I will be the resident physician representing the Department of Pathology within the medical team headed to Malindi, Kenya. We will be specifically performing cytopathology evaluation of specimen smears and provide real-time diagnosis either pre-operatively, intraoperatively, or post-operatively in partnership with the Head and Neck surgeons on the medical team. By providing fast and real-time diagnoses, we can help the surgeons make the best treatment management decisions for the patient before, during, and after surgery.
We will be serving the patients from Tawfiq Hospital in Malindi, Kenya. Dr. James Netterville, one of the world's prominent head and neck surgeon, and his Vanderbilt-based head and neck medical team have developed a longstanding relationship with the Kenya Ear Nose and Throat Association. They train and empower local medical personnel on many levels from sterilization and instrument care, nursing skills, pre and post-op care, surgery skills, and anesthesiology. In addition to partnering with the Association in patient care, Dr. Netterville's Vanderbilt-based head and neck team have also trained other African ENT surgeons in this hospital.
This medical mission is a pathway in improving the healthcare infrastructure in Malindi, Kenya and, as a consequence, will improve health care access.
This opportunity will allow me to participate firsthand in a medical mission experience that I can hopefully replicate in my home country, the Philippines. As a budding pathologist, it is my dream to develop medical missions similar to this that would bring expert pathologic diagnosis in low-resource communities in my country. Cytopathology is a unique pathology subspecialty for low-resource environments given that it allows real-time diagnosis with only a few tools, a smear, and a microscope.
Patients from all over Kenya traveled to Tawfiq Hospital in Malindi, Kenya just to be seen by our ENT surgeons. Some of these patients were referred to our FNA clinics for rapid, on-site diagnosis. We, the pathologists in the group, also were responsible for performing gross evaluations on their specimens following every surgery performed during the 2-week camp. Patients usually take home their specimens after any surgery and pay for a local pathologist, which are not that many nationally, out of pocket to get any surgical pathology evaluation. We were able to perform our gross evaluation on the same day right after their surgeries. We partnered with our surgery colleagues to provide the best patient care we can with our resources in Malindi. Many Kenyan ENT residents were also present and learned from us. They frequently remarked how fast and accurate we can give a final pathologic diagnosis for the various patient cases we encountered during the camp.
