JH-IIRU Invites Renowned Neurosurgeon to Visit Uganda

Professor Rashid Jooma, a renowned neurosurgeon from Aga Khan University, Pakistan and former Director-General Health of the country visited Markerere University School of Public Health as part of the “Traumatic Brain Injury Across the Lifespan in Uganda” project. This project is a partnership between the Johns Hopkins International Injury Research Unit (JH-IIRU) at Johns Hopkins University and the Makerere University School of Public Health and its affiliated Mulago National Referral Hospital in Uganda, funded by the Fogarty International Center of the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

During the visit, Dr. Jooma engaged with several neurosurgery colleagues through lectures, as well as teaching sessions. In addition to visiting Makerere University, Dr. Jooma and associates toured Mulago Hospital in Kampala, Uganda, where he reviewed the proposed traumatic brain injury management protocol for the hospital.

“Kampala was exciting and our colleagues were very welcoming,” said Dr. Jooma. “I spent some time with the neuro surgical team and got a good sense of their work and challenges. Thus, when it came to reviewing the head injury guidelines, we were in a better position to factor in the local context and produce a final product that may be more useful.”

Dr. Jooma’s visit supports the overall goal of the traumatic brain injury (TBI) program to strengthen research capacity on the prevention, hospital based care, and economic consequences of traumatic brain injuries across the lifespan in Uganda through an innovative model of sustainable capacity development.

Dr. Amber Mehmood, Assistant Scientist at JH-IIRU and project manager said, “Dr. Jooma’s visit is one of the culminating experiences of our TBI project and shows how we have enabled south-south interactions as part of this study.”

For more information, see the TBI project description here.