John Kuadzi spent long days working in the laboratory at Howard University, thousands of miles away from his native Ghana. Being away from home was difficult, but the distance disappeared when he thought about lives that he would save using his new skills and techniques acquired through the ASH Visitor Training Program (VTP).
John's teaching hospital at the University of Ghana, School of Allied Health Sciences, has always lacked the trained personnel to provide instruction on how to perform and interpret peripheral smears and bone marrow aspirates … but that will soon change.
John has spent seven weeks training at the laboratory of Dr. Taddesse-Heath at Howard University, and with the knowledge he gained, he is now able to develop a curriculum and train students at his native institution. In fact, he has already restructured his institution's hematology practical manual to ensure that all students are well equipped for the hematology laboratory after graduation.
With the experience of this talented individual, the number of skilled personnel will grow within his institution and around the country as new laboratory technologists learn peripheral blood cell morphology as part of their curriculum and training.
"I have witnessed the remarkable educational value of the VTP program and the great potential for hematology capacity building in developing countries. John Kuadzi has been able to acquire a very valuable and practical skill. The training is not only very beneficial to John, but he has already implemented a program to train others at his home institution. I personally found the program very rewarding. I highly recommend it for those who are considering serving as a host. This valuable exchange would not have been possibly without the support of VTP from ASH."
- Dr. Taddesse-Heath
John Kuadzi's VTP Mentor
Howard University
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