In addition to his remarkable work in Uganda, Dr. Craig Sable is also focused on Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD) in Brazil. As a middle-income country, Brazil has a better system in place and a greater capacity to handle RHD diagnosis and treatment. Consequently, the project there is focused principally on “school-screening, task-shifting, (and) telemedicine” describes Dr. Sable, similar to his goals for the Uganda initiative. Additionally, they are working on “transitioning from one-off school screenings to systematic screening within the healthcare system,” says Dr. Sable. Essentially, echocardiograms would become part of children’s annual physical appointments. “The local providers do not need us to tell them about care,” he adds, saying, “they need help increasing accessibility and improving routine screenings.”
Another initiative aimed toward greater sustainability is facilitating relationships between middle- and low- income countries. Dr. Sable has increasingly been working on fostering such a relationship between Brazil and Uganda. The reason? “The Brazilians are better than us at developing the initial system and improving the healthcare infrastructure,” as they have gone through the process relatively recently, says Dr. Sable. Both places, however, can use help “implementing task-shifting and telemedicine for greater connectivity and improved consultation and care.” Not only does this help local providers manage their patient volumes, it connects these providers to physicians and specialists all over the world, enabling them to gain additional expertise for their patients all the time, not just during a week or two week long mission trip. It’s really a win-win, as patients consistently have access to a higher level of care and foreign providers can have a global impact without leaving the office.
View Dr. Sable's Leadership Profile