24
A Year in Review 2012 – 2013:
Programs
Courage Lives Here
25
Princess Margaret Cancer Centre
Courage is...
empowering
others
Princess Margaret doctors
help fight cancer in Kenya
When Dr. Barry Rosen visited a Kenyan hospital in 2008
he was astounded.
“It was shocking. I’ve never seen so many cases of
advanced cervical cancer affecting young women. These
women are in their 30s and 40s with young children at
home,” he said.
The head of the Familial Breast and Ovarian Cancer Clinic
at Princess Margaret Cancer Centre had travelled to Kenya
with his wife, Beth, and their kids, to celebrate 25 years
of marriage.
But his visit to the hospital had a lasting impact.
“I was so impressed with the resiliency of the doctors,
women, children and people working in the centre—
but what they lacked were resources,” Rosen said, noting
that Kenya’s population of 44 million has access to only
one radiation machine, compared to Ontario’s roughly
100 machines for 10 million people.
He knew his experience in Kenya couldn’t end. He wanted
to make a difference.
Thanks to the efforts of Dr. Barry Rosen, right, Dr. Elkanah Omenge, left, will be one of
the first gynecologists in Kenya to be trained in a gynecologic oncology subspecialty.
(Photo: Dr. Barry Rosen)
Fellowship training program
So, ever since, Rosen has been helping Kenyan physicians
develop a fellowship training program to prevent and
treat gynecologic cancers in Western Kenya.
In September 2012, Rosen and physicians from
Princess Margaret, including Drs. Subrata Banerjee,
Michael Milosevic and Marjan Rouzbahman, dedicated
their own time to the cause.
For six weeks, they trained two Kenyan doctors in the areas
of palliative care, radiation oncology and pathology.
The training is part of the first subspecialty fellowship
training program in Gynecological Oncology at Moi
University School of Medicine and Moi Teaching and
Referral Hospital (MTRH) in Eldoret, Kenya, in partnership
with the University of Toronto’s Department of Obstetrics
and Gynecology.
Doctors to be first
The two Kenyan doctors, Dr. Elkanah Omenge and
Dr. Peter Itsura, will be the first gynecologists in their
country to be trained in a gynecologic oncology
subspecialty.
“The level of care and procedures we have to offer at
home are so limited compared to Princess Margaret,”
said Omenge. “It’s so frustrating to know what you should
be doing, but not having the skills or resources to do it.”
Since Rosen’s visit in 2008, in collaboration with the
University of Toronto, AMPATH and Moi University,
Omenge, Itsura and Rosen have helped implement
a cervix cancer screening program in Kenya.
(
Continued on page 26...)
In its first year, the cervix cancer screening program in Kenya saw
150 women. This year, over 14,000 women may be screened. Above,
Dr. Barry Rosen performs surgery as part of the program.
(
Photo: Dr. Barry Rosen)
Dr. Barry Rosen speaks with the nurses in Western Kenya.
(Photo: Dr. Barry Rosen
)
“It was shocking. I’ve never seen so many cases of
advanced cervical cancer affecting young women.”
–Dr. Barry Rosen
In June 2012, the Princess Margaret Hospital officially changed its name to the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre.
