AMPATH Surgery

AMPATH team leaders provide clinical care and teach both Kenyan and North American students while also fulfilling research and administrative responsibilities. They typically serve for one year, though many have continued their involvement with AMPATH for additional years or in other global health leadership roles in both Kenya and at their home institutions.

Incoming surgical team leader Hunter-Squires also lauds the cooperative AMPATH environment. “Health care is challenging everywhere, but I do think that with collaboration, education, and some creativity, we can all make our field, and the lives of our patients better,” she said. Hunter-Squires attended IU School of Medicine and completed her general surgery residency at IU before completing a breast surgical oncology fellowship at Cedars-Sinai in Los Angeles. While at Cedars-Sinai, she worked with Dr. Armando Giuliano, the pioneer of sentinel lymph node biopsy for breast cancer and she hopes to introduce the procedure to her Kenyan colleagues and patients.

Hunter-Squires looks forward to working with her Kenyan colleagues in the MTRH Department of Surgery to develop protocols for improving cancer care. “We plan to start with obstructive jaundice and breast masses, two of the most common diagnoses seen on the surgical ward and clinic,” she said. She will also continue the work of prior surgical team leadership to grow the Advanced Trauma Life Support (ATLS) program throughout western Kenya.

We look forward to sharing more updates as Dr. Hunter-Squires continues this important work!