Developing an Otolaryngology—Head and Neck Residency Training Program in Rural Uganda
Jo A. Shapiro, MD, Chief, Division of Otolaryngology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital This year I had the honor of being asked to develop and academically support a nascent residency training program in otolaryngology—head and neck surgery at the Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST), located in Southwestern Uganda. David Bangsberg, MD, MPH, the director of the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Center for Global Health, told me in his gentle and wise way, “Just go to Mbarara and shake their hands. You cannot know in advance what their needs will be. You need to go there and find out for yourself.” And so I did. MGH has a long-standing collaboration with MUST through its Center for Global Health. The collaboration has focused on HIV research and treatment, and they are beginning to widen the collaboration efforts. The leaders of MUST placed as their current clinical priority the training of an otolaryngologist who will practice locally and train others in the future. Their first resident, Doreen Nakku, MD, had just started her PGY-2 year. She was working with the sole ORL faculty member, a Cuban otolaryngologist, who was there for only a limited time. I traveled there in mid-February 2011 for two weeks. My first order of business was to meet the relevant stakeholders, including the associate dean of the medical school, the chiefs of anesthesia and surgery, and Dr. Nakku. After many conversations, I learned that the two most pressing needs were to rewrite the entire curriculum and get Dr. Nakku academic support. The curriculum she and I wrote was subsequently approved, and I have developed what I hope will be a long-standing relationship with her. The AAO-HNSF has generously allowed Dr. Nakku to access many of our teaching materials. Several of our residents have expressed interest in becoming involved in the program, and I am looking forward to continuing our collaboration with MUST well into the future.
Jo A. Shapiro, MD, Chief, Division of Otolaryngology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital

This year I had the honor of being asked to develop and academically support a nascent residency training program in otolaryngology—head and neck surgery at the Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST), located in Southwestern Uganda. David Bangsberg, MD, MPH, the director of the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Center for Global Health, told me in his gentle and wise way, “Just go to Mbarara and shake their hands. You cannot know in advance what their needs will be. You need to go there and find out for yourself.” And so I did.
MGH has a long-standing collaboration with MUST through its Center for Global Health. The collaboration has focused on HIV research and treatment, and they are beginning to widen the collaboration efforts. The leaders of MUST placed as their current clinical priority the training of an otolaryngologist who will practice locally and train others in the future. Their first resident, Doreen Nakku, MD, had just started her PGY-2 year. She was working with the sole ORL faculty member, a Cuban otolaryngologist, who was there for only a limited time.

I traveled there in mid-February 2011 for two weeks. My first order of business was to meet the relevant stakeholders, including the associate dean of the medical school, the chiefs of anesthesia and surgery, and Dr. Nakku. After many conversations, I learned that the two most pressing needs were to rewrite the entire curriculum and get Dr. Nakku academic support. The curriculum she and I wrote was subsequently approved, and I have developed what I hope will be a long-standing relationship with her. The AAO-HNSF has generously allowed Dr. Nakku to access many of our teaching materials. Several of our residents have expressed interest in becoming involved in the program, and I am looking forward to continuing our collaboration with MUST well into the future.