Andrew in Paraguay, Dr. Friedman in the news

Below is the "who I am and why I'm here" section of a new blog from Andrew Kindman '06. See the whole thing at. http://andrewkindman.wordpress.com/.

Hi everybody - my name is Andrew Kindman (that’s me on the right, though I am generally less pixilated in real life). I am a student at Duke University working towards a double major in Political Science and Economics. This summer, however, I am leaving academia behind in favor of some more hands-on development work.

I am living in Asunción, Paraguay from early May to mid August working as an Microfinance Intern with an NGO called La Fundacion Paraguaya. Paraguay is sometimes known as South America’s “Empty Quarter.” It is landlocked and nearly all of the population is concentrated in a handful of cities, leaving the majority of the country uninhabited, and by most accounts, uninhabitable. While Paraguay is very poor economically is was, until quite recently, destitute in terms of democratic capital.

The 2008 is a landmark year for Paraguayan democracy, the nation having elected for the first time in 60 years a president who is not a member of the Colorado party. We learn from the example of other Latin American countries (notably the PRI in Mexico) that a single party holding such sustained hegemonic control over a nation is likely the result of astute and manipulative economic policy.

This summer I will be working right at the margin between politics and economics at a time when both are making progress in leaps and bounds. It is a very exciting time to be in Paraguay. This blog is a space for anecdotes, reflections, points of interest, pictures, and other miscellanea that may appear over the next few months.

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By ESTES THOMPSON : Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press
Jun 2, 2008

RALEIGH, N.C. -- Dr. John Sampson has spent most of his career studying brain tumors. And if diagnosed with the kind of cancer now faced by Sen. Edward Kennedy, he'd pick Duke University colleague Allan Friedman [father of DA alums James '96 and Marshall '06] for a doctor.

"He's one of the best for this type of surgery in the world," Sampson said. "If someone had to choose, he would certainly be on the top of my list."

For the delicate task of removing the cancerous brain tumor that threatens his life, Kennedy went with Friedman, a 59-year-old Chicago native is a respected leader in the field of neuro-oncology who performs the majority of such surgeries at Duke University Medical Center.

Friedman "is one of the thought leaders" in the field of neuro-oncology, said Dr. Otis Brawley, the top doctor at the American Cancer Society. An internationally known tumor and vascular surgeon, he is responsible for more than 90 percent of tumor resections and biopsies at Duke.

"He's an excellent surgeon. His patients are in very good hands," said Dr. Matthew Ewend, the neurosurgery chief at the nearby University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Friedman is Duke's neurosurgon-in-chief and the program director of the university's Division of Neurosurgery. He also serves as the deputy director of the university's Preston Robert Tisch Brain Tumor Center. An internationally known tumor and vascular surgeon, he is responsible for more than 90 percent of tumor resections and biopsies at Duke.

Duke's brain tumor center was established in 1937 and has a staff of more than 250 who work only on the research and treatment of brain tumors. Doctors and staff there are currently following the treatment of more than 2,000 patients from around the world.

Friedman is a graduate of Purdue University who earned his medical degree at the University of Illinois-Chicago, and did his residencies at Duke and the University of Western Ontario. His wife, Elizabeth Bullitt, is also a well-known neurosurgeon now focusing on research at UNC Hospitals, just eight miles from Duke.

Friedman lists his clinical interests as brain tumors, skull base tumors, peripheral nerve surgery, pituitary tumors and cerebrovascular disease, according the school's Web site.

Along with tumor research, Friedman is collaborating on research into epilepsy and hemorrhages in the space between the brain and the thin tissues that cover the brain.

Kennedy was hospitalized May 17 at Massachusetts General Hospital after undergoing a seizure at his home on Cape Cod. Doctors later announced the 76-year-old Massachusttes Democrat had a malignant glioma -- one of the worst kinds of brain cancer -- in his left parietal lobe.

His decision to head to Duke, a hospital with a sterling reputation, was of little surprise to his friends.

"I think he likes to conduct an exhaustive search of resources out there and then make a decision. I think that's what all patients should do," said Philip W. Johnston, a Massachusetts Democratic activist and former chairman of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial.