UCSF School of Medicine - Kelli Barbour at MUHAS

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Partners In Education: UCSF In Tanzania

Office of International Programs

Medical Education in Tanzania:
Anatomy of a Student Project
04.21.08

Kelli Barbour and MUHAS students. Photos: Omar Aziz, Kelli Barbour

Many among UCSF's students are interested in working abroad and experience health care in settings very different from American medical centers. The Office of International Programs offers opportunites across the globe for students to incorporate these experiences into their medical education.

Fourth-year student Kelli Barbour recently spent a little over six months in Tanzania, working on a medical education project in the Department of Anatomy at Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Her involvement in this project is part of the larger partnership between UCSF and MUHAS.

Barbour's main project was designing and incorporating a peer-teaching program into the Semester 1 Anatomy class for the first-year medical and dental students. The goal was to add to the student's quality of learning, teach the students basic teaching skills, and decrease the demand on the faculty members.

Another focus of her time at MUHAS was the incorporation of information technology. Between herself and a visiting team in December, they brought much needed desktop and laptop computers for the use of students reviewing anatomy. Barbour also brought DVD copies of the UCSF School of Medicine dissection videos, which have been created by UCSF anatomy faculty members and medical students.

Students huddling during a discussion

"The students rely on their textbooks and the resources available in the audiovisual lab for their studies in anatomy", Barbour said. "The new computers and anatomy DVDs were a welcome addition that will enhance the quality and broaden the scope of student learning."

Beyond assisting with resources and materials, the real joy for Kelli Barbour was the time she spent interacting directly with the MUHAS students. She attended the Semester 1 Anatomy lectures, histology labs, and dissection labs to create modules based on the class material. She tutored students in the audiovisual lab during their free time, and spent countless hours in the dissection lab helping them identify structures and master the material.

"One of the hardest things initially for both me and the students was getting used to each other's English accents. It taught me to really think about what I was saying, how I was saying it, and how fast I was saying it—and then to adjust appropriately to the listener. I also started to learn Swahili."

"We were eager to learn about each other's cultures and each other's medical schooling. The students taught me about their various tribal and national cultures. I left Tanzania feeling at home with my life there. As my Tanzanian friends would say, "Mimi ni Mtanzania" (I am Tanzanian)."
-- Kelli Barbour, MS4

Study Period

Barbour also had the opportunity to give a number of lectures on various anatomy subjects to the first-year Diploma in Medical Laboratory Science (DMLS) students. The Powerpoint slides developed for each lecture created a record which can be used and modified by local lecturers in the future.

"Throughout my time in Tanzania, I was fortunate to have the excellent guidance of mentors at UCSF (Dr. Pat O'Sullivan, Dr. Stephanie Taché, Dr. Helen Loeser) and at MUHAS (Dr. Flora Fabian). I could not have done the project without them.

I am also indebted to my wonderful medical, dental, and DMLS students, who gave me the opportunity to work with, interact with, and learn from them. Without their friendship, openness, and kindness, my project and its future prospects would/will not have been as well designed, nor as successful." -- Kelli Barbour, MS4

While Barbour has returned to UCSF to finish medical school, she continues work on the major portions of her project and hopes to return to MUHAS to work on piloting a peer-teaching program that is designed for MUHAS' needs, goals, and resources.