Ms. Lee Davis demonstrates grossing techniques to CHU Cocody healthcare staff
The preparation and evaluation of cancer specimens by laboratory staff are vital to understanding a patient’s cancer type and severity – and ultimately ensuring an accurate diagnosis. Building upon its previous training programs for pathologists in Côte d’Ivoire, BVGH partnered with Prof. Brahima Doukouré, Head of University Hospital Center (CHU) Cocody’s Anatomic Pathology Laboratory (Côte d’Ivoire), and Ms. Danielle Lee Davis, CEO of Pathology Solutions, Inc. (Canada), to refine the grossing skills of Ivorian pathology laboratory staff. Ms. Lee Davis spent one week at CHU Cocody presenting lectures and giving demonstrations on the practical application of staging guidelines, radial margin identification, and determining depth of invasion for several solid cancer types.
Dr. Xavier Troussard (right) presenting at training
Following the pathology grossing training, BVGH arranged for Dr. Xavier Troussard, Professor Emeritus of Hematology, University of Caen-Normandy (France) to join the laboratory personnel and Ms. Lee Davis at CHU Cocody to lead a training program focused on the pathology of hematologic malignancies. Diseases such as leukemia and myeloproliferative disorders are highly prevalent in Africa, yet public cancer hospitals’ pathology laboratories have limited capacity to diagnose them. Dr. Troussard and Ms. Lee Davis discussed and demonstrated various forms of sample preparation and staining techniques before working closely with CHU Cocody’s pathologists, biologists, and clinicians to walk through – and diagnose – real patient cases. Across the two weeks of training, 80 healthcare workers from CHU Cocody and other nearby hospitals joined to better understand the importance of working as an interdisciplinary team to properly diagnose patients and, as a result, improve cancer patient outcomes across Côte d’Ivoire.
Program supported by Amgen