WiSA currently works in partnership with the following organisations:
Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland: RCSI COSECSA Collaboration Programme
For over two hundred years the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland (RCSI) has played a major role in medical education and training in Ireland. Founded in 1784 to train surgeons, a medical school was later established in 1886. Today RCSI has schools of Pharmacy, Physiotherapy, Nursing and Healthcare Management. In addition to undergraduate education, RCSI delivers postgraduate training and education through its Faculties of Radiology, Dentistry, Sports & Exercise Medicine and the school of Postgraduate Studies. The RCSI Research Institute is one of Ireland’s foremost research centres.
In July 2007, RSCI and COSECSA initiated a collaboration programme to improve the standards of surgical care, education, training and examinations in COSECSA countries. This collaboration is supported by Irish Aid and has grown into a “whole college collaboration” between the two colleges involving RCSI departments as diverse as Surgery, Exams, Anatomy, Pathology, Physiology, IT, Communications, Media Services and the Leadership Institute. The programme is overseen by a steering committee made up of Irish-based and African-based committee members. Among other activities the Collaboration supports the establishment phase of Women in Surgery Africa (WiSA), including the WiSA Launch Event and the RCSI WISA Travel Bursary.
Association of Women Surgeons (AWS)
The Association of Women Surgeons (AWS), founded in 1981, is a not-for-profit educational and professional organization. With over 2,000 members, both women and men, AWS is one of the largest organizations dedicated to enhancing the interaction and exchange of information between women surgeons. The mission of AWS is to inspire, encourage, and enable women surgeons to realize their professional and personal goals.
University of Oxford: COSECSA Oxford Orthopaedic Link (COOL) Programme
COSECSA Oxford Orthopaedic Link (COOL) is a multi-country partnership programme between the Nuffield Department of Orthopaedics, Rheumatology and Musculoskeletal Sciences (NDORMS) at the University of Oxford and COSECSA. It combines research and training in primary trauma care and musculoskeletal impairment across the ten COSECSA countries in East, Central and Southern Africa.
COOL is led by Professor Chris Lavy OBE (University of Oxford) and Professor Godfrey Muguti (COSECSA), and reports to the COSECSA Education, Scientific and Research Committee and a wider steering committee.
Other key partners are Primary Trauma Care Foundation, AIC-CURE Children’s Hospital of Kenya, CURE Ethiopia Children’s Hospital, Beit CURE International Hospital Malawi, Beit CURE Hospital Zambia and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. We are also very grateful for the support of many other partner organisations and institutions in the COOL programme, and the 250+ UK and regional volunteers who have generously given their time.The COOL programme is funded through two grants from the Health Partnership Scheme, which is funded by the UK Department for International Development (DFID) for the benefit of the UK and partner country health sectors and managed by the Tropical Health Education Trust (THET).
The COOL Programme aims to strengthen training and research in trauma and musculoskeletal impairment in the region. The COOL Programme supported the WiSA Launch Event and forthcoming research grant initiatives for female trainees.
Please contact Grace Le (project manager) at cool@ndorms.ox.ac.uk or visit www.ndorms.ox.ac.uk/cool.php for information about the activities and opportunities mentioned above
Johnson & Johnson
Through our expertise in treating cleft conditions, Operation Smile creates solutions that deliver safe surgery to people where it’s needed most. By empowering local health professionals through training and education, we ensure these solutions are sustainable and long-lasting. Partnering with ministries of health, academic institutions, corporations, local health professionals, and other organisations, we aim to transform lives and revolutionise how entire health systems deliver care.
With the Women in Medicine Initiative, Operation Smile provides educational pathways for women to become global leaders in health care. By fostering mentorship and leadership at the local, regional, and international levels, we are expanding career development and leadership opportunities, creating lasting change in health care systems, and increasing access to care for children with cleft conditions and other surgical needs. Through this initiative, Operation Smile educates women from low- and middle-income countries on essential surgical care, empowers them to lead in global medicine, amplifies the voices of local women and expands representative women-led research on health disparities and gender equity in medicine.