and affordable health services.

So thank you Bienmoyo family and friends for all for the wonderful support over the years and we look forward to an amazing 2010 and beyond.

Jeffrey Blander
President
Bienmoyo Foundation
Sunday February 14th, 2010