October 29, 2004

A rewarding trip to South Africa

Peter L. Slavin, MD, president of the MGH, and Bruce Walker, MD, director of the Partners AIDS Research Center at the MGH, recently made a visit to the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) in South Africa to tour the Doris Duke Medical Research Institute at the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine and the new HIV treatment program at King Edward Hospital.

The construction of the institute was largely a result of a grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation awarded to the MGH and given in full to UKZN. Slavin and Walker were accompanied by Alan Ezekowitz, MBChB, DPhil, chief of Pediatrics for MassGeneral Hospital for Children, and Deval Patrick, Esq., general counsel for the Coca-Cola Company and a director of the MGH's President's Council. During their visit to South Africa, the MGH group also toured HIV research and treatment programs that are collaborative projects between the MGH and UKZN.