Almost 30 years have passed since Dr. Dibesh Karmacharya graduated from WSC (1996) with a degree in Conservation Biology.
Last week he and research partner Dr. Rajesh Man Rajbhandari returned to his Alma Mater, warmly hosted by Elizabeth King of the Rose Cottage, getting tours of the campus with updates in WSC Biology programs from Dr. Mark Hammer, and giving a presentation in Dr. Michael Mutehart’s Anatomy class.
Dibesh shared his ‘journey of learning’ at WSC under the mentorship of former WSC Biology Professor Dr. Marian Borgmann-Ingwersen who also returned to WSC for his visit.
Following graduation, he worked in biomedical research and pharmaceuticals in New England and Toronto before returning to Nepal and collaborating with Rajesh and other colleagues to establish the Center for Molecular Dynamics – Nepal (CMDN).
CMDN is a cutting edge non-profit biomedical research and development organization that has expanded to include environmental and disease surveillance, vaccine development and One Health conservation efforts, collaborating globally with scholars in Australia, UC Davis, MIT, and Oxford.
They have developed innovative technology to monitor, detect, and prevent emerging animal and human diseases, even leading Nepal and the region in COVID-19 surveillance and responses.
In 2018, WSC Professor Dr. Barbara Engebretsen met Dibesh while in Nepal for her Fulbright Global Scholar work. This led to a presentation for the 2019 Fulbright Association Conference in Washington, DC with CMDN scholars, and ultimately bringing the WSC-Nepal connections full-circle back to Wayne America last week. She also arranged for them to meet with UNMC College of Public Health scholars before returning to Nepal. These connections will continue to open doors for current and future WSC students and faculty as WSC will tentatively implement a new interdisciplinary One Health Studies major this Fall, pending final approval by the Coordinating Commission for Post-Secondary Education in July.
Just this last May, WSC 2024 graduate Mary Helms participated in a three-week internship with CMDN in Nepal, which included monitoring mosquitos on elephants in the Chitwan National Park. As a student whose input was instrumental in creating the new One Health Studies major, she reflected on her time in Nepal: “Though I am very passionate about One Health, I have not had much previous experience with primary research in the field. I am grateful to now have seen what it looks like to be in a lab and in the field studying human, animal, and environmental health.”
Wayne State College is a regional treasure with global connections, making friends around the world and enriching rural Nebraskan perspectives.
As Mary Helms said, “I had the opportunity I couldn’t have gotten anywhere else and learned so much about a field I am incredibly passionate about.”
