Stanford/ReSurge Hand Surgery Workshop in Kampala, Uganda

In what has become a holiday tradition, plastic surgery faculty from Stanford and ReSurge delivered a 2-day, hands-on hand surgery and cadaver dissection course for surgeons from East, Central, and Southern Africa as part of the COSECSA Annual Meeting. The workshop took place at the Mulago National Referral Hospital in Kampala, Uganda on December 8^th and 9^th, 2025. It brought together 14 plastic and reconstructive surgery trainees and junior faculty from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania, Sudan, South Sudan, and Somalia.

Together with Stanford’s longstanding non-profit partner, ReSurge International, Dr. James Chang, the Johnson & Johnson Distinguished Professor and Chief of the Division of Plastic & Reconstructive Surgery at Stanford led this team of highly-skilled clinical professionals. This mission, which began more than a decade ago, aims to share knowledge, train junior surgeons, and empower surgical capacity-building initiatives across the region.

Uganda is a leader for plastic surgery in the region, but at the same time lacks formally trained hand-surgery specialists. This leaves a significant gap in care for patients with trauma, contractures, congenital anomalies, and tumor-related conditions of the hand and upper extremity. The workshop was designed to accelerate skill transfer to plastic and reconstructive surgery trainees and junior faculty in Uganda and throughout the region. The goal is to equip surgeons with the skills needed to address these challenging cases, build a cadre of surgeons from COSECSA countries equipped to manage complex hand conditions, and further spread knowledge when they return to their home institutions.

The 2-day agenda consisted of lectures that teach the principles of tendon and nerve repair, principles of upper extremity burn reconstruction, flap design and “workhorse flaps” for the hand, as well as cadaver dissections and thumb reconstruction techniques. Hands-on components emphasized stepwise exposure of the hand and forearm, identification of key neurovascular structures, and safe approaches to tendon and nerve repair.

At the end of the workshop, participants reported marked improvements in understanding the 3D anatomy of the hand and forearm, performing tendon and nerve repairs, designing and elevating local and regional flaps, and planning reconstructive strategies for trauma and contracture cases. They stated that cadaver repetition allowed them to practice incisions, dissections, and reconstructions in a risk-free environment, building both competence and confidence. They additionally indicated that the workshop motivated them for ongoing joint case discussions via virtual platforms, planning future visits and observerships at neighboring institutions, and sharing with each other their protocols for managing complex hand injuries.

Many of the trainees described the course as a turning point in their ability to manage trauma, contractures, congenital differences, and tumor-related hand conditions in their home hospitals. They said that the workshop has laid a foundation for sustained hand-surgery training within the COSECSA region and for ongoing collaboration between Stanford and African surgical communities.

The impact of ReSurge International and Stanford’s shared commitment to a train-the-trainers approach is profound, particularly in low- and middle-income country (LMIC) settings. A recent study co-authored by Dr. James Chang, unveiled the first-ever framework for quantifying the impact of a single surgeon’s training across multiple generations of trainees. Researchers found that a single plastic and reconstructive surgeon trained in an LMIC context can have a lifetime attributable impact of more than 400,000 patients through successive generations of trainees. These findings underscore the importance of building surgical capacity through local training programs and their critical role in addressing the unmet burden of surgical disease.  Workshops like these have a ripple effect on the health ecosystem at large.

Following the workshop, Dr. Chang, who is also ReSurge International’s Consulting Medical Officer, noted how important such partnerships are: “We are profoundly grateful for Global Engagement’s continued partnership and for helping expand reconstructive surgery capacity in Sub-Saharan Africa. We look forward to building on this momentum together through future training programs and joint initiatives.”

Global Engagement continues to support and sponsor this important event, with the contribution helping to cover the costs of cadaver and training materials, faculty travel, logistics, and meals; in addition, the sponsorship has always been matched by a generous private donor.