Head surgeons at Ethiopia’s Gondar University Hospital traveled to Vancouver in May to formalize a partnership with the Faculty of Medicine in surgical education, program development and research.
Clockwise from top left: John Kestle, Head, UBC Department of Surgery; Mensur Yassin, Gondar University Hospital; Gary Segal; Solomon Teklie, Head, Gondar University Hospital Department of Surgery; Robert H. Taylor, Director, UBC Branch for International Surgery.
Solomon Teklie, Head of the Department of Surgery at Gondar University Hospital, and Dr. Robert H. Taylor, Director of the Faculty of Medicine’s Branch for International Surgery, signed an agreement to cooperate on the development of undergraduate surgical teaching and postgraduate subspecialty training; a trauma receiving program; surgical research; and surgical care continuing education to surrounding district hospitals in Ethiopia.
The agreement emerged from an existing partnership between the Branch and Rick Hodes, an American internist who, over the course of more than 20 years of living in Ethiopia, has helped thousands of children suffering from heart disease, cancer, scoliosis and tuberculosis of the spine live longer and better lives.
Dr. Hodes is Medical Director of Ethiopia for the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, a humanitarian assistance organization that began working in Ethiopia 30 years ago, striving to advance the health and well-being of those living in the Gondar region. Based on an existing relationship with Gondar University Hospital, the Joint Distribution Committee’s Country Director Manlio Dell’Ariccia recommended and initiated collaboration between the Branch and Gondar University Hospital.
The Branch has lent Dr. Hodes its academic expertise since Vancouver philanthropists Gary and Nanci Segal organized a fundraising gala last year to support both Dr. Hodes and the Branch. In December, Gary Segal, Dr. Taylor and Branch Associate Director Brian Westerberg travelled to Ethiopia to meet with Dr. Hodes to determine the priority areas for the partnership.
“Our deepened partnership with Dr. Hodes will enrich training and research opportunities,” Dr. Taylor says. “Together, we will prepare tomorrow’s global health leaders to continue delivering life-changing surgical care for the poor and marginalized in Ethiopia and around the world.”