Pathologists Overseas

The Los Angeles Society of Pathologists (LASOP) has an Education Foundation that offers sabbatical training opportunities for pathologists in developing counties. This Foundation has supported pathologists from Bhutan and Sri Lanka to obtain continued education in specialized areas of interest in various training facilities in the Los Angeles area.

This year, they have selected Dr. Arturo Rafael Heredia from Peru as the recipient of their training grant. Dr. Heredia plans to take his sabbatical for six months, from July to December 2008. He will spend most of his time at USC/Los Angeles County Medical Center to hone his skills in gynecologic pathology and gastrointestinal pathology.

Patan Hospital has retained the services of Dr. Bandana Sigdel, a pathologist trained at the Tribuvan University Teaching Hospital (TUTH). It appears that the pathology community in Nepal has matured to the point that its training program is graduating a sufficient number of pathologists to take care of the country’s need. Both Patan Hospital and TUTH still welcome visiting pathologists.

Dr. Heinz Hoenecke succeeded in obtaining another grant from the Rotary Club to help provide needed equipment for our Salvadoran colleagues. This time, we will provide two tissue processors, one for Hospital Nacional San Miguel and one for Hospital Nacional de Maternidad.

In addition to the clinical laboratory projects in Eritrea and Bhutan, Dr. Jack Ladenson is developing a quality assurance training and monitoring program for developing countries. While working on our projects in developing countries, one consistent observation is the lack of quality assurance training activities in the laboratories, whether they are using a complex analyzer or a simple colorimeter. With initial funding and support from Beckman Coulter, Inc., Dr. Ladenson plans to set up nationwide clinical laboratory quality assurance training and monitoring programs for Bhutan, Eritrea and El Salvador. These countries are selected as "pilot" countries because they are relatively small, have a well organized, government controlled laboratory system and are genuinely interested in improving the quality of their laboratory services. For this project, Pathologist Overseas is partnering with the Australasian Association of Clinical Biochemists, the Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia, Beckman-Coulter Foundation, the Department of Laboratory Medicine, University of Washington, and the Division of Laboratory and Genomic Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine.