Congratulations to the Department of Surgery and the Department of Anesthesiology for securing the Reilly-Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment Grant for the project proposal “Building Capacity to Improve Surgery and Anesthesia Care in Sub-Saharan Africa”. Grant proposals support new outreach and public engagement activities that partner with community and off-campus organizations to extend and apply our research, education and practice-based knowledge to help solve problems or take advantage of opportunities.
The project will be a team effort between 2 departments at each of the 3 institutions in different countries. The initiative was spearheaded by Dr. Syed Nabeel Zafar and Dr. Deborah Rusy and made possible with the help and support of our truly remarkable people and teams. A special thanks to the Department of Surgery grants team, including Kaitlin Dorst, Sally Gray, Sarah Pavao and editors Dana Maya and Jennifer Zellner. The Department of Anesthesiology research team, Dr. Jeremy Sullivan, and Mary Roth. The mentorship from senior faculty, Dr. Girma Tefera and Dr. Kelly McQueen for providing a supportive environment, encouragement and guidance for the departments and divisions.
“This is truly an exciting project and completely in the spirit of the Wisconsin Idea” Syed Nabeel Zafar, MD, MPH
Overview of the project: Work with our partners in Ethiopia and Zambia
- share our knowledge and expertise to benefit patients undergoing surgery in less-resourced areas of the world.
- develop the capacity to improve the quality of surgical care with sustainable programs eliminating the need for external input or funding.
- develop faculty leaders and champions.
- exchange ideas.
- facilitate faculty from Ethiopia and Zambia to travel to UW’ enrich our own perspectives, and expand our (faculty and trainees) understanding of surgery and anesthesia care in different parts of the world.
The next steps include planning and executing the project.