Surgery

Partner Institutions

Partner Institutions

University of Buea
University of Buea (UB) was founded as a university center in 1985 but became a full university in 1993, after a national effort to reform higher education in Cameroon. Situated on Malingo street in the capital of the Southwest, a primarily Anglophone Region, UB is one of only two English-speaking universities within the broader bilingual context of Cameroon. UB is located approximately 70 kilometers from Cameroon’s largest city and economic hub, Douala. Approximately 300 full-time and 200 part-time faculty instruct 12,000 students through five main faculties: Arts; Education; Health Sciences; Science; and Social and Management Sciences. Degree programs offered include Bachelors, Masters, PhD, and MD degrees. The campus consists of a network of lecture halls and laboratories for both teaching and research. The majority of buildings at UB have fiber-optic internet cable access, with an affordable internet café on campus providing Wi-Fi access. The UB Hospital serves as both a regional referral hospital for the Southwest Province and as a teaching hospital for UB under the Faculty of Health Sciences. The Hospital provides approximately 30,000 consultations annually, has a 120-bed capacity, and is staffed by 120 individuals. In 2013, the Government of Cameroon funded an additional Laboratory Building for teaching and research to strengthen the UB Hospital’s capacity to train health workers for Cameroon. This hospital is used as a teaching facility for UB’s Doctor of Medicine terminal degree program, one of the six accredited medical schools in Cameroon. Our team at University of Buea includes Drs. Alain Chichom, Georges Nguefack-Tsague and Edie Halle Ekane.

University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is one of the ten campuses of the University of California (UC) system. UCLA is the second-oldest campus of the UC system. It offers over 125 undergraduate majors and nearly 150 graduate degree programs in a wide range of disciplines. The university is organized into six undergraduate colleges, eight professional schools, and four professional health science schools. The UCLA campus, located in residential area of Westwood, Los Angeles, is informally divided into a North Campus and South Campus. The South Campus is home to the physical sciences, life sciences, engineering, mathematical sciences, health-related fields, and the UCLA Medical Center. The Program for the Advancement of Surgical Equity (PASE) is a program within the Division of General Surgery that aims to achieve surgical equity through rigorous research, education, and advocacy. It was established in 2019 with the mission to reduce surgical disparities both locally and globally. PASE supports academic collaborations and capacity-building initiatives with a goal to strengthen surgical systems in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) and address social determinants of health in marginalized communities. PASE’s partnerships with healthcare providers, community organizations, and public health agencies are central to the program’s efforts to address the unmet surgical burden worldwide. PASE has dedicated office suites with complete infrastructure within UCLA’s Center for the Health Sciences, where it is situated. PASE is staffed by two Global Surgery program managers, and Injury Prevention Coordinator, and an Administrative Analyst. It comprises 7 core faculty members that provide direct mentorship to PASE trainees and oversee its diverse projects across the world. PASE includes a number of collaborators from Cameroon, Uganda, Armenia, and other U.S Institutions. Another ongoing project and collaboration between the university of California Los Angeles, the University of Buea,  the University of California, Berkeley and the African Institute of Mathematical Sciences (AIMS- Cameroon) is The Sustainable Trauma Research, Education, and Mentorship Program (STREaM)  aimed at training a critical mass of trauma researchers who will work to decrease the burden of trauma in Cameroon through rigorous research, policy, and interventions and eventually establish an Injury Research Center at the University of Buea that will become a national and regional leader in trauma research and training. Our team at UCLA includes Dr. Catherine Juillard, Dr. Rasheedat Oke and Cindy Umoh.

University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley established in 1868 is the oldest of the ten campuses of the University of California (UC) system. The university is organized into 14 colleges and schools, comprising 180 departments and 80 interdisciplinary units, offering over 350 degree programs. The Colleges serve both undergraduate and graduate students, while schools are generally graduate only, though some offer undergraduate majors or minors. Berkeley hosts many leading research institutes, including the Mathematical Sciences Research Institute and the Space Sciences Laboratory and has played a prominent role in many scientific advances, from the Manhattan Project and the discovery of 16 chemical elements to breakthroughs in computer science and genomics. Our team at UCLA includes Dr. Sandra McCoy and Dr Alan Hubbard.

African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) - Cameroon
AIMS-Cameroon is one of six centers of the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) which is a pan- African network of centers of excellence for postgraduate education, research, and outreach in mathematical sciences. The other centers are based in South Africa, Senegal, Ghana, Tanzania and Rwanda. AIMS mission is to enable Africa’s brightest students to flourish as independent thinkers, problem solvers and innovators capable of propelling Africa’s future scientific, educational and economic self-sufficiency. Established in 2003, the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences (AIMS) is Africa’s first network of centers of excellence for postgraduate education, research, and outreach in mathematical sciences. We enable the continent’s youth to shape the continent’s future through Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education and research. We have five centers of excellence across Africa – in South Africa, Senegal, Ghana, Cameroon, Tanzania, and Rwanda. AIMS is working to operate fifteen centers of excellence across Africa by 2023. Our team at AIMS-Cameroon includes Drs. Mama Foupouagnigni and Georges Nguefack-Tsague.

