Doylestown doctor advances care in Africa through compassionate collaboration
When Albert Ruenes, MD of Penn Medicine Doylestown Health met Serigne Gueye, MD, of Senegal, a powerful global partnership was born—one that’s transforming urologic care across West Africa.
Sometimes, changing lives starts with a single connection across continents. That’s precisely what happened when Albert Ruenes, Jr., MD, a urologist from Penn Medicine Doylestown Health, teamed up with Serigne Gueye, MD, a urologist from Dakar, Senegal.
They partnered to tackle a serious problem: prostate cancer, which is especially aggressive and deadly across Africa, where risk factors are higher due to genetics and limited access to preventive care and treatment.
The journey begins
Gueye, a Fulbright scholar and professor at Hospital General Idrissa Pouye, was in the United States focusing on the genetics and treatment of prostate cancer at the University of Pennsylvania.
Gueye visited Doylestown Hospital in 2002 to explore how urologic care is delivered in a community setting. On his first day, he observed Ruenes performing a minimally invasive prostate surgery called radical perineal prostatectomy.
Inspired by the potential benefit of this cost-effective procedure to prostate cancer patients in his home country, Gueye encouraged Ruenes to bring this knowledge to Senegal.
A mission of mentorship
In 2004, Ruenes made his first trip to the hospital in Dakar, where he performed surgeries, gave seminars, and initiated a commitment that continues to this day.
Rather than simply performing procedures and departing, Ruenes envisioned something lasting—he aspired to build a center of excellence where West African surgeons could continually receive advanced training and deliver high-quality care to their communities.
The collaboration involves U.S. and West African surgeons working together in Senegal to train and empower African surgeons to tackle prevalent medical issues in the region.
To support the endeavor, Ruenes founded ASSISTS (America-Senegal Surgical Initiative–Surgeons Teaching Surgeons), a nonprofit organization.
Meeting a greater need
In addition to training in Dakar, Ruenes and Gueye set out to launch a urology clinic in Yeumbeul, approximately 15 miles from Dakar.
“When we visited, we realized the community did not have access to basic health care,” said Ruenes, who expanded his plans to encompass a general health clinic.
Through ASSISTS, they renovated an existing building and hired retired local doctors to staff the new clinic—the Centre de Santé Aristide Mensah in Yeumbeul, Dakar, Senegal. Gueye manages logistics and ensures resources reach the clinic.
The center offers care for people of all ages and a wide range of conditions, including diarrhea, dehydration, respiratory infections, diabetes, and injuries. Services include a pharmacy, laboratory, dental care, prenatal care, and ultrasound capabilities. “The clinic is expanding, with a mother and infant center staffed by a gynecologist and nurse midwives," Ruenes said. Efforts are also underway to add an operating room for Cesarean section deliveries.
Igniting global health innovation and education
The efforts of Ruenes and Gueye have taken hold, and the progress of their surgical training center and clinic has inspired other researchers and physicians.
Ruenes was approached by a group of urologists and physicians from the University of Minnesota whose aim was to develop a video simulator surgical trainer to help surgeons address obstetrical fistulas. These serious injuries, which usually result in stillbirth, result from stalled labor and cause women to experience bladder damage, chronic urinary leakage, and infection. Unable to have children, their husbands often remarry, leaving them socially isolated and without a support system. Many die of malnutrition and depression. “Though not something we see in the United States, obstetrical fistulas are a problem in the developing world where women lack access to prenatal and emergency obstetric care,” Ruenes said.
He joined the team and a film crew on three trips to Africa, where they recorded experts performing fistula repairs in Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Dakar.
The collaboration gave rise to a surgical training video currently being distributed to the developing world in three languages. A Michigan urology resident began working closely with residents in Dakar earlier this year, launching an initiative to evaluate the effectiveness of the new training tool. Together, teams from both Michigan and Dakar plan to analyze the results and co-author a research paper based on their findings.
Building on the mission
Ruenes has recently joined forces with Penn Medicine urologists who share his interest in global health: Robert Caleb Kovell, MD, and Daniel J. Lee, MD, MS.
Lee recently traveled to Monrovia, Liberia, to identify ways to enhance medical training and care in the area. He contacted Ruenes to learn more about his work in Dakar.
Through ASSISTS and with the Dakar training center as a hub, the Dakar team will support surgeons in Liberia. Surgeons from the University of Pennsylvania will provide ongoing expertise and training at the government hospital in Monrovia, where most major surgeries are performed. They will be supported locally through ASSISTS, operating within West Africa, which is the mission of the organization—teaching local physicians so that they can share their knowledge at home.
“Our goal is to establish a dedicated center of excellence in Liberia, like the one in Senegal, over the next 10 to 15 years,” Ruenes said.
French is the most widely spoken language in Senegal, while English is used in Monrovia. An added benefit of this relationship is that the establishment of both French-speaking and English-speaking clinics will increase access and facilitate collaboration, as the concept of surgeons teaching surgeons expands across the continent.
Connections that last a lifetime
Today, thanks to ASSISTS and the dedicated efforts of Ruenes and Gueye, there is a thriving teaching center in Dakar where many West African surgeons come to train. In Yeumbeul, the clinic provides accessible, trusted health care in a community that once struggled with limited resources.
With over two decades of progress, many of the attending surgeons in Dakar are young men and women who Ruenes has helped to train. He describes his colleagues in Dakar as both partners and friends, and he and Gueye are like brothers.
“This is an incredibly fulfilling project,” Ruenes said. As his life journey continues, he looks forward to continuing his work. And, when he is ready to retire, he plans to spend even more time in Africa.