The Department of Pathology at Massachusetts General Hospital has a mentorship and collaboration with the Department of Pathology at Mbarara University of Science and Technology (MUST) and the Mbarara Referral Hospital in Mbarara, Uganda and has for several years.

MUST TraineeThe relationship involves capacity building, training residents, and collaborative research. Over the years we have helped MUST pathology with acquiring equipment and supplies including a multiheaded microscope with photomicroscopy, whole slide imager, embedding station, automatic processor, and batteries for consistent power. MUST also now has basic immunohistochemistry competency, vastly improving their diagnostic capabilities and an electronic pathology reporting system.

We have also sent pathologists and a pathologists’ assistant to MUST for teaching and training, some for as long as one year. We offer a two week elective for our anatomic pathology residents to MUST. Over the years we have collaborated on several manuscripts with residents on pathology topics and several abstracts presented at international meetings. MUST Pathology is a free service department for the referral hospital, adjacent government clinics, and a hospital specializing in ophthalmology. They have a busy fine needle aspiration (FNA) clinic and offer inpatient FNA services as well. The pathology seen at MUST is unique in comparison to that seen at the MGH including eye pathology, pediatric tumors, and neuropathology. Our residents benefit from exposure to these pathologies and others rarely seen in the United States. The relationship is ripe for both research collaborations and service work (teaching and training).