The University of Cape Town, South Africa
The University of Cape Town (UCT) is the oldest university in South Africa and he leading research university on the African continent. UCT is rated amongst the top 100 universities in the world. Its consistent performance in world ranking systems speaks to the university’s commitment to quality research as well as first rate higher education. UCT has over 25 000 students, of whom 30% are postgraduate students. It offers degrees in six faculties: Commerce, Engineering & the Built Environment, Health Sciences, Humanities, Law, and Science. UCT has established systems to ensure high quality research that are locally relevant and internationally competent. It is also the top recipient of NIH funding outside the US institutions. UCT’s Faculty of Health Sciences is committed to improving the health of the people of South Africa and beyond. Ranked the #1 health sciences faculty in Africa in 2018, its prestige today is rooted in over 100 years of excellence. The Faculty is home of the oldest medical school in southern Africa, and is one of several health science institutions across the African continent charged with the responsibility of training health professionals and health scientists. The faculty recognizes its historical context and location in Africa, and strives to play an active developmental role in the cultural, economic, political, scientific and social environment of South Africa and the African continent. Our team at UCT includes Drs. Salome Maswime and Sithombo Maqungo.

Ministry of Public Health, Cameroon
The Ministry of Public Health in Cameroon is responsible for implementing and overseeing all public health services. The Cameroon health system is structured in three levels of health.
The central level is responsible for the development of concepts, policies, and strategies, and the coordination of activities and regulation through boards of directors and management committees.
The intermediate level is represented by 10 regional delegations of public health that coordinate health activities in the regions and provide technical support to health districts.
The peripheral level, represented by the district health services which are operational units responsible for the implementation of national health programs through a decentralized health system including health areas, public and private health facilities.
Our team at the Ministry of Public Health - Cameroon includes Drs. Georges Alain Etoundi Mballa,
Richard Njock and Chancelline Bilounga.

Congo Basin Institute
UCLA operates multiple tropical research facilities in Central Africa through its Congo Basin Institute (CBI), a partnership with the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA). The CBI’s mission is to find integrative breakthrough solutions that conserve the environment and meet the vital needs of the developing world. With an emphasis on in-country capacity building, the CBI serves as a regional hub for international scholars working in the Congo Basin region by providing world-class research, education, training and technology development focused on critical issues facing the Congo Basin with implications for both the developing and developed world: climate change, poverty alleviation, water and food security, biodiversity, and human and animal health. Its goal is to create a network of permanent, multi-disciplinary enterprises focused on innovative, evidence-based solutions to critical development challenges. CBI’s approach is novel and effective as it brings together leading universities, NGOs, government ministries, and corporate and local stakeholders. CBI draws on the University of California as well as other universities and NGO partners in the United States, Europe, Asia, and Cameroon. Our team at the Congo Basin Institute includes Drs. Tom Smith, Kevin Njabo and Matthew Lebreton.

Center for HIV Intervention, Prevention, and Treatment Services (CHIPTS)
The Center for HIV Identification, Prevention, and Treatment Services (CHIPTS) at UCLA is a collaboration of diverse, multi-disciplinary HIV researchers from UCLA, Charles Drew University of Medicine and Science, Friends Research Institute, and the RAND Corporation. Both domestically and globally, CHIPTS promotes collaborative research, fosters networking, and supports capacity building among communities and agency partners in efforts to eliminate new HIV infections and health disparities among key populations with HIV-associated comorbidities. Our team at CHIPTS includes Drs. Steve Shoptaw and Jennifer Baughman.

Hospitals

Groote Schuur Hospital, located in Observatory, Cape Town, is the main teaching hospital of the University of Cape Town's medical school, providing tertiary care and instruction in all the major branches of medicine. The hospital is an internationally acclaimed research institution and is world-renowned for its trauma unit, anesthesiology and internal medicine departments. Groote Schuur attracts many visiting medical students, residents and specialists each year who come to gain experience in various fields. As of December 2006, the hospital employed over 500 doctors, 1300 nurses and 250 allied health professionals.

Soroti Regional Referral Hospital, located in Soroti in Eastern Uganda, is the referral hospital for the districts of Amuria, Bukedea, Kaberamaido, Katakwi, Kumi, Ngora, Serere and Soroti. The hospital is located in the central business district of the town of Soroti, approximately 291 kilometers northeast of Kampala, Uganda’s capital, and largest city. Soroti Hospital is a public hospital, funded by the Uganda Ministry of Health and general care in the hospital is free. It is the main government referral facility for the mid-eastern region of Uganda. SRRH represents the second-highest level of care within the Ugandan health system and is one of 13 public regional referral hospitals in Uganda. The 250-bed facility serves a predominantly rural catchment population and eight district level hospitals throughout the region with approximately 1400 trauma patients yearly. The hospital offers specialist curative (medicine, pediatrics, surgery, maternal health) promotive, preventative, rehabilitative and research services to a population of approximately 2 million people. There are also 10 hospital sites in Cameroon.