Pathology Resident Receives ASCP Fellowship to Support Global Pathology in Tanzania

Aisha Mohamed, MD, was 10 when her family embarked on an experience that fueled her interest in global health. Dr. Mohamed, now a second-year pathology resident at the University of Minnesota Medical School, was recently awarded an ASCP Trainee Global Health Fellowship to spend a month-long rotation at a hospital in Moshi, Tanzania, to support an existing research project on prostate cancer. This visit will occur in addition to virtual support for program implementation. 

In her application for the fellowship, she recounted her experience as a child when her parents sat Dr. Mohamed and her sister down just before the winter holiday began, and informed them they would be going to Kenya to visit family. “I was thrilled. What was supposed to be a vacation ended up being four years in my father’s hometown of Nairobi,” she recalls. 

She attended school in Nairobi, learned the local language, and really loved her science classes. However, when her sister became gravely ill and was taken to the hospital, Aisha became aware that some families could not afford care at the hospitals as her family could. Those families either had to forego medical care or visit local free clinics. 

She was so moved by this experience that when she began medical school years later, she joined the student-run free healthcare clinic and became involved in community healthcare initiatives. 

The ASCP fellowship will enable her to further her passion to improve global health. In Moshi, she will work alongside Dr. Alex Mremi, a pathologist at Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre (KCMC), on a research project involving prostate screening of men in Northern Tanzania. 

“Dr. Mremi and his colleagues have screened 6,205 men for prostate cancer. While 572 underwent biopsies after elevated PSA levels, only 172 were diagnosed with cancer, highlighting the need for follow-up with men who had had normal biopsy results,” she explains. In addition to supporting the pathology aims of the research project, Dr. Mohamed, as an ASCP resident member, will work with Dr. Mremi to support and collaborate with KCMC’s pathology training programs and participate in review of interesting clinical cases and virtual tumor boards via KCMC’s telepathology program, supported by ASCP. 

ASCP is proud to support pathology residents such as Dr. Mohamed as they expand their training and skillsets to support global pathology efforts. 

“By working with Dr. Mremi at KCMC, Dr. Mohamed will not only gain invaluable, hands-on experience, but will also help enhance diagnostic services that are critical to patient care,” says Ken Landgraf, MSc, Executive Director of the ASCP Center for Global Health.