Training African Pathologists in Cancer Diagnosis PROJECT SUMMARY / ABSTRACT Accurate diagnosis is a critical first step in cancer care, and together with staging, generate much of the data used to populate cancer registries. In most low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), however, varying standards of pathology practice and a scarcity of a skilled pathology workforce limit access to quality cancer diagnosis staging. Addressing this gap in cancer diagnosis and staging through continuing professional development (CPD) is a critical need for the anatomic pathology workforce in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) (Wilson, et al). This proposal requests support for a workshop series entitled Training African Pathologists in Cancer Diagnosis to be held in Nairobi, Kenya, from November 16-18, 2018. This meeting will build on prior research to determine the best approach to improve the ability of the anatomic pathology workforce in SSA to detect and diagnose cancer using standard approaches that are in use in the United States and United Kingdom. Findings from this research showed that a blend of lectures and case-based training (CBT) is the most effective at engaging participants, allowing them to retain information, and ultimately, improving the expertise of the pathology workforce in LMICs in East, Central, and Southern Africa (Wilson, et al). The workshop will provide a skill-enhancement opportunity to 24 anatomic pathologists and senior residents from SSA on current best practices for processing, diagnosing, and reporting common cancers, in the evidence- based blended workshop style described above. The curricula will focus on four locally relevant cancers including head/neck, endometrial/ovarian, gastric/esophageal, and breast. There will be one session per cancer and each will include a brief introductory lecture, followed by CBT and a review of one to two challenging local cases, to be submitted by course participants. The course will also incorporate a pre- and post-assessment tool to measure knowledge gained through the course for quality assurance purposes. To support the implementation and sustainability of the content taught and apply lessons learned from the previous research, the workshops will incorporate an e-learning component offered after the close of the course to serve as a refresher; an optional quality improvement (QI) project component; an evening clinicopathological correlation (CPC) session; and an avenue to contact the lead or trainee faculty members for needed mentorship. In addition, to strengthen the ability of pathologists in SSA to serve as future trainers, each session will be presented by the lead faculty member who developed the course along with a local/regional trainee faculty. The incorporation of local faculty, to include a trainee moderator, will utilize the “train the trainer” model. The workshop format is designed to maximize educational benefit and interaction among participants. Meeting support is requested to cover travel costs for international faculty and local/regional trainee faculty, to support planning and implementation costs, as well as to help defray travel costs for select participants demonstrating financial burden.

Training African Pathologists in Cancer Diagnosis PROJECT NARRATIVE In cancer, varying standards of training and scarcity of a skilled workforce have resulted in ineffective treatment due to delayed or inaccurate diagnoses. This leads to erroneous estimates of disease rates and a diminished ability of health care systems to plan resource allocation, which in turn results in poorer clinical outcomes. This meeting will involve a workshop-style skill- enhancement program that covers current best practices for processing, diagnosing, and reporting common, locally relevant cancers, improving the ability of the anatomic pathology workforce in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) to detect and diagnose cancer.