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CU Hand Surgery Expert Trains Plastic Surgeons in Tanzania

Mark Greyson, MD, and Chief Resident Caleb Barnhill, MD, traveled to the African country in November.

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by Greg Glasgow | January 9, 2025
Mark Greyson, MD, Tanzanian surgeon Shahnoor Saiyed, MD, and Caleb Barnhill, MD

Mark Greyson, MD, assistant professor of plastic and reconstructive surgery in the University of Colorado Department of Surgery, brought his skills in hand surgery to the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre in rural Tanzania in November, training surgeons in the African country on advanced plastic surgery procedures. The trip was funded by a grant from the American Association for Hand Surgery.

“It was kind of a fact-finding mission,” Greyson says. “I had been to Tanzania in 2012 as a medical student, but I haven’t been there recently, and I didn't understand the workflow the surgeons had or the processes they used. We wanted to see what the needs were and how we could help.”

Training and supplies

Greyson, who specializes in reconstructive surgery of the extremities after a major trauma, brought along Caleb Barnhill, MD, chief resident in plastic surgery. The two traveled to Tanzania with an eye toward providing training opportunities for plastic surgeons there and bringing in much-needed equipment to help the surgeons better perform procedures.

“There's hardly anyone in Tanzania, certainly in the region that we were in, who is able to take care of people with complex fractures with associated open wounds,” Greyson says. “Here in Colorado, we do a lot of microsurgeries — free flaps and soft tissue flaps — to cover open wounds and open fractures. They don't have the capability to do those types of cases." 

Greyson and Barnhill worked with a chief resident in Tanzania who is interested in starting to perform these microsurgeries. They set up several cadaver labs for him and other residents to teach them how to do more complex procedures.

The CU surgeons also brought over equipment including Doppler probes — which are used to find blood vessels and measure blood flow — to help Tanzanian surgeons in their work with patients.

“We use the Dopplers to find blood vessels that would support the creation of flaps to help cover wounds,” Greyson says. “I wanted to show their local surgeons how to use the Dopplers to help do reconstructive plastic surgery.”

Filling future needs

Greyson identified other training and equipment needs in the area as well, and he is working with surgeons at other institutions to help fill those. He also hopes to continue his relationship with the surgeons there by making the Tanzania trip an annual event that would give residents the opportunity to learn about international surgery and fit in with the new global surgery program in the Department of Surgery. 

“I hope that visiting Tanzania regularly is going to inspire them to do more surgeries and help them do the right thing for their patients,” he says. 

Featured image: Mark Greyson, MD, Tanzanian surgeon Shahnoor Saiyed, MD, and chief resident Caleb Barnhill, MD.