Day 6 Fieldwork 2026

Back at AlmaU, Andrew, Jude, and Sameer analyzed data from wearing the wristband to improve the tremor detection algorithm to categorize the tremors into more accurate, specific categories. Afterwards, everyone met up for lunch at the Mega mall, then returned to AlmaU to continue working on their respective tasks. To cap off the day, all of the Kazakhstan Global Social Impact Fellows came together to have dinner and sing karaoke!

Bright and early in the morning, we surprised Anya with a cake and song for her birthday. Then, alongside Ada, Priya, and Dr. Sheshadri, Anya got to celebrate her birthday by viewing a neurosurgery! Dr. Shashkin welcomed us into his inpatient hospital, where they were able to meet with fellow doctors, surgeons, and nurses to understand their day-to-day work in their field. It was extremely valuable to first-hand view patients who had Parkinson’s and other tremor-related disorders that affected their daily life. They were able to ask the nurses and clinicians questions and understand how tremors varied among patients: some were resting, some active, some in certain positions, some localized, and some that affected a majority of their body. In addition, doctors were able to show us how they scanned patients’ brains with both CT and MRI scans, mapped the images on top of each other, and located the specific part of the thalamus that moderates tremors, called the ventral intermediate nucleus (VIM), to implant an electrode. The four split into pairs, and each pair got to watch a different ablation surgery. In this surgery, surgeons cut open the skin above one hemisphere of the brain, drilled a small hole into the skull, and then implanted the small electrode into the VIM. Both surgeries were successful, and they saw an immediate halt to the tremors on the limbs contralateral to the hemisphere of the brain that the surgery was being performed on.