CINQ Blog #3

  1. List the top 20 questions your team needs to answer to advance the venture forward.

*-indicates most important

  1. We are able to diagnose Sickle Cell Anemia, so what? *

a. What makes our research so important?

 

2. How can we implement our project, so that it stays relevant?*

a. Is there a way where we can train the locals, in order to sustain the system?

 

3. Why hasn’t an initiative for this project not yet been started?*

a. Are there problems or aspects of the research we don’t know about?

 

4. What does impact mean?

 

5. How will our project affect the local’s lives?

a. Will our project have an effect on people’s lives? (Closed-ended)

 

6. If our project is successful, where can we go from there?

7. How will the locals react or perceive our device?

8. How do we work with individuals who are unsupportive of our research?

9. What can we learn from the locals that could help us with the device?

10. How will their culture affect our project?

11. How will our project affect their culture?

12. How is our project going to change Sierra Leone?

13. What are other treatment or care options if they decide not to participate?

14. If this project is successful, where can we go from there?

15. How will we establish the operation from one clinic to millions of clinics?

16. Is this a project that we will continue providing assistance to? Or do we pass this responsibility onto the locals?

17. How will the devices be distributed?

18. How will we make this project affordable to the locals?

19. What’s this project’s incentive for Lehigh?

20. How will the locals welcome this project?

 

  1. Develop and Visualize the Theory of Change (Logic Model) for your venture:

 

Stakeholders  Inputs Outputs Outcomes
-World Hope

-Lehigh Valley Health Network 

-Lehigh University

-Sickle Cell Patients in Sierra Leone

-Sickle Cell diagnostic device and its components

-Education about Sickle Cell Anemia

-Financial Resources

-Time and Research

-The number of people who use this device

-The number of devices distributed

-The number of children under five who received a diagnosis

-The results of the diagnosis

Short Term:

-Prove the functionality and usefulness of our device in Sierra Leone.

Long Term:

-Lower the child mortality rate

-Have accessible/affordable sickle cell diagnoses

-Spread awareness of the effects of sickle cell anemia

-Improve the life quality for sickle cell patients

3. Plans for Spring 2020, Summer 2020 & Sierra Leone 

Spring Semester Goals:

  • Prove the detection of the HbS and HbA hemoglobin with our test strip (antibodies GS5 and GS4)
  • Optimizing the amounts of antibodies, beads and running buffer for the device (cost-effectiveness in consideration)
  • Prove the functionality of the Conveyor Belt with attached Syringe Pump
  • Finding the optimal dimension for test strips
  • Manufacturing/producing large amounts (~100) of test strips efficiently
  • Complete IRB/SLA forms for Lehigh Health Valley and Sierra Leone at Lehigh (Discuss with other Sierra Leone groups)
  • Receive IRB approval for obtaining HbS blood samples from the Lehigh Valley Health Network

Summer Goals (Mountaintop):

  • Prepare 100+ test strips and reagents for clinical trial and demonstration purposes.
  • Run shelf life experiments 
  • Develop interview and questionnaire questions for Sierra Leone 

Sierra Leone Field Trip:

  • Carry out clinical trials with locals who are confirmed as sickle cell patients through one of the programs: SCCAN or Sickle Cell Society
  • Carry out interviews with recruited patients about their livelihood after being diagnosed with sickle cell (perception)
  • Research for a potential Case Study publication for the Fall 2020 semester

One Reply to “CINQ Blog #3”

  1. Good job distinguishing how outcomes can look different in short vs long term. I really like your question “why hasn’t an initiative for this project been started yet,” and I think thinking about potential answers for that will reveal the key challenges you need to overcome to have success.

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