ASCP Members Persevere to Improve Laboratory Medicine in Resource-Limited Countries

For nearly 20 years, David Davis, BS, HT(ASCP), QIHC, has traveled to 26 countries worldwide to improve laboratory medicine and access to quality health care. His outreach has included delivering donated laboratory equipment and supplies, teaching histology and developing histology and immunohistochemistry labs.    

His early trips were supported by awards and scholarships from various organizations and companies. His most recent trips have been supported by ASCP. “I am grateful to be a part of the ASCP working on a common interest, pathology and histology laboratory development,” says Mr. Davis, a retired surgical pathology laboratory manager.  

His most recent project involving helping establish the first histology lab in Liberia, at the JFK Hospital in Monrovia. The histologists there have remained in touch with him and recently noted that their workload is increasing as local medical professionals are sending them more specimens on a daily basis.

Another rewarding project was at St. Paul's Hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where Mr. Davis spent about three months training six medical technologists to become histologists. His former students still work at St. Paul's Hospital and have become the core of the hospital’s pathology department laboratory.  

Each laboratory he visits is different and has its own unique set of challenges. The professionalism and eagerness of his colleagues to learn is inspiring. Mr. Davis is careful not to impose his values on the colleagues he is assisting.

“When I go into a lab, the first thing I do is to let them know I am not a dictator and that this is their lab.  I am only there to share my experience and knowledge with them,” he explains. “They need to take the training and new knowledge and use it to help provide the best patient care they can.  My main objective is to leave something that will help improve the lab and be sustainable.”

Now living in Costa Rica, Mr. Davis continues to consult with each of his projects, as needed.

“It is so rewarding to see how the labs develop and serve their countries' patients after I have left,” he says. “The students have taken the knowledge they learned to promote health care in their countries.”