Muhimbili Orthopaedic Institute

A brief (and incomplete) history of the institute and the people behind it

Mambo!

I wanted to start with a short (and incomplete) history of the Muhimbili Orthopaedic Institute, known colloquially as MOI, and the people working behind the scenes to help run it and conduct the many research studies contributing to improving orthopedic care worldwide. MOI was founded by the government of Tanzania in 1996 and has served as a leader in orthopaedic, trauma, and neurosurgery care ever since. It is located within the complex of Muhimbili National Hospital, the highest level of care in the country.

The entrance to “new” MOI, the 7 floor hospital recently built alongside the original MOI

MOI serves as a large training center for orthopaedics and is filled with a number of Specialists (fully trained orthopaedic surgeons) and resident trainees. I will unfortunately not be able to cover all of them, but I wanted to be sure to highlight Dr. Billy Haonga. Now Professor Billy Haonga, to my knowledge the first orthopedic surgeon to earn the honor of professorship at MOI, he has served as a research leader and surgeon at MOI since completing his training. He is largely responsible for the rapid growth of clinical research at MOI and serves as the principle investigator on many studies while mentoring younger surgeons in both orthopedics and research. 

The other critical members of the research team that I work closely with are the clinical research coordinators, Joshua, Justin, and Ibrahim. They are responsible for running the studies day-to-day, collecting all of the data and ensuring that studies are flowing smoothly. They are engine of the operation and have helped complete and publish numerous studies since they began in their role over 10 years ago.

It is through their efforts, and those of the many residents and specialist doctors, that MOI has become a world leader in orthopedic research.

These are just a few of the individuals that I will be working with closely as we begin to launch the GO-Tibia trial. The GO-Tibia trial is a large randomized control trial that will enroll hundreds of patients and span many years, evaluating the effectiveness of using local antibiotics in the treatment of open tibia fractures (which occurs when the bone of the lower leg protrudes through the skin). These fractures can be devastating injuries and are associated with lots of complications, including infection and poor bone healing. The hope is that by placing local antibiotics in the wound alongside the use systemic antibiotics, we can further decrease the rates of infection. This idea is currently being investigated in the United States and Europe but has not been investigated yet in Africa. Hence the GO-Tibia trial in Tanzania which will hopefully help inform the treatment of these injuries across the continent and worldwide.

Amid the jetlag and time in the hospital, I’ve also gotten to do a little exploring of Dar Es Salaam alongside my housemate for the month Hunter! Hunter is a 4th year orthopedic resident from UCSF who fortunately happens to be rotating at MOI at the same time. Pictured here is Hunter and some MOI residents discussing different techniques for femoral traction as well as some photos from Coco beach in Dar es Salaam. Also pictured is some amazing Ethiopian food we happened upon, more food photos to come!

Cheers,

Jamieson

P.S.

What is in my headphones: Kygo recently dropped his new album “Thrill of the Chase”. Just like his last one “Golden Hour”, this one is awesome. Check out the song Fever feat Lukas Graham!