We will work with Tanzanian surgeons, residents, and staff to help provide education and access to the tools used in breast reconstruction and microsurgery with the goal of developing a program that will provide a lasting impact on the community that the surgeons we work with will continue to serve. We will work to not only provide funding for direct patient care but also to augment the tools existing in this community to improve the compassionate care they already provide.
While in Tanzania we will work with the surgeons, residents, and staff in clinic for education on reconstructive options and considerations in surgical planning. We will then have 4 days in the OR performing reconstructive microsurgery with the clinicians for a collaborative educational experience to both provide real-time reconstructive care and also establish and bolster a system that will continue to best serve the members of the local community and allow for ongoing education of the rising generations of Tanzanian surgeons.
We will serve patients in rural and low-resource, underserved communities of Tanzania without reliable access to safe, affordable reconstructive surgical care. This encompasses patients with congenital anomalies, post-traumatic wounds and soft tissue defects, and post-surgical defects.
We will provide real-time surgical care for select patients while we are actively participating on the Trip, performing complex surgical reconstruction for patients to improve quality of life for the patients we care for. More importantly, we also work to provide a lasting impact in the form of education of the practicing surgeons in Tanzania and their trainees, allowing them to also continue to pass on and expound upon new surgical skills in the education of the following medical generations. We also hope to learn from the Tanzanian surgeons regarding their unique techniques and considerations with regard to their patient population which will also allow for ongoing growth of our team's surgical knowledge, skill, and breadth of abilities.
This October, Dr. Shannon Colohan, Dr. Olivia Bennett, and Kamlah Zughni from our UWMC surgery team joined Dr. Suzanne Inchauste from the University of Wisconsin and traveled with ReSurge International to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to collaborate with surgeons and trainees at Muhimbili National Hospital in expanding access to a range of breast surgery procedures. During the visit, the team performed multiple revision and reconstructive procedures for patients affected by macromastia, breast asymmetry, and breast cancer, including the first deep inferior epigastric perforator (DIEP) free flap for breast reconstruction in Tanzania.
At the heart of this mission were the patients whose lives we hope will be positively and lastingly changed by their surgeries. We were deeply grateful for the trust they placed in our team and remain continually inspired by their strength and resilience. We hope these procedures will bring lasting improvements in their comfort, function, confidence, and quality of life for years to come. We were equally impressed by the Tanzanian surgical residents and trainees, whose enthusiasm, dedication, and eagerness to learn made the educational exchange especially meaningful. Their thoughtful engagement, hard work, and commitment to making the most of every learning opportunity were remarkable and gave us great confidence in the future of breast surgery in Tanzania. The surgeons leading the Tanzanian team not only organized this multifaceted visit, but also facilitated discussion and information sharing along the way to ensure the greatest benefit could be gained from our time there.
Education and knowledge-sharing were central to the mission. Our teams participated in educational patient screening and surgical candidate optimization, lectures on breast revision, breast reduction, and reconstructive techniques, and cadaver dissections focused on the anatomy and technical considerations of pedicled and free-flap reconstruction. Just as importantly, we learned from our Tanzanian colleagues, whose expertise, experiences, and perspectives enriched the collaboration and reinforced the importance of locally informed, sustainable approaches to surgical care. The trip's impact extended beyond the procedures performed - strengthening relationships, building surgical knowledge, and supporting the continued growth of local expertise. We are profoundly grateful to our Tanzanian colleagues for their partnership, to the trainees for their remarkable dedication, and to the patients who entrusted us with their care. We hope this collaboration will continue to create meaningful, lasting benefits for patients and strengthen access to breast surgery in Tanzania for years to come.
