On October 12th, 33 PAACS senior trainees gathered for a time of fellowship, learning, and mutual encouragement. These trainees represented General Surgery, Orthopaedic Surgery, Cardiothoracic Surgery, Anesthesiology, Plastic Surgery, Pediatric Surgery, and Neurosurgery.
Initial feedback confirms the value of topics covered, ranging from worship in song and study of spiritual warfare, finding a job, leadership and administration, hospital finance, cross-cultural interactions, personality testing and application, personal finance, use of AI, oral exam prep, building resilience, marriage and singleness, research presentations, and the surprisingly popular mock oral exams.
Saturday concluded with a charge from PAACS Academic Dean, Chris Moir, to apply what was learned, today and for the years ahead, capped by Tarp giving a comprehensive tour of tarpisms through his ~50-year career.
Congratulations to our research award winners who topped the list of over 30 posters and 6 selected presentations: 1st prize Dr. Rado (HVMM, Madagascar), 2nd Dr. Kapengule (Nkhoma, Malawi), and 3rd Dr. Ondago (Tenwek, Kenya). More than all the content delivered by many PAACS graduates and other volunteers, the time spent together deepening relationships will likely bear exceedingly effective fruit for decades to come.
Much thanks to Drew Huang, Rachel Huth, and new teammate Mercy Abok. Without their dedication and work this conference could not have taken place. Pray with us for the trainees as they have returned to their training sites and begin the daunting task of applying all they have learned. We rejoice at the Lord providing through many of you the possibility to host such a far reaching conference.
Keir Thelander, MD
Executive Vice President
