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REPORT ON ACADEMIC DEVELOPMENT AND During the course, course participants listened to lectures on a variety of topics including clinical study design and clinical trials, biostatistics, grant and manuscript writing. On July 15th the session was dedicated to minimally-invasive surgical skills training.Surgeons underwent laparoscopic skills training and had the opportunity to practice those skills using simulator boxes.
Report of Neonatal – Perinatal Workshop At the 15th Annual Convention
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Between July 13th and 15th 2009, 87 physicians and surgeons attended a 3-day seminar on
academic development and surgical skills training at the National Hospital Abuja. This joint
effort was supported by the Association for Academic Surgery, Ethicon Endo-Surgery (a
Johnson & Johnson Company), and Afrinvest West Africa. The course was coordinated by a
new ANPA member, Dr Ben Nwomeh and included over 10 faculty members from Nigerian
and U.S medical schools including the
University of Ibadan, Ahmadu Bello
University, Abia State University
Teaching Hospital, New York University,
Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital, Ohio
State University, University of Arkansas,
Stanford University, Baylor College of
Medicine Houston, and the University of
Texas Southwestern Medical Center in
Dallas. The keynote address was delivered by the current President of the West
African College of Surgeons, Professor O.
O Mbonu. 
The day was capped by a live surgical case performed in Dallas. Course participants in Abuja watched a single-incision
laparoscopic cholecystectomy being performed live at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas. They were able to
watch the entire procedure and ask questions of the operating surgeon using a live satellite connection between the
National Hospital Abuja and Parkland
Memorial Hospital in Dallas, courtesy of
Galaxy Backbone Plc. Galaxy is a publicly
owned private company with the mission
of expanding internet connectivity in Nigeria. To our knowledge, this is the first
demonstration of telesurgery between the U.S. and Nigeria. Course participants rated the
course content very highly and noted that this method could greatly assist in building
capacity in healthcare in Nigeria. We believe that this seminal event demonstrates the
possibilities achievable with modern information and communication technology (ICT) in the healthcare sector and provides a framework for building a robust telemedicine and remote learning capability to improve healthcare in Nigeria and sub-Saharan Africa. 
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