ASH News Daily 2017 - Issue 3 - B-18

ASH NEWS DAILY

Page B-18

Monday, December 11, 2017

ASH Visitor Training Program
From Lima to Milwaukee,
the Learning Goes
Both Ways

he Visitor Training Program
(VTP) Award is granted to
individuals in low-, middle-,
and upper-middle income countries
working to increase hematology care
capacity at their home institutions.
Awardees spend up to 12 weeks at
the institution of an ASH mentor to
train in techniques that will address
hematology priorities at their institutions. At the conclusion of their

VTP experience, participants return
to their home institutions to implement the training they received. The
program focuses on local hematology priorities that can be addressed
by practical application of clinical
and laboratory skills. In 2016, the
ASH International Members Committee, the body that oversees this
program, selected 20 participants
from 15 different countries to receive
this important award.
One of the 2016 mentors, Dr.
Monica Thakar of the Children's
Hospital of Wisconsin (CHW) in

Milwaukee, was excited to share her
experiences working with Peruvian
trainee Dr. Tatiana Saldarriaga, from
the Instituto Nacional de Salud del
Nino San Borja (Ministerio de Salud
del Peru) in Lima. Dr. Saldarriaga's
hospital has only been open since
2013 and only performed its first allogeneic transplant in October 2014.
"It is the primary pediatric subspecialty hospital in the country," Dr.
Thakar explained.
She mentioned that in Peru, with
a population of 35 million, there
are only six programs performing

ASH | Academy

L-R: Tatiana Saldarriaga, MD, and
Monica Thakar, MD

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hematopoietic cell transplantation.
Only three of these perform them in
children; Dr Saldarriaga's institution
is one of these three. "The ability to
train transplant physicians to provide this important care is critical
for improving survivorship of children and young adults with blood
and cancer disorders," she said.
Furthermore, there are no unrelated
donor programs, and all allogeneic
transplantations are matched sibling only. Those patients without a
matched sibling donor either forgo
transplant options or must leave the
country to pursue an alternative donor transplant. Because of this, one
of the goals of Dr. Saldarriaga's training was learning how to perform a
related "haploidentical" transplant
using a family member who is halfmatched to the patient, via a simple
but very effective transplant regimen that incorporates "post-transplant cyclophosphamide."
Other goals included learning to
recognize and manage acute and
chronic toxicities of transplantation,
learning pre-emptive management
of infections and other supportive
care, and finally, developing guidelines for survivorship care. "Because
the first hematopoietic cell transplant done at her hospital was in
2014, there is now a growing cohort
of early survivors who will need
ongoing health surveillance," Dr.
Thakar explained. She was also able
to involve Dr. Saldarriaga in a retrospective clinical research project.
In addition to addressing the capacity-building needs of an eager
trainee Dr. Thakar also shines a light
on the rewarding friendship that she
and her new mentee formed during
the VTP experience. "Tatiana is like
part of our family! We have taken
»» VTP Page B-38

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of ASH News Daily 2017 - Issue 3