ACS announces recipients of ACS and COSECSA Women Scholars scholarship

To help address the shortage of surgeons in Sub-Saharan Africa, the American College of Surgeons (ACS) Operation Giving Back (OGB) program in partnership with the College of Surgeons of East, Central, and Southern Africa (COSECSA), recently launched the Women Scholars Program, which is intended to support women in their surgical residency.

This scholarship is intended to help cover the recipients’ educational expenses, including accreditation, fellowship examination, and five-year membership dues to COSECSA and the ACS.

Nine women from Ethiopia, Kenya, Zambia, Rwanda, and Uganda were recipients of the 2017 inaugural scholarships. The residents are as follows:

• Mahder Eshete Yilma, MD, a fourth-year orthopaedic surgery resident, Black Lion Specialized Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
• Wambui Njoroge, MB, BCh, FCS, senior house officer, department of surgery, Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi, Kenya, who plans to pursue additional training in thoracic surgery
• Miriam Maimbo, MB, ChB, MMed, general surgeon, Levy Mwanawasa University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia
• Aidah Kenseko, MD, general surgeon, Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital, Eldoret, Kenya
• Ananya Kassahun, MD, in her final year of residency, department of orthopaedics traumatology, Black Lion Specialized Hospital
• Mukagaju Francoise, MD, general surgery senior registrar, King Faisal Hospital, Kigali, Rwanda
• Nardos Worku Ketema, MD, in her final year of surgical residency, Black Lion Specialized Hospital, who is interested in pediatric orthopaedic surgery
• Woubedel Kiflu Aklilu, MD, pediatric surgeon and assistant professor, department of surgery, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia
• Florence Umurangwa, MD, junior consultant urologist, King Faisal Hospital

Visit the OGB website at facs.org/ogb for more information about the scholarship program.