Learn more about the collaborations between St Vincent’s doctors and their medical peers in Kenya and at home. This includes a new program at St Vincent's to train surgeons from rural Kenya.
Click here to read more.
John Clarebrough Lecture for 2023
Watch an inspiring and informative session with Dr Russell White, shedding light on how the critcal shortage of trained surgeons in Sub-Saharan Africa is being addressed.
Visit here for more information about Tenwek hospital in Kenya where Dr Russell White is based.
Learn more about Dr White, an internationally celebrated cardiologist here.
Check out here the work we are currently doing at St Vincent's Hospital.
Internationally renowned USA cardiac surgeon Dr Russell White will share his experiences working in Sub-Saharan Africa.
In this witty and insightful presentation, Russell will examine how surgical care and training has changed for the better despite a world-wide shortage of surgeons.
- the current state of care and possible solutions that could save lives
- the development of new training programs requires full-time “boots on the ground” and cannot be satisfied by short-term visiting educational teams only
- short-term visiting educational teams can have an impact when approached in the right way
Russell will also share the creative ways Melbourne surgeons have assisted in the past and how they can collaborate to solve many future challenges.
Everyone is welcome! You don’t have to be a medical practitioner to enjoy this fascinating conversation.
About Dr Russell E. White
Dr Russ White was born in the Belgian Congo to medical missionary parents. He attended Roberts Wesleyan College, the University of Michigan School of Medicine, and the Harvard University School of Public Health.
He completed a general surgical residency at Brown University and a fellowship in cardiothoracic surgery at Frenchay Hospital in Bristol, England. He has served as the chief of surgery at Tenwek Mission Hospital in Kenya since 1997, where he spends the majority of his time. His is a clinical professor of surgery at Brown University School of Medicine in Providence, Rhode Island, USA. He was instrumental in initiating the Tenwek Hospital General Surgery Residency program in 2007, and was the program director from 2007 until 2018.
He is also the chairman of the Education and Scientific Research Committee for the College of Surgeons of East, Central, and Southern Africa (COSECSA), responsible for training, examination and certification of surgeons in fourteen different countries in the region.
In 2018, he began directing the first cardiothoracic surgical fellowship training center in the COSECSA region at Tenwek Hospital. He received the American College of Surgeons Humanitarian Surgeon of the Year award in 2012, and was awarded the L’Chaim Prize for medical missions, and was honored as the Surgeon of the Year by the Kenya Surgical Society in 2017.
His passion is for teaching and mentoring young surgeons. He has special interests in cancer of the esophagus and rheumatic heart disease, and has published extensively in these areas. Dr White is currently involved in the construction of the Tenwek Hospital Cardiothoracic Center. This will be the largest dedicated cardiothoracic unit in Sub-Saharan Africa and is scheduled to open in January, 2024.
