December 2, 2005

Ribakoff fellowship program established at MGH

The MGH recently hosted a special guest who has generously established a fellowship program offering physicians from developing countries the opportunity to train with MGH clinicians. Eugene Ribakoff is the past president and current chairman of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, which conducts development and disaster relief activities in more than 50 countries outside of North America.

Because of his interest in providing aid to underserved countries, Ribakoff established the fellowship program for interested physicians to train within the multidisciplinary Claire and John Bertucci Center for Genitourinary Cancers at the MGH, located in the Yawkey Center for Outpatient Care. The idea for the fellowship program originated during discussions with Ribakoff, a longtime donor to the MGH, as well as Donald Kaufman, MD, of MGH Hematology/Oncology; Bruce Chabner, MD, medical director of the MGH Cancer Center; William Shipley, MD, of MGH Radiation Oncology; and Scott McDougal, MD, of MGH Urology.

From left, Ketul Shah, MD, from Changi General Hospital in Singapore; Chabner; McDougal; Ribakoff; Hamza Mujagic, MD, from the University of Tuzla in Bosnia; Kaufman; Wen-Ming Chen, MD, from Taichung Veterans General Hospital in Taiwan; and Pedro Acuna, MD, from Colmena Golden Cross in Chile