JohnLeemanTarpleyMDFWACS, FACS

Summary

• After retirement from the Nashville VA and from Department of Surgery, Vanderbilt 30 June 2016 and being awarded Emeritus status as Professor of Surgery & Anesthesiology, Maggie and I now work in surgical education with the Pan African Academy of Christian Surgeons (PAACS) and with COSECSA (College of Surgeons of East, Central, and Southern Africa). We split time between the AIC Kijabe Hospital in the Central Highlands of Kenya and the University Teaching Hospital Kigali, Rwanda for academic years 2016-2018. In August, 2018 the Tarpleys accepted the challenge to help colleagues in Botswana launch the first General Surgery residency program in the country. Botswana is the size of France, nearly the size of Texas but with only 2.3 million population. Approved in October 2019 ny the Council (~Board of Trust equivalent) of the University of Botswana, the residency plans to take off in January 2020 starting with two residents in a five year, MMed program. Given the dearth of specialist surgeons in country, residents in this first decade will gain half their training and education in the Republic of South Africa and sit the various exams of the College of Surgeons of South Africa. The aspirational goal is that all training and credentialing will be localized to Botswana by 2030.