Harvard professors partner in unique approach

Monday, December 12, 2011 - 21:10 in Health & Medicine

SAN DIEGO — In an African country lacking any specialists in children’s cancers, a team approach that “twins” Rwandan physicians with Boston-based pediatric oncologists has shown it can deliver expert, curative care to young patients stricken with lymphoma. The first-of-its-kind strategy is credited for curing at least five of 10 children at a rural Rwandan hospital; two others are in remission while receiving chemotherapy, and three children have died. The long-distance team approach was designed by Harvard Medical School (HMS) Instructor in Medicine Sara Stulac, who is also the director of pediatrics for Partners In Health. During the past year, the program further developed and formalized through a partnership with pediatric oncologist Leslie Lehmann, an HMS assistant professor of pediatrics, Kathleen Houlahan, pediatric oncology nurse and nurse director of the Jimmy Fund Clinic at Dana-Farber/Children’s Cancer Center, and Larry Shulman, medical oncologist and chief medical officer of Harvard-affiliated Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and...

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